The Black Death

This struggle becomes apparent only when the position of the narrator to the story is understood. The story of Griselda and Walter in the 14th century was a folktale. “Boccaccio’s version of the folktale…was translated by Petrarch into Latin,”(Dinshaw132). which in turn was translated into French several times. Chaucer based his retelling of the tale on Petrarch’s Latin version and an anonymous French prose translation of Petrarch. Petrarch was the poet laureate; his “sweet rhetoric” is highly stylized analogy. From a folktale, Petrarch adapted a story that, in his mind, would lead readers to “emulate the example of feminine constancy, and to submit themselves to god with the same courage as did this women to her husband.” (Dinshaw149) Petrarch’s story is allegorical of every human being’s relationship with god. When the Clerk explains Petrarch’s

Life was very busy for me in 1300’s, I travelled through many countries and continents following the trail of dead bodies. I am death. I have lived forever. I will live until no human lives no more. I will continue collecting the souls of the deceased on earth and taking them to rest in the light blue place beyond. I lived through the Black Death watching on as the world experienced the disastrous effects.

In the year 1348 the world changed forever. The Black Death, which is another name for the Bubonic Plague, laid havoc on the entire world. “The plague chases the screaming without pity and does not accept a treasure for a ransom. Its engine is far-reaching. The plague enters into the house and swears it will not leave except with all of its inhabitants…” (Al-Wardi, #29, 113). The plague did not care if the people were rich, poor, white, black, Muslim or Catholic, it would kill whomever it could. The plague brought out the worst in people because people acted selfishly, people were completely inhumane, and there was no peace.

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 Plague, one of the most devastating out breaks in history, is an historical event brought about with a great depression throughout Europe. This plague brought out the worst in mankind during the time the plague ran its course. How do people behave, when there environment becomes life threatening? (Herlihy, 18). The Black Death accounted for nearly one third of the deaths in Europe. Due to the death of many people there were severe shortages in labors, during these dreadful times. There were riots throughout Europe, and the great mortality brought on by the plague ripped society apart. Individuals were fearful searching for explanation, but in the end the plague gave rise to the survivors such as

The plague, otherwise known as “the Black Death”, brought on much turmoil and suffering for the habitants of Pistoia. Numerous ordinances were put into effect with the primary goal of limiting the spread of the plague as well as to keep the city as healthy as possible. These ordinances typically focused on confinement, i.e. no one goes to Pisa and Luca and no one from Pisa and Luca is allowed to enter Pistoia (ordinance 1), how death and burials are to be processed (ordinances 3-12), and how butchers were to handle their animals and animal carcasses (ordinances 13-19). Essentially, confinement was targeted in hopes of stopping the spread of the infection while keeping the city isolated. Secondly, how the bodies of plague victims and their

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.

From 1347 to 1352 a string of the bubonic plague lay waste to western Europe, killing millions. In Italy, nearly a third of the population died; in England, half. The plague was a looming presence, always in the back of people’s minds. The symptoms of the Black Death caused great strife for westerners. Giovanni Boccaccio, an Italian writer and poet, described the symptoms he saw during the first outbreak of the plague: “Not such were they as in the East, where an issue of blood from the nose was a manifest sign of inevitable death; but in men a women alike it first betrayed itself by the emergence of certain tumors in the groin or the armpits, some of which grew as large as a common apple, others as an egg, some more, some less, which the common folk called gavoccioli.” Both Italy and England desperately searched for answers, claiming that the Black Death was the cause of a higher force, but realising that the squalor of their countries also played a part in spreading the illness. Although Italy and England both had a common explanation for the cause of the plague and they both implemented better public health standards, they adopted different public health practices after the plague.

