Derick Santos
Mr. Surina
English CP
4/6/17
The Black Plague
The Black Plague is an infectious disease that killed sixty percent of Europe. The Black Plague is caused by a bacteria called Yersinia Pestis and is found in wild rodents that live in large numbers and density. The Black Plague came in three forms, bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic. They all had the same outcome which is dying in a unpleasant way. Agnolo di Tura, a chronicler, stated, "In many places in Siena great pits were dug and piled deep with the multitude of dead and there were also those who were so sparsely covered with earth that the dogs dragged them forth and devoured many bodies throughout the city" (Benedictow 4). The plague was spread by rat fleas on ships. The infected rats would die, but their fleas would usually survive to find new hosts.
One of the most frequent asked questions is how did it originate? The Black Plague or Black Death, arrived in Europe 1347 when twelve Genoese trading ships docked at the Sicilian port of Messina ("The Black
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Within the first few days of receiving the disease, the host would experience flu-like symptoms. It all started with an unbearable headache. This headache would last until you would die. Then you would develop chills and fever that would leave you feeling sore and very weak. Victims also said they experienced back pain and light was too bright for them to stand up. After experiencing these symptoms, the effects would kick in and they were traumatizing. The host would start to develop hard, agonizing lumps on their neck, arms, and inner thighs. The lumps would often expand to the size of an orange. Those lumps then turned black, split open, and then oozed blood and pus. The host would then bleed internally causing blood to be in their urine, stool, and under the skin. The blood puddling under the skin would appear all over the body. The host would have an excruciating
Black death was a bubonic plague, which took the lives of millions of people in the mid 1300s. This plague was caused by a bacterium called Yersinia pestis, which lived in fleas. Therefore, transmitting the bacteria to its rodent hosts every time they would feed. The bacteria then killed the rodents leaving the fleas without hosts to feed on and in result they would feed on the humans. (Bailey 7-12) Most people who were infected would last two to three days before they died, no longer than two to three weeks. The plague moved rapidly, medical researchers believe it could have moved as fast as eight to twelve miles a day. The plague was first encountered in China and it spread through Asia and into Europe in a
This documentary clarified two aspects concerning the Black Death: the origins/spread of the plague, and what made it possible to survive the illness. First, one has to understand the Black Death started in the Middle Ages and it spread throughout the European continent. Around 1347, thirteen Genoese galleys entered the harbor of Messina, Sicily carrying the disease. Actually, the ships contained rats infected by flea that transmitted the tiny bubonic bacterium to the people on land. When the ships arrived at the harbor, it took only twelve months for the pandemic to kill a third of the population. Eventually, by January sixty percent of population in Marseilles die, and during spring seventy-five percent of people in Florence died. Around 1348, the plague approaches the shore of England, but was already installed in England before reaching the shore.
"The Black Death" is known as the worst natural disaster in European history. The plague spread throughout Europe from 1346-1352. Those who survived lived in constant fear of the plague's return and it did not disappear until the 1600s. Not only were the effects devastating at the time of infection, but during the aftermath as well. "The Black Death" of the fourteenth century dramatically altered Europe's social and economic structure.
The Black Death Black Death, epidemic of plague which ravaged Europe in the mid-14th century. Various forms of plague were known in the civilized world since ancient times. Greek and Roman historians described outbreaks of an epidemic disease which were sudden and deadly: at Constantinople in the 6th century AD, for example, as much as half the population may have been killed. The outbreak which reached Europe from China in 1347, and spread rapidly and with disastrous results to most countries, has been given the name the Black Death, though contemporaries did not use this term. Epidemiology of the Black
Essay The black plague began in Central Asia in 1348 and spread to predominantly Christian areas including Europe and Africa (Doc 1). Although the Egyptian statistics are not as accurate as Christian ones, all of them show that there was approximately a thirty-three percent mortality rate when exposed to the plague (Doc 2). From two accounts, one muslim and one christian, the black plague is described as a horrible and fatal condition.
In the beginning of this book, Cantor begins to describe how the black plague began and the symptoms of the black plague. The black plague was also known as the Black Death. Many have their own thoughts about how the plague started, but Cantor explains his thoughts throughout the first section of this book. According to Cantor, the plague started from a tiny flea. The black plague is thought to have started in Asia and spread through trade. Shipyards were filthy during the medieval period, which made it perfect for rodents and rats to live on the ships. Rats were perfect carriers for fleas. The fleas would live off the rats. Once the ships would enter a new harbor the rats would get off the ship and invade the new town. The town the ships would dock in towns that might not have been invaded, but after a ship full of diseased rats ran off throughout the town, the town was then infected with the black plague. Before long the rats were not the only carriers of this dreadful disease. House cats were beginning to carry the black plague. The fleas from the rats would attach to cats and then the cats would go to their home and then before long the residents of that house would be infected.
