Medieval Europe And The Black Death

How did immediate and long-term effects of the Black Death change medieval society in Europe?

The black death came through Western Europe from 1348-1949. The black death is a deadly disease that killed huge amounts of people. Some names that the black death is known as are the “Bubonic Plague”, “Black Plague”, and “The Plague”. The Black Death is a disease that was spreaded quickly and that is how it killed so many people. It spreaded through cough and touching and thats why it spread so quickly everywhere. The black death was deadly because it caused the skin to die, swelling, pain then death. The black death was a powerful disease and caused many changes to take place in the society.

The black death arrived in Europe in October of 1347. It was brought by twelve Genoese trading ships that docked at the Sicilian port of Messina after a lengthy expedition through the Black Sea. The people that were gathered on the docks to meet the twelve ships were greeted with a terrifying surprise: the majority of the sailors that were on they ship were dead, and the ones that were still alive were somberly ill. They had fevers, were unable to hold down food, and were delirious from pain. They were covered with big black boils that oozed pus and blood. The illness was named the “Black Death” because of the black boils.

Could you imagine waking up one day and everyone around you was dying? The Black Death also known as the Bubonic Plague was a horrible disease that spread though Asia and Europe in the late 1340’s and early 1350’s. It killed off a large amount of Europe’s population after the plague was over. It was a horrible disease that everyone dreaded to become infected with. The Black Death which spread from China to Europe had a severe impact that declined the European population and increased its economy.

In the middle ages people had no idea about how any disease such as the Black Death could spread. The Europeans think “it disseminated by the influence of the celestial bodies, or sent upon them by God in his just wrath” (Boccaccio). In other words, they think the plague came from the sky or sent by God. They think maybe it is God’s way of cleansing the earth or punishing them for their unfair behaviors. Some think that a supernatural origin caused the disease. This disease is a bacterium infection which has a variety of symptoms, such as, nose bleeding, tumors in the groin or armpits and black spots or

The Black Death is said to be the worst catastrophe ever recorded throughout the medieval period. It was a slow and grim way to die as it caused throbbing fever and painful swelling of the lymph glands called buboes (Black spots) that develops when you

The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that spread throughout Medieval England during the years 1348-1350. The Black Death is believed to have killed between 30-45% of people in England alone. There were numerous ideas if what the cause of the disease was, however was a bacteria-born disease from the bacteria Yersinia pestis, which was carried in the fleas off infected black rats and spread to Europe by Genoese trading ships from Asia. Consequently, due to the severity of the Black Death, it could be considered a “turning point” in England which this paper will be assessing, in respect to the Black Death’s influence socially, assessing standards of living and social unrest and economically, assessing production levels and wages. It will also be important to consider the political role the Church and government played during the period, as well as other factors that may have influenced a change at the period in question.

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 was a devastating effect on Europe. The Black Death caused Europe to change the people’s religious, political, government, and economical views. In addition to its effect on Europe, The Black Death was a turning point in Europe’s history.

The Black death was a tragic epidemic that affected much of Europe and Asia in the 14th century. Ships that were infested with rats and fleas would travel all over different countries for trade. The rodents would carry a certain bacteria called “Yersinia Pestis”. Fleas bit rats and then carried the bacteria in their system. They would then feed on humans and that was how the Black Death was created and spread. People that got bitten had a variety of lethal symptoms such as fever, weakness, abdominal pain, chills, shock, and eventually death. It was named the Black Death due to the fact that bleeding of tissues caused people to have dark patches all over their skin. Many people believed this was God’s way of punishing them for committing sins. 75-200 million people died because of this disease.

The plague of the black death was a panic and disaster in Western Europe because it leads the death of ⅓ of the population. It quickly spread all over the continent, destroying full towns and cities. Moreover, the plague reached its peak of destructions in 1349, which was a “wretched, terrible, destructive year, the remnants of the people alone remain.” Life before the black death arrived for the serfs it was unpleasant and short. Nevertheless, Europe before the black death arrived was successful and the trade at the time was strong. The spread of the plagues was traumatic and unexpected because it spread so quickly.

The Bubonic Plague, more commonly referred to as the "Black Death," ravaged Europe between the years 1347 and 1350 (Herzog, 2000). During this short period, according to Herzog (2000), 25 million people (which were about one third of Europe's population at the time) were killed. In another article, Herlihy (1997), however, claimed that two thirds of Europe’s population were killed. Nevertheless, it is ascertained that thousands of people died each week and dead bodies littered the streets. Once a family member had contracted the disease, the entire household was doomed to die. Parents abandoned their children, and parent-less children roamed the streets in search for food. Victims, delirious with

The Black Death was an epidemic disease that was also known as the Bubonic Plague. It was one of the most tragic epidemics that has happened in the world. The Black Death hit England between the years of 1348-1350. This plague annihilated one third of its original population. Trading ships that came to England during this time were blamed for the spread of this disease. People believed that when trading ships left other countries that they would bring in infested rats that carried the disease. When the rats would come in contact with a person or bit a person is believed to be the reason on why the deadly virus spread so quickly. Also many thought that the plague was airborne; when they thought this was the cause of the spreading of the

When the medieval time period comes up, people may view it as a time of suffering. With the Hundred Years’ War, the crusades, the multiple plagues, and the corruption of the church, it is no secret that it was a dreadful time. The slow developments of cities, the empires of Europe, and the corrupted church were all considerably influential on this world. With all of these things going on, people thought it was the end of the world.

Living through the Black Death in the Middle Ages was one of the most horrifying times to be alive. In this time period, Europe had a growing population (Marks, Olesky, Dunn, Rowling, & Tuchman, n.d.). When the Black death hit, no one had any knowledge on what to do or how to prevent the spread of the disease. The deadly disease arrived from the sea and was carried by rodent fleas infected with the bacterium Yersinia pestis. The infectious disease was very deadly and ended up killing one-third of Europe’s population (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, 2017). Protecting yourself from the plague was very hard to do in Middle Ages. There were many different methods to protect yourself from the plague in the Middle Ages, however, not all of them were effective.