The Black Death Plaques Florence

Shortly after Giovanni Boccaccio began writing, the black plague ravaged through Florence and affected 25% to 50% of the population. Due to his experiences during the Black Death, he wrote “The Decameron,”

The Black Death was named due to its physical manifestation and its effect on history and the society. The complete number of deaths attributable to this devastating pandemic was 75 million people which is ⅓ of Europe's population (“History of the Bblack Ddeath”). The Blue Death or “La Mort Bleue” is what the French called this bubonic plague. The Black Death was characterized by painful swelling in the lymph nodes known as buboes so it was generally considered to be an outbreak of the bubonic plague. The term black also referred to downhearted or grim because of the devastating effect this disease had on everything the victims felt was god given (“History of the Bblack Ddeath”). The name La Mort bleue is its own placeholder in history along with the society all over the globe especially Europe, specifically because of emotional and traumatic distress along with art and musical influence which made the bubonic plague a historic event to always be remembered and hopefully never repeated.

I have never written in a diary before, so please bear with me. The Black Death happened to hit our village, and I am starting to see scary and horrible things happening everywhere around me; I figured that you would be the best place to record these events. It is 1348, and I am turning 21 this year. However, by the looks of the way things are going in the village, I am just hoping that I make it to my birthday.

History reveals the mid-14th century as a very unfortunate time for Europe. It was during this period when the continent became afflicted by a terrible plague. The source of the pathogen is known today as bubonic but was colloquially known as “The Black Death” to Europeans of the day. The plague caused a tremendous number of deaths and was a catalyst of change, severely impacting Europe’s cultural, political and religious institutions.

As was we all know that The Black Death is one of the tragic events in world history and it has effected many civilizations in early 1300s. This has made many devastating trends within Europe’s borders and raged with many diseases, and other infections. Not only this pandemic event has effected many people, but it has transform Europe’ political, religious, and cultural practices. The Black Death became an outbreak and painful change to western civilization in which it marked history

Norman F. Cantor, In the Wake of the Plague (New York: Harper Collins First Perennial edition, 2001) examines how the bubonic plague, or Black Death, affected Europe in the fourteenth century. Cantor recounts specific events in the time leading up to the plague, during the plague, and in the aftermath of the plague. He wrote the book to relate the experiences of victims and survivors and to illustrate the impact that the plague had on the government, families, religion, the social structure, and art.

“I’ll be out of here and away from all you knaves for one time anyway, as not a month will pass before you’ll see whether I’m nobody or a somebody.” The story of Bianco Alfani reflected the nature of 14th century Florentine society where, as Alfani remarked, the election to public office could make or destroy a person. In late 14th century and early 15th century Florence, decreased population and expanding commerce provided a favorable environment for ambitious individuals. The real life examples of Buonaccorso Pitti and Gregorio Dati demonstrated the positive role of ambition in Florence. Pitti, a nobleman had an extremely successful career, partaking in military campaigns, holding public office in Florence and being an ambassador to

Cosimo traditionally has been accused of destroying Florentine liberties, these ancient liberties are more of an illusion than a reality, he only had to make the formula of those he was evicting. To not be taken by surprise like the Albizzi, he perfected the system by not changing in the law’s actual administration, but in the spirit of law he changed everything, it was a rule to fill high official positions by drawing lots. The process was manipulated so that only the names of the men who could be depended upon were drawn. The independent mood of the two municipal assemblies neutralized by making an exceptional procedure the rule by dictatorial powers were now granted for a fixed term that

Hershey, Robert D Jr. "Douglass C. North, Maverick Economist, Author and Nobel Laureate, Dies at 95. " New York Times. 25 Nov. 2015: B9. eLibrary.

During the period of 1348 to 1350 an epidemic disease by the name of the Black Death spread, killing more than half the population in Europe. The Black Death brought the medieval men and women to an apocalypse. People living in this time expected only death. Every graveyard was filled with the corpse of these victims. People believed the last judgment had come to the world and there was no hope of escaping it. People believed they were abandoned by God, and God was punishing them for their sins. From Italy to Ireland, Europe population decreased with the deaths of 20,000,000 people . Medicine or remedies could not aid the sick leaving them with hopelessness . Men started turning on each other forgetting about their morals, it was a breaking point of society. But even though some people did not survive , writers, doctors, priest left a unique description of that time. Their work left us a window to witness the death at that time. Despite of the catastrophe that was happening the continent did not go into a dark age after words. Their upcoming uprising was due to this horrific time of the Black Death.

