It is true that the effect the Black Death had on society at the time was not just reduction in population numbers. The Black Death was a disease carried by fleas and rats. It reached Europe around 1347. Some internet sites say it killed 20 million people in Europe which was one third or more of its population at the time contrasting to other sites which say it killed 25-50% and some that say 25 million. We don’t know for sure how many people were killed but we can have a rough estimate that about 20-25 million of Europe’s population died. The drop in population was a serious affect although it wasn’t the only one. Even though most of the issues that occurred as of the Black Death were linked back to the decrease in population the Black Death …show more content…
The plague spread quickly from Asia to Europe along the Silk Road. The reason why the Black Death was able to kill so many people was that it was spread through rats and fleas. Which were small enough to travel to different areas throughout the world without being seen, or noticed. Rats would often board a boat with humans without being seen. Boats were used for trade in medieval times as they could travel to more places than people could by foot. However boats were also the main carrier of the plague. The plague was easily spread by boats as once the ill and the rats departed the ship and had entered a village they would begin to infect the people who lived there. The rats that had been infected by the disease would run around and hide in the villages, meaning that if you lived in a place that was not very hygienic you had a pretty likely chance of becoming infected. This meant that one by one village’s population were dramatically decreasing, with peasants, doctors and monks being the first to go. This was because peasants lived in worse conditions than nobles and higher classed people and were more susceptible to the disease. Monks and doctors were also susceptible to the disease as they would often care for, talk to and meet with people who were ill. The Black Death was a dangerous disease that decreased medieval society’s population
Doctors and other scholars have come to the conclusion that the deathly plague was caused by a bite of an infected flea. In the fall of 1347, the Black Death appeared in Europe by sea when trading ships landed at the Sicilian port of Messina after an extended journey through the Black Sea. The people of Sicily went to approach the traders and greet them, instead they were left speechless to what they have witnessed. Almost everyone on the ship were deceased and if one was alive, they would be close to death. They were affected with a fever and was unable to keep food down. Their bodies had these mysterious black boils all over and would constantly bleed and pus. The black boils gave the plague its name. The Sicilian authorities ordered the
Significant events cause society to change in many ways and the Black Death was no exception. The Black Death raged through Europe from 1347 to 1351 killing over 25 million people, almost 50% of the population at the time . The Black Death influenced European society in numerous ways, which have changed the future we currently live in. The Black Death led to medical advancements, weakening in the power of the church and the refining of the feudal system. The Black Death was a time of death and destruction however changes happening at the time benefitted society and led to an age of happiness and prosperity.
From the depths of the Middle East during the Post-Classical period, two of the most powerful world religions emerged. Islam and Christianity, although sharing many similarities, also had their fair share of disagreements, one being their responses to the Black Death. The religion, demography, and interactions all contributed to the differentiation of Muslim and Christian reactions. Christians thought that the Black Death was sent from God as a punishment and blamed the Jews, while Muslims considered it a blessing and did not accuse any minority of initiating the outbreak.
How important to England was the C14th plague The Black Death, its cause and when it reached England The 14th century plague, also commonly known as the Black Death, was a disease that affected many parts of Europe. The disease reached England in 1348, believed to have originated from China and spread west along the trade routes across Europe.
Imagine you are dying with pus-filled swellings and high fever, no idea of the cause of your disease and no hope of treatment. Welcome to Medieval Europe, 1347 - 1351. (TITLE) - What circumstances in Europe led to the outbreak of the Black Death in 1347 and what impact did this plague have on Medieval society?
Christians and Muslims have some different things, but they’re mostly the same. The 14th century is when the Black Death was more deadly. The Black Death struck Europe and the Middle East in the mid 14th century. Muslims and Christians both got the Plague, and they both mostly had the same symptoms and causes. There were three different types of bacterial strains, they were Bubonic, Pneumonic, and Septicemic.
The Black Death of the mid-fourteenth century will have the greatest impact on the 16th and 17th centuries. The plague caused the European population the drop by 25 to 50 percent, induced movements and many revolts, and prompted changes in urban life. The European population dropped by 25 to 50 percent between 1347 and 1351. So, if the European population was 75 million, this would mean the 18.75 to 37.5 million people died in four years. There were also major outbreaks that lasted many years until the end of the 15th century. Mortality figures were incredibly high. As a result, the European population did not begin to recover until the 16th century. It took many generations after that to achieve thirteenth-century levels. The plague induced movements and many revolts in Europe.
