The History of the Great Plague Essay

The black plague, also known as the bubonic plague, swept its way across Europe beginning in 1346 A.D. , killing an estimated thirty to fifty percent of the total population. The plague was spread by fleas infected with Yersinia pestis, and was carried over oceans by hitchhiking rats and pet gerbils. The plague outbreak that decimated the population was transported by infected Christian merchants

The disease was first introduced in Asia, but then quickly spread to Europe due to Europeans traveling because of trade routes. The disease which is carried by fleas and rats were a big threat. They were a big effect of the plague, and the deathly illness soon became airborne and the death rate skyrocketed to almost 100 percent. According to Europe slides part 2 slide 6 it states, “People got infected by fleas biting them or from rats. The disease traveled from Asia to all over Europe. The trade routes let in the disease. The rats traveled and spread the disease all over Europe. Stated from Document A on sources from Marchionne di Coppo di Stefano Bonaiuti it says, ” In all the city there was nothing to do but to carry the dead to a burial.” The black death was a major part in how medieval europe became

"The Black Death" is known as the worst natural disaster in European history. The plague spread throughout Europe from 1346-1352. Those who survived lived in constant fear of the plague's return and it did not disappear until the 1600s. Not only were the effects devastating at the time of infection, but during the aftermath as well. "The Black Death" of the fourteenth century dramatically altered Europe's social and economic structure.

The carriers of this disease were rats and fleas. It first started off with fleas, then fleas would then jump on rats and the rats would give the disease to humans. The disease didn 't harm the fleas and the rats could only take so much without showing ill effects. Rats would get on ships and make everyone on the ships sick. This is how the Plague traveled.

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

In the 14th century the Black Death engulfed Europe killing an estimated 50 million people. The pandemic is considered extraordinary because it did so in a matter of months. This disease was carried by fleas, the Bubonic Plague is caused by a bacteria called Yersinia pestis, found mainly in rodents, in this case in rats, and the fleas that feed on them.

The plague was a catastrophic time in history, and happened more than once. It took millions and millions of people’s lives. It destroyed cities and countries, and many people suffered from it.

The Black Death was the second major plague outbreak in history, the first being the Justinian Plague in 541. The Black Death is believed to have been started in Central Asia. It was then spread to Europe with trade and attacks from Mongol armies. Most notable of these attacks was an attack on the major trade city of Caffa. Many believe that during the Siege of Caffa in 1346 Mongols catapulted infected bodies into the city, as an early form of biological warfare, but the exact method of the outbreaks entrance into Europe is unknown, as research on the Siege of Caffa has shown:

The Great Plague of London claimed seventy five thousand to one hundred thousand lives of their population of four hundred sixty thousand, from 1664 to 1666. The epidemic raged through Cologne and the Rhine from 1666 to 1670, the Netherlands from 1667 to 1669, soon following it subsided in western Europe. This this was followed with outbreaks in North Africa, Poland, Hungary, Austria, and Germany. Malta lost eleven thousand people in 1675, Vienna lost at least seventy six thousand in 1679, and Prague lost eighty three thousand in 1681. Germany also was a victim of the plague’s carnage until it disappeared in Germany in 1683.

The disease had not only killed one thousand people a day but it effected animals as well ranging from horses to ostriches. The plague also caused a economic collapse as well as a political collapse within the eastern Mediterranean In Europe it wasn’t any different, the plague first landed in Italian peninsula and then made its way to six other countries. Europe may have been one of the worst areas because of the mass cities and the plague effecting people of all classes that were crowded the black plague killed fifty million people of the eighty million people within five years. Then while many people were living hard lives the church and the priests lived luxury lives and would ignore the people who needed

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.

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 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 Great Plague was an outbreak that killed a third of population in Europe. It was a scourge that originated in the arid plains of central Asia and traveled along the Silk Road. From then on, fleas living on rats, which were typically found on merchant ships, carried it. There were three types of the plague: bubonic plague, this was an infection of the lymph glands and

The Great Plague killed nearly half of the European population during the fourteenth century. A plague is a widespread illness. The Illness was also known as the “Black Death”. Most of the European people believed the plague was the beginning of the end of the world. They were scarcely equipped and unready for what was to be entailed. It was by far one of the worst epidemics yet to be seen in those times.