Since the beginning of civilization, humanity has battled with the forces of nature in order to survive. One of the most terrifying of these forces is disease. Diseases can come in many different forms. They are caused by many things, such as viruses, bacteria, and some are even non-infectious and can be transmitted genetically. A select few of these ailments, called pandemics, are highly contagious and can afflict mass amounts of people in a short period of time. One example of a pandemic is the Black Death. It swept through Europe in the 14th century, killing an estimated 75 million people and causing the collapse of the Feudal system. The Black Death is considered one of the deadliest pandemics in history because of the speed of its …show more content…
The people tried to get rid of the corpses, but it was far too late. The disease was in the city. The Tartars retreated, and the Genoese boarded ships to Sicily. As a result, the plague followed them to Europe. By spring 1348, the plague hit London, which at the time was a crowded city with a population of about 70,000 (Ibeji). Living conditions in the 1300's were filthy, and nothing like they are today. Butchers would clean animals in front of their shops and leave the blood covering the ground. The people would empty their chamber pots (a bowl shaped container used as a toilet) out of their windows onto the streets. For these reasons, along with ships full of plague victims sailing through the city, the plague flourished. In 1349 The Scots heard of this English plague and believed the English were being punished by God (Ibeji). They gathered and prepared to invade England, but without warning, soldiers began to die out in rididiculous numbers. Before they could even launch the invasion, most of the army was dead. The remaining army decided to retreat back to their home country. Consequently, soon after they returned the plague was in full swing in Scotland. In just a few short years, it had spread all the way across Europe, and massive amounts of people were dying every day. People had never seen anything like this before and were terrified to walk out of their front door.
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During the fourteenth century a disease ravaged across the middle east that calculated up to fifty million deaths and impoverished half of Europe. This disastrous disease had attained the nick-name, “Black Death”, referring to its high fatality rate. The plague, as some may call it, scattered amongst the whole world taking many lives because of the lack of medical attention or treatment and is even still around till this day. The Black Death is best understood through its symptoms, treatments, and death toll changing life in the fourteenth century.
The Black Death discusses the causes and results of the plague that devastated medieval Europe. It focuses on the many effects it had on the culture of medieval Europe and the possibility that it expedited cultural change. I found that Robert S. Gottfried had two main theses in the book. He argued that rodent and insect life cycles, as well as the changing of weather systems affect plague. He claimed that the devastation plague causes is partly due to its perpetual recurrences. Plague ravaged Europe in cycles, devastated the people when they were recuperating. As can be later discovered in the book, the cycles of plague consumed the European population. A second thesis, which he described in greater detail,
The victims of this plague suffered from delusions, nightmares, fevers and swellings in the groin, armpits and behind their ears. Some of the sufferers went into comas while others reported being highly delusional. At the time period this was going on there wasn't any medicine that they have tried to cure this plague. This plague ended up being contained in 750 CE it took 208 years for this plague to pass because they couldn't find a cure for it because they didn't have a strong medical field this plague spread exponentially. They couldn't find a way to actually cure this disease because it was combined with the Black Death so they were killing all their skilled doctors before they could even begin to start on a cure for this disease. One historian by the name of Procopius has reported that 10,000 people per day have been
"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
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.
However, around 1346 a war broke out between the people of Genoese city and the Tartars. At this time, the first recorded epidemic was noted. The Tartars in retaliation intentionally spread the disease by dragging or catapulting around the bodies of the dead in Crimea. This was intended to use the plague to extinguish their enemies, according to this legend. In a panic, the inhabitants left Genoese city and sought to find refuge in the west. As the Genoese people tried to start their lives elsewhere, they unknowingly spread the infection to unsuspecting neighbors and their families. In 1348, the plague ravaged Italy as the ships
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 but in reality, was a bacteria-born disease from the bacteria Yersinia pestis, which was carried on the fleas off infected black rats and spread to Europe by Genoese trading ships from Asia. Some historians believed the Black Death marked the beginning of a deep recession within Britain as well as the beginning of the Renaissance, a period of striking artistic expression, whereas other historians seem to take the view point that the Black Death simply amplified an already declining
Black Death During the Middle Ages many changes took place that would later affect modern society. Though there were many events that contributed to these changes, probably the greatest cause for change was the Black Death. The Black Death (plague) was the greatest event to change human history because it killed nearly a third of the population, made people more inclined to do medical research, and caused many other religious groups to form.
The Bubonic Plague, or better known as the Black Death, was a pandemic disease that swept across Western Europe in the 1300s that ultimately killed one-third of the population. Such a devastating disease called for drastic changes, one being the weakening of manorialism. Partly due to the Black Death, the crucial economic system in the Middle Ages known as manorialism, was weakened. On a fief, there was a piece of land called a manor, which was owned by a lord who was often a noble. The serf was someone who was not able to buy land, so they lived on a manor.
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.
Summary: The Black Death, by Philip Ziegler, covers the epidemic that spread throughout Eurasia around 1348. The book mostly focuses on England and how the disease affected this area. The book also covers other portions of Europe such as France, Italy, and Germany but not as in depth. Ziegler uses the research of many historians to piece together what occurred during this time of grief. Ziegler starts off the book explaining the origins and nature of the plague. He explains how the tartar attacked the port city of Genoa by catapulting diseased corpses in the city’s compound. The Genoese decided to flee and went further north, which caused the spread of
Imagine the world as it is. There are many people living on the planet at a given time. Now imagine that out of the estimated 7 billion people on earth, about 4,200,000,000 people were suddenly eradicated because of a disease infesting just a part of the world. No, it isnt a scene or plot from a horror movie, this horrible reality is actually fact and has already happened in the distant past. I am talking, of course, of the Black Death of Europe. The Black Death or as its also known as “Bubonic Plague”, was a serious pandemic that infected Europe and nearly wiped out 60% of its population during its 2 year spread all across Europe. A rough estimate of about 60-200 million people were claimed as victims of The Black Death. At the time,
A plague is a bacterial infection that can take on more than one form. One of the greatest plagues that have stricken mankind throughout history was the Black Death. The Black Death was the outbreak of the bubonic plague that struck Europe and the Mediterranean area between 1347 and 1351. This plague was the most severe plague that hit the earth because of its origin (the spread), the symptoms, and the effects of the plague.
“The Black Death” is a pretty historically accurate movie. The costumes in the movie, the plot of the movie, the cause of the Black Death, how the Black Death spread, how to cure the Black Death, what the Black Death looked like, some of the sets in the movie, and the origin of the Black Death were all depicted extremely accurately. However, some of the sets in “The Black Death” were not completely accurate. The movie “The Black Death” gives the viewer a great deal of accurate information about the Black Plague; however, there are a few historical inaccuracies as well.