In order to understand the significance the Black Death played in bringing about the decline in population in the second half of the fourteenth century, a number of issues need to be considered. To begin with, the Black Death’s significance should be looked at, including its victims, the rural and urban population, and recovery in the 1350s. Also, we have to look at the impact of later plagues, and the age and gender specificity of them. However, we should also look at other factors that affect the population, such as fertility and change in marriage trends. Given the particular question we should also look at the pre plague population to get a better understanding of the population in general. It is only by studying these issues that we can
One of the main ways the disease came to Europe was through trading routes. Europe traded goods with Asia and rats came over which carried fleas with the infection. People were then bitten by the fleas the rats carried over. After they were bitten they then became infected with the plague. Most people with the disease didn’t know they had the disease until they started having symptoms.
The Bubonic Plague or the Black Death has been in the history books since the medieval times. This deadly disease has claimed nearly 1.5 million lives in Europe (Gottfried). The Black Death hit Europe in October of 1347 and quickly spread through most of Europe by the end of 1349 and continued on to Scandinavia and Russia in the 1350s. Not only did the plague effect the European population by killing one-third to two-thirds (Gottfried), it also hurt the social and economic structures of every European society.
The Black Death was devastating and was one of the most significant events in Medieval Britain. The Black Death was also known the plague and bubonic plague it describes the spread of disease that caused mass deaths throughout Britain. The disease itself was carried by fleas and spread across Europe between 1346-1353 leaving towns and city such as Siena Italy with 85% of the population wiped out. This was seen all over Europe including Britain and it can be argued economic factors was the most significant consequences of the Black Death. However there are many factors such as political, social factors and Mortality rates that were also results of the Black Death and perhaps social factors may be more significant.
The Black Death was one of the worst pandemics in history. The disease ravaged Europe, Western Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa between 1346 and 1353 (Horrox 1994). It is difficult to understand the reality of such a devastating event, especially given the fact that science during the middle ages was severely underdeveloped. No one knew about bacteria, viruses, or other microbial agents of disease (Benedictow 2004). They had no way of protecting themselves during that time and no one was safe from the effects of the plague. Those who wrote chronicles claimed that only a tenth of the population had survived, while others claimed that half to a third of the population was left alive (Horrox 1994). In 1351, agents for Pope Clement VI predicted the number of deaths in Europe to be 23,840,000 (Gottfried 1983). Obviously, not all regions experienced the same mortality rates, but modern estimates of the death rate in England give the first outbreak a mortality rate of about forty-eight percent (Horrox 1994). That is, England lost half of its population in about a year and a half. Clearly the chroniclers ' who claimed that ninety percent of the population had died were overstating the magnitude of the plague, but this overemphasis demonstrates how terrifying the pandemic was to those who experienced it (Horrox 1994). The Black Death had huge consequences on the lives of those who were impacted directly, as well as major religious and cultural effects that came afterward.
"The Black Death" alone was not the only factor that was responsible for the social and economic change although it was the most important (Ziegler 234). Even without "The Black Death" continued deterioration in Europe would have been likely. The social and economic change had already set in well before 1346. For at least twenty-five years before "The Black Death," exports, agricultural production, and the area of cultivated land had all been shrinking. "The Black Death" contributed a large part to all of this destruction and led to important changes in the social and economic structure of the country (Ziegler 234-235). The plague touched every aspect of social life (Herlihy 19). There was hardly a generation that was not affected by the plague (www.jefferson.village.virginia.edu). Families were set against each other - the well rejecting the sick (www.byu.edu). Families left each other in fear. Many people died without anyone looking after them. When the plague appeared in a house, frightened people abandoned the house and fled to another (www.jefferson.village.virginia.edu). Due to this, the plague spread more rapidly because people were not aware that being in the same house with the infected person had already exposed them to it. Physicians could not be found because they had also died. Physicians who could be found wanted large sums of money before they entered the house (www.jefferson.village.virginia.edu). When the
The pandemic known to history as the Black Death was one of the world’s worst natural disasters in history. It was a critical time for many as the plague hit Europe and “devastated the Western world from 1347 to 1351, killing 25%-50% of Europe’s population and causing or accelerating marked political, economic, social, and cultural changes.” The plague made an unforgettable impact on the history of the West. It is believed to have originated somewhere in the steppes of central Asia in the 1330s and then spread westwards along the caravan routes. It spread over Europe like a wildfire and left a devastating mark wherever it passed. In its first few weeks in Europe, it killed between 100 and 200 people per day. Furthermore, as the weather became colder, the plague worsened, escalating the mortality rate to as high as 750 deaths per day. By the spring of 1348, the death toll may have reached 1000 a day. One of the main reasons the plague spread so quickly and had such a devastating effect on Europe was ultimately due to the lack of medical knowledge during the medieval time period.
The Black Death, the most severe epidemic in human history, ravaged Europe from 1347-1351. This plague killed entire families at a time and destroyed at least 1,000 villages. Greatly contributing to the Crisis of the Fourteenth Century, the Black Death had many effects beyond its immediate symptoms. Not only did the Black Death take a devastating toll on human life, but it also played a major role in shaping European life in the years following.