The Black Death, also known as the bubonic plague, was a disease that devastated Medieval Europe, between 1346 and 1352 it killed 45 million people, wiping out a third of Europe's population. Today, we know that there were many causes of the Black Death. Medieval towns had no system of drains, sewers or trash collections. In such slovenly conditions, germs could grow, and diseased rats could call these medieval towns their homes and infect the people who lived there. Many historians believed the plague originated in china and spread to other countries by trade routes. Infected people and/or infected rodents such as mice or black rats. The Black Death was caused by strains of the bubonic plague. The plague lived in fleas, and fleas lived on
Many people thought poisoned wells caused by the Jews led to the rapid and intensive spread of the Black Plague. Before the outbreak, Jews were very wealthy. Many Jews became successful pawnbrokers, bankers, and money loaners. Documents say that Jews continued to succeed and even “profited more than most.” However, at the same time (after the High Middle Ages), many Christians tended to lose money. Consequently, this often led to a negative connotation for the Jews. Many Christians thought of Jews as phonies and scammers, because they were angry about the Jews’ success during the 14th century. Shortly after, the negative connotation about Jews spread all over Europe. This posed a greater problem when the Plague evolved. With the number of
The Black Death also known as the Bubonic Plaque was a major Historical event that took place in the 1300’s. It was best known for killing off thousands of people in such a short time period. The Black Death was caused by an airborne bacterium called “Yersinia Pestis”. “The Plague was carried by fleas that usually traveled on rats, but jumped off to other mammals when the rats died” (Hisory.com).
The black death was a disease triggered by the bacteria Yersinia pestis. Yersinia pestis is a bacterium transmitted by rodents,
The Black Death was spread by rats that were on ships. 12 ships from the Black Sea hit Messina, most sailors were dead when they found land. Before the ships, people heard rumors about a “Great Pestilence” that was going to cause a deadly path. The Black Death lasted for about 5 years. More than half of England died from the disease. People who had the disease had very high fevers. They also had chills, and aches and pains. People with The Black Death had vomiting and diarrhea. The Black Death was very contagious, and was the most feared disease in the Middle Ages. They had swollen glands on their armpits, neck, and inner thighs. The swollen glands turned black as they filled with blood.People didn’t know why the disease started. They didn’t
The Bubonic Plague also known as the Black Death. Several theories have been brought forth by historians about the cause of the Black Death however the most prevailing theory was that it was caused by rats. The Disease actually came from the rat fleas, called Xenopsylla cheopis. These rat fleas came from infested dying rats. The fleas would leave the rats heading for the most accessible area of the human
This paper is a literary analysis of a select passage from page 151 of Daniel Defoe’s, Journal of the Plague Year. The focus of this passage is the narrator’s feelings about the plague’s relationship with human nature. In this passage H.F. (Defoe) asserts that another plague year would reconcile all destructive differences between people. Consequently, this passage does not correspond with the expected perspective of a plague survivor. The original intent of Journal of the Plague year was to be a realistic account of the plague from the prospective of H.F., a man living in London during the great visitation of 1665. The intention of the book does not match the content of the passage from page 151 because in this passage Daniel Defoe repeatedly
the fact it was believed it made it easier for one to be infected by
One of the sets in the movie, “The Black Death”, revealed the streets of England filled with rats, grime, and dying or dead plague victims. This is a very accurate depiction of what the streets of England would have looked like. “Nothing exact is known about the overall mortality rate caused by the plague during the Middle Ages, but several analyses of the existing sources suggest that as many as 75–80% of the population perished in the summer of 1348” (Lenz and Hybel). So much of the population was dying that there would have been an overflow of sick or dying people in the streets. Also, “three factors contributed greatly to the spread of the Black Death in London: poor (in many cases virtually non-existent) sanitation, dirt and overcrowding” (Martin). The unsanitary and congested streets of England did not directly lead to the spreading of the black death, instead, it diluted the strength of people’s bodies. Not to mention, there would have also been a lot of rats, and rats were carriers of the disease. Additionally, there is a set of the outskirts of the city in the movie. It displays a grassy area covered with a bunch of the burning bodies of the plague victims who had passed away. This was not accurate because in England the plague victims were not burned, instead, they were buried. “Bodies in these mass pits would have been buried five or six deep, with a thin layer of soil separating each corpse from the one above it” (Martin). Knowing the conditions in England and