Plagues In The 18th Century

The Black Plague was a dreadful event that caused suffering in Europe, however it was also a wake up call for humanity. Many people believed that the pandemic was because the gods were angry at humanity for… some reason? After the bodies piled up on the street and pits were made to put them in instead of graves people wondered if the gods really cared about them. Another thing the black plague caused is a new class which was the middle class. Serfs and peasants were dying and the demand for them increased to a colossal extent. There was literally a law that had to be made saying basically you had to be part of a landlord's

All throughout history nations all over the world have dealt with deadly diseases, but one in particular brought out the fear in the nations of Europe, the bubonic plague or as others call it, the black death. During the thirteenth century, medicine was not as developed as it is now, causing England to suffer more than others. According to Cantor (2002) the European nations encountered the bubonic plague in its most brutal state during 1348 to 1349, taking out about a third of Europe’s population (pp. 6-7). He continues on by claiming that one big question to this event was whether or not the plague was the full cause to the loss of lives or if there was another cause along with it (p. 11). Cantor (2002) also explained that the reason the black plague stopped in Europe around the eighteenth century could possibly have been from an introduction to a new species of rats, the gray rat (p. 13). Even though there is controversy based around the plague being spread by rats and how it was stopped by isolation, it may have taught countries useful strategies and ways to grow stronger.

Beginning in the mid-fourteenth century, a plague swept the world like no other. It struck in a series of waves that continued into the eighteenth century. The first wave was estimated to have killed twenty-five million people, about a third of the Western Europe population at that time. Throughout the different outbreaks, the plague, also known as the Bubonic Plague or the Black Death, caused people to react in several ways. Some people believed the plague was a medical problem that can be treated, some found themselves concerned only with their own greed, still others believed there was nothing they could do and reacted in fear, and most people believed it was a form of divine

Diseases have always been a threat to humans, all throughout history. One of the most destructive disease outbreaks in history was the plague outbreak which peaked in 1346 to 1353, in Europe, commonly known as the Black Death. This plague outbreak was extremely deadly and killed 30-60% of the European population at the time of the outbreak. The outbreak is commonly believed to have been caused by the bubonic plague, but modern evidence suggests that the Black Death was caused by pneumonic plague, a much more contagious and deadly infection.

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.

During the Elizabethan Era, witches were considered evil burdens to society. It was thought that witches worshipped the devil and used their supernatural powers to commit crimes against the community. They were often held responsible for deaths, illnesses, and other mishaps that occurred within the community. Many citizens hated witches for these misfortunes, even though witches had no control over these accidents. Many times witches were severely punished for committing these crimes and they could even be sentenced to death.

In fourteenth-century Europe, the Black Plague disrupted most of European society devastating many. The Black Plague was devastating to European society economically, demographically, and morally. The plague spread as devastatingly as it did because of the continuous spread via trade, and inadequate medical knowledge. One of the major consequences of the plague was anti-Semitism.

Assuming that the Jewish people caused the Black Plague, there are actually variety of possible reasons that are not related to people. Something that really was a major issue was, bacteria and viruses we're largely unknown to medical workers. Rather than Jewish people causing the plague, historians assume that the Black Plague was caused by bacterial strains. Fleas are also to blame because they carried the illness and they jumped to the black rats, when the rats would die the fleas would cling on to any living thing. The plague was easily spread among the trade routes. The plague had started in Asia and it was slowly spread to Europe. Reasons why the plague was spread so quickly among Europe was because the entire population of Europe lived

The existing hatred of the Jews for their role as moneylenders made it even easier to make them the scapegoats for the Plague and torture them. There was a lot of financial envy of the Jews before the plague and historian Honest Fritsche even said “the money of the Jews was the poisons which brought their death.” The Jews took the role of the moneylending class and they constantly exploited artisans, peasants, and other lower class people with loans at usurious rates. The expulsion of the Jews created problems for the lower class people because the interest rates would be higher. The only instances where the poor would participate in the Jewish persecutions was when they saw opportunity to steal the jewish properties and cancel their debts.

The church could not save people from this disease, so it led to many people questioning and giving up on their religion. Doctors did not understand the origin of the disease, so most civilians believed the cause of the Black Death was from supernatural powers. They saw the disease as divine punishment, which is god punishing them. Many people thought they could beat themselves to atone for their supposed sins. The church lost power and influence in society because they failed to protect the civilians and the clergy from the horrid diseases. Many civilians lost faith and found a scapegoat to blame for the cause of the plague. The most popular scapegoat in the 14th century plague was the Jews. This religious group was accused of creating and spreading the plague because most Jews were merchants and the diseased rats were carried by the merchants. Persecution of the Jews continued out through the late Middle

The Christians were falling apart and that they blamed the Jews for starting this. The Muslims knew what was happening and that they accepted this plague from Allah. The Muslims got the plague before the Christians did, but the Christians overreacted when they got the plague and the plague was about to be over . The Christians lost a lot of people, forty-five percent were priests, forty-four percent were English monks, and thirty-three percent were English people. The Christians tried so hard to avoid the disease, but they ended up getting it one way or another and the Muslims was being careful of where they went and what they did. The Black Death made the Christians to lose some of their churches and their trust in the Jews. The Muslims accepted the plague of how it

Sometimes, like most explanations back then, it was the work of God and punishment afflicted upon Europe for whatever reasons of the time. For these people, the only cure was to be somehow forgiven by God. This was usually done by people carving or painting the symbol of the cross on the front doors of their house with the words “Lord have mercy on us” either near it or on it. Another great contributor to the destruction of the Black Death was the Great Fire of London which helped eradicate most of the rats that carried the disease and wiping out most of the people with the disease. The plague actually repeatedly continued to remain in Europe and the Mediterranean throughout the centuries. The major occurences of the plague happened around the year 1346 and 1671. The Second Pandemic Black Death was pretty active in the years 1360 and 1667. All of Europe was ravaged and it impacted Europe so devastatingly that it took 150 years for the population of Europe to be fully recovered. Quarantining people was another way of combating the plague in ancient times. Taking anti-bio tics was advised was advised in case you came into contact with a victim of the disease. In early 2011 it was discovered that the bacteria Yersinia Pestis was actually the culprit for one of the most devastating pandemics ever to surface in the world. While

The Black Death took place between 1315 and 1317, this Bubonic plague killed 10 percent The Catholic church failed to explain the cause of the Black Death, many church officials refused to treat the sick; leaving dying people behind. Citizens were desperate during the disaster, some had given up on life. They began living without rules and restrictions, they abandoned themselves into sexual and alcoholic indulgences. People lost their faith in Christianity, some extremists began to blame the Jews for causing the plague. An outbreak of anti-Semitism took place during the Black Death which caused the destruction over 60 major Jewish communities by the year of 1531. The plague also gave birth to a group of extreme believers called the flagellants in Germany who whipped themselves for forgiveness from God. The Black Death damaged the reputation of the church and many people lost faith in God.

The Great Plague killed nearly half of the European population during the fourteenth century. A plague is a widespread illness. The Illness was also known as the “Black Death”. Most of the European people believed the plague was the beginning of the end of the world. They were scarcely equipped and unready for what was to be entailed. It was by far one of the worst epidemics yet to be seen in those times.

There is a certin unsureness in the circulation and communication of information in A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe. This instability of the language in this proto-novel is caused by the author citing two sides to every point or statement he makes causing contradictions. On top of this Defoe repeats the same points throughout the entire text. This uncertainty helps to make the reader believe the writing is an actual journal as opposed to an edited, actual non-fiction.