In terms of literary quality, Chaucer went great lengths to give all elements a bit of attention. The work is primarily about a knight who is pardoned from a rape on the condition that he acquires the answer to one of life’s

Sickness times a thousand equals the Black Death. In our world, many disasters have occurred, causing terrible damage emotionally, physically, and mentally. However, I believe that the Black Death is the worst disaster to have occurred throughout our world’s history. It all started in 1348, when trading ships from different countries around Europe settled at the port of Messina, Sicily. Once the ship dropped their anchor many of their sailors were found dead, and the few surviving carried with them the deadly disease so dangerous that it would quickly lead to death. Scientists researched and concluded that the disease started from Central Asia (Mongolia), when fleas on rats boarded the many ships from Europe. The fleas got on the sailors’ skin and started killing them instantly. However, many thought that the disease had originated from the Far East and was spread along many major trade routes. When the people of Sicily finally started finding out what was causing the death, they closed their port and trading system with other countries. (Wikipedia) The ships were forced to anchor somewhere else in other countries, which allowed the disease to spread even more quickly. I believe that the Black Plague was a disastrous event that affected all aspects and the future of European and Central Asian society, their political and economic environment, and their future advancement to medicine.

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 catastrophic pandemic - a widespread disease, which spread over western Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and Europe between the years 1346-1353. Playing an important role in history; a time known to have devastating effects and significant losses of population causing demographic impacts throughout the continents. Europe saw populations exponentially decline due to mortality rates during the outbreak. The Black Death killed tens of millions of people in Europe, this overall leaving the continent in misery and devastation during the presence of the outbreak and after. There have been historical accounts discovered and written over the centuries for example Giovanni Boccaccio 's description published in ‘The Decameron’ (1350) outlined some of the symptoms conveying the black death "first betrayed itself by the emergence of certain tumors in the groin or the armpits, some of which grew as large as a common apple, others as an egg" (Ewen Callaway 2011). During the Black Death, there was no knowledge of bacteria, viruses or microbiology leading to the ‘great majority of people believing that the disease was god 's punishment of their sins’. However over time few physicians who knew classical Greek medicine believe it was miasma. Miasma was pollution of the air by toxic vapors containing putrid matter which spread by the wind (Benedictow 2004). This gave people more scientific views on the origins of the black death even with little evidence or knowledge.

There is no question that contradictory values make up a major component of The Canterbury Tales. Fate vs. Fortuna, knowledge vs. experience and love vs. hate all embody Chaucer's famous work. These contrasting themes are an integral part of the complexity and sophistication of the book, as they provide for an ironic dichotomy to the creative plot development and undermine the superficial assumptions that might be made. The combination of completely contradictory motifs leads to the unusual stories and outcomes that come to play out in the tales. And these outcomes draw focus on the larger universal issues that in many cases transcend the boundaries of vernacular periods to all of

Fear. Uncertainty. Survival. These three words became synonymous with life in Western Europe during the period of the Black Death. This grim period represents a dark era in European history when a devastating outbreak resulted in a significant amount of instability, decline in population, and economic, political and cultural upheaval. In the face of this terrifying calamity, human judgement was put to the test as fear and uncertainty made people react to the plague in extreme ways. Socially, the lack of understanding of the real cause of the plague and its widespread reach made people adopt drastic measures to combat it. Religious beliefs and superstitions also played a major role in the way people reacted to the plague as many believed that the plague was a punishment for their sins. The outbreak also brought to the surface human weaknesses such as greed and indulgence as people tried to take advantage of the situation for their personal gain. Even today, society faces turmoil as a result of disease, as in the case of Ebola, which caused significant amount of mayhem and fear in the beginning when it could not be contained.

Previous themes such as the corruptness of human nature, the futility of striving for better, and the mutability of human will and deeds are presented to the audience again, but in a new perspective—possibly because the pilgrimage is about the end. Simultaneously, the lack of agency the wife has works to strengthen the discourse between the societal stations, and the implications of being of high, middle, or lower class. Later, in lines 172 and 173 Chaucer again calls the medieval hierarchy into question, “For ever this bird will work diligently to escape out of his cage, if he can.” Chaucer implies that cage of the immobile class system employed during this time period should be tested, and potentially reformed. However, the climactic othering and silencing of the crow at the tales end implies that there are obvious consequences for overstepping one’s station.