THE BLACK DEATH
Matthew Brown
P.1
April 17, y
Around 1339 in northwestern Europe, the population was beginning to outgrow the food supply and a severe economic crisis began to take place. The winters were extremely cold and the summers were dry. Due to this extreme weather, very low crops yielded and those that grew were dying. Inflation became a common occurrence and as famine broke out, people began to worry. The time period of approximately 1339 to 1346 is now known as the famine before the plague (history). These seven bad years of weather and famine lead to the greatest plague of all times. In 1347, endemic to Asia, The Black Death began spreading throughout Western Europe. Over the time of three years, the plague killed one
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“But there were others they had forgotten…the children. They were by all means frequent receivers of the disease and it killed them almost instantly or within a few hours”. The children in plague infested towns had premature exposures which allowed for the disease to affect them physically and mentally. Once infected, the parents of the children would abandon them on the streets instead because many could not bear to watch them die (Science National Geographic). The females who contracted the plague were especially disregarded because they could not carry on the family name for generations to come. The children could not provide for themselves, so they suffered greatly.
As the Church lost spiritual authority, the clergy of the Church began leaving. About sixty percent of the clergy abandoned their Christian duties and fled. “The monasteries and the clergy suffered the greatest loss” (eyewitness). Many of the Churches finest leaders were quitting and some even moved far away to avoid the problems they were facing. Since many head officials were parting, the Church panicked and began aggressively recruiting others to fill the ranks. As the Monks, Nuns, and Friars continued to disappear, the standards for their replacements lowered. This caused the monasteries to be run by less educated people, leading to a decline of vernacular. They knew the townspeople felt that the Church had let them down, because any blow suffered by the Church was also a direct blow
Before the Black Death arose, Churches throughout Europe had nearly absolute power. However, as disease swept across Europe, devastated citizens once reliant on God for survival, began to abandon Canon law. As the citizens looked for answers as to why the plague was affecting Christians, the priests and bishops could not give them the answers they wanted, resulting in the Church losing spiritual authority over its people. As such, people turned to astrological forces, earthquakes and the poisoning of wells by Jews as potential explanations for the plague. In addition, many of the churches finest leaders fled to safer areas and as the Monks, nuns and friars continued to disappear, the standards for their replacements lowered. Monasteries were
In the late middle ages (between 1300-1485 AD),then a series of catastrophes happened. First Germany and other northern countries experienced crop failures from 1315 to 1317, and these resulted in extensive starvation and death. Then, in 1347, Europe was shot by one of the worst catastrophe in human history, an outbreak called the Black Death. Sometimes called simply "the Plague," the Black Death killed between 25% and 45% of the European population.
If people did not die of disease, they most likely had family members or friends who did. Families were forced to leave each other for their own safety. Document 2, The Florentine Chronicle, states “ Child abandoned the father, husband the wife, wife the husband, one brother the other, one sister the other.” The plague tore families apart by death or fear. Children made up many of the victims because, even had they survived, they were unable to care for themselves.
Doctors in Medieval times did not know the cause of the plague and were unable to find a cure. To help prevent the disease from getting too bad, doctors would give their patients flowers and other scented things, as they believed the rats wouldn’t like the nice smells. Because Christianity dominated their lives, many people believed that they had caught the disease as a punishment from God for their sins. They would sit and pray all day. Some people whipped themselves for punishment, which only helped spread the disease when the blood was flicked.
The Black Death was a very devastating time for people in Asia, China, and, Europe. The Black Death was during the Fourteenth Century which lasted from January 1, 1301, through December 31, 1400. In fact, there were only 4 years of the black plague out spree. 1347-1351. The plague reappeared in China during the 1860’s.
By 1352 it had really loosened its hold Europe’s population had been a massive hit, which had a financial impact. The work had been damaged especially for farms. The Black Death also was one of the worst pandemics in human history. Around about in the 14th century, about 75 million people on 3 countries rotten due to the painful pains, high contagious illness. Also in Europe hundreds died daily and their bodies was usually thrown into mass graves.
The Bubonic Plague or the Black Death has been in the history books since the medieval times. This deadly disease has claimed nearly 1.5 million lives in Europe (Gottfried). The Black Death hit Europe in October of 1347 and quickly spread through most of Europe by the end of 1349 and continued on to Scandinavia and Russia in the 1350s. Not only did the plague effect the European population by killing one-third to two-thirds (Gottfried), it also hurt the social and economic structures of every European society.
People started to abandon cities and run off to the country side where it was believed to be a safer place to live, away from all other people. It is known that some family members would leave their own loved ones who had contracted the plague and venture to clean areas. Doctors would refuse treatment on the sick in hopes that they could somehow be spared for the epidemic. Yet there was one group of people who as a whole looked out for those who were sick: the clergy of the Catholic Church. Priests, nuns, and monks were typically the only glimmer of hope for the sick. With everyone else shunning the sick or abandoning them, those with the plague were happy to receive whatever help they could get.
In the Later Middle Ages, from 1300 to 1450, a plague is seen spreading and killing mass amounts of people in Europe, this plague would later be named the Black Death. Starting in China in 1331 and then spreading to Europe by cargo ships in 1347. During the Later Middle Ages the climate also changed, dropping the temperature, killing crops, and freezing water supplies. During this period there were also multiple crisis that began to pop up, and not many can be attributed to the Black Death. One must take each event and look for causation case-by-case rather they labeling all with the same brush stroke.
The Black Death was one of the most life-changing pandemics in history. It was first discovered 550 years later in the 1800s by Alexandre Yersin, a french biologist. In his honor, the plague was named Yersinia Pestis. The plague traveled in two major ways. Yersin discovered that it traveled by infected fleas; the flea would attempt to feed on a human or animal and would then regurgitate the disease into the new host, further spreading the illness. Urban areas across Europe were populous with rats, which were one of the main hosts of the plague. These rodents spread the Black Death throughout cities in days. The unaffected still were not safe if they did not come in contact with an infected flea or rat. The plague also traveled pneumonically, or through the air. It caused large boils full of blood and pus, which would pop and spread. Another symptom was coughing, which was one of the many ways of proliferation. The disease eventually spread throughout Europe and killed a third of it’s population. It’s wrath caused many shortages, loss in hope, riots, and even some good things, such as many changes in art, science, and education. Therefore, the Black Death was one of the most life-changing pandemics in history.
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 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 Black Plague, also known as Black Death, the Great Mortality, and the Pestilence, is the name given to the plague that ravaged Europe between 1347 and 1351. It is said to be the greatest catastrophe experienced by the western world up to that time. In Medieval England, the Black Death killed 1.5 million people out of an estimated 4 million people between 1348 and 1350. There was no medical knowledge in England to cope with the disease. After 1350, it stroke England another six times by the end of the century.
In England , bubonic plague on average killed at least one-third of all inhabitants between 1348 and 1349. In London alone, one out of two people died during the visitation. The bottom line is that every English man, woman, and child at the time encountered plague in some way, and all feared it.
The plague was spread by fleas, which were not effected by the disease. Fleas first infected the rats, which lived off garbage and sewage. The rats then spread the infection to the humans. Rats were a common sight in the cities, due to the poor sanitary conditions, so no one