Chaos struck all-over Europe in the 14th century; no social class or individual was immune from this mysterious disaster. Historians estimated that this unidentifiable disease killed “more than 20 million people in Europe–almost one-third of the continent’s population,” by the 1350’s (Black Death). Now in today’s society scientists classify the unidentifiable disease as the bubonic plague, also referred to as the Black Death. During fourteenth century European-society, there was no logical medical knowledge; instead, people resorted to supplementary explanations, such as God punishing misbehaving religious groups and sinners (Black Death). In this time period, oral tradition was still common among the illiterate. Luckily, for the upper

There were multiple waves of the Black Death, one in 11th-12th century, another in the 13th century, and the biggest one in the 14th century. Each time there was a wave more and more people were killed, it was more concentrated in a short amount of time, and it led up to the one of the most important epidemic in human history, (DeWitte, 2015). When one wave would hit, there was usually a trigger that would welcome the plague. It was either a natural disaster, scarcity of food or a war had taken place (DeWitte, 2015). It was speculated that the economy, government and occupations of the people are what lead to the 14th century Black Death epidemic. The overall health of the people in England was deteriorating due to stress and malnourishment

David Herlihy was a historian from Brown University and wrote the book The Black Death and the Transformation of the West. The book was published by Harvard University Press in 1997 six years after Mr. Herlihy’s death. The book was condensed from unpublished lectures Mr. Herlihy wrote in 1985. The lectures gave a simple and clear example of Mr. Herlihy’s position toward the Black Death of 1348. The book also clearly tells us that Mr. Herlihy’s opinion of the Black Death had changed from his first analysis of the Black Death in 1965. Mr. Herlihy closely observed the case of Giovanni Villani who was stricken with the Black Death in 1348. Like Mr. Herlihy, Mr. Villani would also consider man-made factors in the Black Plague.

The most devastating and tragic mortal disease, the Black Death, spread across Europe in the years of 1346-53. The Black Death became one of the deadliest infectious diseases in history. This fatal and rapidly spreading disease horrified people of its time. The disastrous natural catastrophe was only compounded with other setbacks in fourteenth century Europe. Those set backs include, warfare, religious turmoil and peasant unrest. Also known as the bubonic plague, it struck Europe in 1347 and killed close to 50 million people. This constituted as half of their population, killing entire families and destroying tribes and villages in less than a mere century. To this day there are numerous theories of its origin, symptoms, its quick spreading, artistry and other documents that all reflect on the impact this plague had on society. The terror of the Black Death affected various aspects of European culture, particularly art. At a time of great suffering where traditional forms of grieving associated with death and burial were abandoned, artistry stands alone as being one of the most dominate ways people expressed their fears, sadness and pain. In this essay I will recognize three examples of works of art that reveal the prominent mood of this period of time. I will also discuss the Black Death in detail and the impact it had on the art market as well as the lives of artists and patrons.

His works demonstrated a very exceptional and notable way of expressing one’s thoughts. Not only expressing his opinions directly through the Maxims, Guicciardini influenced people indirectly through works such as Storia d’Italia. In this work, in addition to emphasizing the history of the Renaissance, he inserts his vision into the calamity and the treachery of human nature in general. For instance, he focused on human cleverness: “Duke of Milan was committed to give him. All the same, Lodovico with his usual cunning still went on assuring the Pope and Piero de’ Medici of his desire for peace and quiet in Italy” (Guicciardini 136). Guicciardini also commented on Maestro Mariano da Genazzano’s treachery in his preaching “Genazzano came to preach under color of opposing Girolamo; but hinted cleverly from the pulpit that the city should come to agreement with the league, and in private he negotiated with Pierro’s friends” (Guicciardini 63). Throughout Guicciardini’s works, he made tireless efforts to teach the readers about humans’