The Black Plague Research Paper

In the late Middle Ages the worst evil known to man terrorized Europe. People were dropping dead everywhere and there was no place to put them. This vicious culprit was known as the Black Plague. During the 14th century in Europe millions of people died from the plague and the plague brought about great change. Before the plague there was peace and prosperity in the High Middle Ages and after the plague things were different. Historians consider the outbreak of the Black Plague a watershed moment because of great social, religious and economical changes.

There are many ways to explore any period in history. The period that we will look further into will be Medieval Europe. I found an academic article that explores deeper into that period, especially the Black plague. Assembling three primary sources of the black plague, each has a different perspective of what was portrayed in the academic article.

My topic is about the black plague. I choose this topic because I thought that it would be interesting to learn about the most catastrophic disease to happen in Europe. The exchange of the black throughout Europe was the greatest catastrophe ever because it killed 50 million people, more than any other bug or virus, there were smaller breakouts, and family’s abandoned each other.

The Plague or ¨Black Death¨ was a virus that spread across Europe killing about 60% of the population. The plague's origin was at the time unknown and this brought about many questions. At this time, people did not have basic necessities such as proper hygiene and medicine. Therefore there was fear, superstitions as well as conspiracy, and there were also some who realized that they could gain from the deaths of those around them.

Many people thought poisoned wells caused by the Jews led to the rapid and intensive spread of the Black Plague. Before the outbreak, Jews were very wealthy. Many Jews became successful pawnbrokers, bankers, and money loaners. Documents say that Jews continued to succeed and even “profited more than most.” However, at the same time (after the High Middle Ages), many Christians tended to lose money. Consequently, this often led to a negative connotation for the Jews. Many Christians thought of Jews as phonies and scammers, because they were angry about the Jews’ success during the 14th century. Shortly after, the negative connotation about Jews spread all over Europe. This posed a greater problem when the Plague evolved. With the number of

The Plague that struck Europe and Asia in the 14th century was probably the most devastating disease or natural disaster the world ever faced. The Bubonic Plague or Black Death killed an estimated 25 million people from 1347 to 1352 in Europe which accounted for one third of Europe’s population.??-1 It is believed to have started in Asia and then spread to Europe. The Bubonic Plague was not just limited to this period in time. It would reappear through the centuries including the Great Plague of London around 1656 in which 20% of London residents died from it.??-2 Although some of the latter breakouts of the plague were also catastrophic, this paper will primarily focus on the plague from the 1300s. More specifically, this paper will

The plague was caused by bacteria known as Yersinia pestis and was common in rodent populations (“Ecology and Transmission”). When rodents, such as rats, became infected and began to die off, the fleas who were once feeding off of them needed to find a new host. During Medieval times rats lived in close quarters with humans, even infesting their ships. This neighboring proximity made it easy for fleas to carry the disease to humans (Benedictow). Not only could the plague be transmitted through a flea bite, but exposure to contaminated body fluids and tissues, such as feces and blood, could cause infection. Once a human was infected, they could transmit it through coughs and sneezing, although more rare (“Ecology and

Let’s begin, in the year 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean and landed in america. That was the start of The Great Plague, see Columbus was from Italy and sailed with and english crew, so their immune systems were built to resist dangerous diseases, but just because it didn’t affect them doesn’t mean that it wasn’t there, so when they landed in ‘India’ and he saw the ‘Indians’, he passed on the still living plague on to them, and since they never encountered the plague they weren't built to resist it so they began to pass the plague on to other Natives and soon most of the population had the disease.

The Black Plague began in central Asia. It originated from southern China and went along the Silk Road. It crossed through central Asia, India and also into the middle East. (Stock Vol.4) Later on, scientists found out the cause of the Black Plague to start was ships and carriers, which had rats onboard that were infested by fleas. India was deeply affected by this, resulting in 13 million deaths. (Wells 1097) The most common disease during the Black Plague was the bubonic plague. A person can only obtain it when a flea, that is already infected, bites a person or when there’s a cut in the person’s skin for bacteria to go through. People who had been infected can get fevers, headaches, and chills. (Wells 1097) The bubonic plague was painful and had swollen lymph nodes. Inside of it was black, full of blood

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,

The bubonic plague struck Europe in the years of 1346-53 and was brought there by 12 ships. The plague arrived in Europe in October 1346, when 12 ships from the Black Sea docked at the Sicilian Port of Messina (Mess ena). People gathered on the docks but, to their dismay not for something good. They were met by a

The Black Plague: The Disease that Changed Millions of Lives In 1348, a horrifying illness swept through Europe, leaving corpses in its wake. This disease lasted till 1351, meaning three years of suffering and agony. This disease had many symptoms, and for these symptoms they had cures, many that were to no avail, and sometimes worsened the state of the sufferer. This disease was referred to by many names, but most called it the Black Plague.

plague in and of itself is a bacterium called yersinia pestis and is carried by rodents (Scogna).

The bubonic plague has been around for almost two thousand years. In most early cases the plague was spread from China along the Silk Road. The Silk Road was the over land trade route from the orient that silk, spices, and other trade able goods from the east to western Europe. In most cases rats carrying the Oriental Rat Flea or another animal carrying the flea would move to a new location. Once that animal died the flea would move to another host which could be a human. Once bitten by the flea a bubo begins to form when the bubo begins to ooze fluid the illness can then be passed through touch. As stated above in the Middle

During the same period that the Black Plague was ravaging Europe, the Papacy of the Church began to crumble. In the article was written by Danièle Cybulskie (2015, para. 1-2) She points out that many priests sent to administer last rights to the dying, did so knowing that they would most likely suffer the same fate, moreover other priests in a desperate attempt to survive, would shirk their duty. Entire monasteries would be wiped out as the sick and dying would flood into them for help. Simultaneously the people of the middle ages were becoming desperate for answers that the church could not provide. Heavy-handedly, the church blamed the Plague for the sins of the people. The Black Plague was a punishment from God as it was explained to the