The Death Of The Black Death

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

When it hit people went absolutely crazy in fear of dying and why it was happening. Many theories were believed after people made them up as well as many cures being created thinking they are helping, some causing more sickness. The black death was a severe disease that killed all that came in contact with the infectant. When the Black Death spread from Asia to Europe in the 14th century, evident signs of this pandemic were found to start in 1347. The black death was one of the most world spread disease, and was believed to have decreased the world's population from an estimated 450 million to between 350 and 375 million in the 14th century. According to Medieval Ages Medieval ages-articles, resources, pictures the population had a huge fall. When the disease hit, because people could not cure it, they turned to astronomical forces, in other words earthquakes. They also turned and blamed the Jews for poisoning their wells. This caused a lot of unnecessary death and made the situation even worse than it already was. The disease slowly started to decrease when it hit remote areas because it struggled through the small population, this gave the population of Europe some relief. Places such as Parts of Hungary and in modern Belgium, the Brabant region, hainaut, limburg and Santiago de Compostela. These places listed were unaffected for unknown reasons, some historians have assumed

"The Black Death" alone was not the only factor that was responsible for the social and economic change although it was the most important (Ziegler 234). Even without "The Black Death" continued deterioration in Europe would have been likely. The social and economic change had already set in well before 1346. For at least twenty-five years before "The Black Death," exports, agricultural production, and the area of cultivated land had all been shrinking. "The Black Death" contributed a large part to all of this destruction and led to important changes in the social and economic structure of the country (Ziegler 234-235). The plague touched every aspect of social life (Herlihy 19). There was hardly a generation that was not affected by the plague (www.jefferson.village.virginia.edu). Families were set against each other - the well rejecting the sick (www.byu.edu). Families left each other in fear. Many people died without anyone looking after them. When the plague appeared in a house, frightened people abandoned the house and fled to another (www.jefferson.village.virginia.edu). Due to this, the plague spread more rapidly because people were not aware that being in the same house with the infected person had already exposed them to it. Physicians could not be found because they had also died. Physicians who could be found wanted large sums of money before they entered the house (www.jefferson.village.virginia.edu). When the

The Black Death 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.

History’s Turning Points: The Black Death Introduction: History’s Turning Points: The Black Death described what the Black Death (also commonly called the plague) was and how it spread. The Black Death was a deadly disease epidemic that occurred from 1348 to 1350. It started in Central Asia and eventually spread to Europe. In just two short years, the disease had taken the lives of over 20 million people. The disease was caused by infected fleas which were carried and spread by black rats. At this point in time, no one knew that the rats carried the disease. These infected rats eventually boarded merchant ships. These merchant ships then unknowingly spread the disease by transporting the stowaway black rats during their travels. Italian merchants who were escaping the war in Central Asia, were thought to be the first to accidentally transport the disease to Europe on their ships. After a few days of traveling, many sailors became ill and began to die. Once the ships arrived in Europe and it became known there were sick and dead sailors on board, many port cities tried to refuse their entry. The cities were trying to shield themselves from the disease. Eventually, the ships were able to dock for a short while, which is all the time the rats needed to escape to shore. Once in Europe, the disease spread quickly just as it had in Central Asia.

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.

Some of the people in Europe tried to flee to escape the plague’s grasp. A schoolmaster in the Netherlands wrote a letter in 1484 that said that the plague killed many of his students and others had fled. (Doc. 1) The Black Death is thought to have originated in the dry plains of Central Asia, where it then travelled along the Silk Road, reaching Crimea by 1343.[ Even though he didn’t flee, he had a first-hand experience with the plague through his students by them leaving, and most likely dying anyway. Nicolas Versoris, a French author, wrote in his book, Book of Reason, in 1523, that the rich could afford to flee, and, therefore, the poor were doomed to meet their terrible fate. (Doc. 3) Since Nicholas was born in 1499, he likely didn’t have any experience with the plague, making this excerpt from the Book of Reason, a secondary source. Daniel Defoe, an English trader, writer and spy, among other vocations, wrote in his book, A Journal of the Plague Year, about the plague of 1665. He said that no country would open their ports for [English]

The Black Plague started in 1347 CE and ended in 1351 CE. Europe declined dramatically by the spreading of an unstoppable virus sent from central Asia. As the virus spread through towns, villages, and across countries, dead bodies of the victims caught by the virus started to pile and gather. As more bodies began to pileup, they were dumped into pits. (Wilson 438) There were many effects of the Black Plague in Europe. The three most important effects of the Black Plague was 1/3 to 1/2 of the European population died, land became worthless, and Jews were blamed for the outbreak and was targeted by Europeans. This impacted Europe socially and economically.

The Black Death 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 Caleb Alexander World History Mrs. Johnson Oct, 10, 2014 The Black Death 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.

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 Effects of the Black Plague on Christianity By Marilyn Griffin REL 387 AL Christ’s People through the Ages 10 October 2011 The Effects of the Black Plague on Christianity 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.

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 Death Nearly 650 years ago, in the beginning days of its time, Europe unfortunately was not the most thriving continent. Although it did have an abundance of food availability, this sent cities populations such as Florence, London, and Rome to grow by the dozens and brought much instability to

The Black Death was a disastrous disease that spread across Europe in the years 1346-53. The name although might be a mistranslation of the Latin word ‘atra’ meaning both ‘terrible’ and ‘black.’ Meaning the people of the time probably called it the terrible death, not the black death. One major