The Plague Of The Black Death

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 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 ages was severely underdeveloped. No one knew about bacteria, viruses, or other microbial agents of disease (Benedictow 2004). They had no way of protecting themselves during that time and no one was safe from the effects of the plague. Those who wrote chronicles claimed that only a tenth of the population had survived, while others claimed that half to a third of the population was left alive (Horrox 1994). In 1351, agents for Pope Clement VI predicted the number of deaths in Europe to be 23,840,000 (Gottfried 1983). Obviously, not all regions experienced the same mortality rates, but modern estimates of the death rate in England give the first outbreak a mortality rate of about forty-eight percent (Horrox 1994). That is, England lost half of its population in about a year and a half. Clearly the chroniclers ' who claimed that ninety percent of the population had died were overstating the magnitude of the plague, but this overemphasis demonstrates how terrifying the pandemic was to those who experienced it (Horrox 1994). The Black Death had huge consequences on the lives of those who were impacted directly, as well as major religious and cultural effects that came afterward.

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

The black death arrived in Europe in October of 1347. It was brought by twelve Genoese trading ships that docked at the Sicilian port of Messina after a lengthy expedition through the Black Sea. The people that were gathered on the docks to meet the twelve ships were greeted with a terrifying surprise: the majority of the sailors that were on they ship were dead, and the ones that were still alive were somberly ill. They had fevers, were unable to hold down food, and were delirious from pain. They were covered with big black boils that oozed pus and blood. The illness was named the “Black Death” because of the black boils.

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.

Leading up to the Black Plague in Europe, there were many other plague outbreaks around it, such as the one in the East Roman empire in the sixth century. In 1348 the Bubonic Plague was introduced to the European nations from a type of bacteria called Yersinia pestis which can be carried by fleas that are on the backs of rats,

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.

Late Medieval Christianity in Europe was known for conflict and death. Terrible weather conditions made food production drop which led to starvation. A deadly plague, known as the Black Death, emerged. The economy was falling apart. Churches went from a place of safety to a place of wrongdoing, which ultimately led to the Hundred Years’ War. Despite this devastation, there was one influential mystic woman, Catherine of Siena, who was trying to bring everyone back to peace. Catherine devoted herself to religion at a young age. She wanted to work in the public and help everyone who was being affected by the plague, even with the risk of becoming infected herself. Since the Black Death started many significant issues that occurred in Europe during

The Middle Ages were a dark time, education became unimportant and people were forced to live in houses close together and, consequently, hygiene was atrocious and it made the perfect place for Yersinia Pestis to thrive. Yersinia Pestis is the virus responsible for the Black Death, a deadly disease that rapidly powered through Europe, killing nearly all of the people in its way. The Black Death had a lot of gruesome and terrifying symptoms that made bystanders sick just watching. Certain people were more likely to acquire the Black Death than others. Since peasants had worse living conditions than the nobility, they were far more likely to catch the Plague. The history of the Plague and its track is surprising to a lot of people and when they realize just how many people the Plague actually killed, they will fully understand how frightening it was for the people who did not have the disease that there was a chance they could become sick too. Its symptoms, who is most likely to acquire the Black Death, and its history are just a few of the reasons that make the Black Death an alarming disease.

The black plague took thirty to fifty percent of Europe’s population from the years 1347 to 1351. For many people, it was a devastating loss for Europe’s population and Europe would never be the same after this tragic disaster. Many people roamed the streets of Europe delirious from unbearable pain, unable to keep food down, and overcome with fever. Citizens of Europe were covered in black, oozing boils that were unbelievably painful. These black, painful boils are where the plague got its name, “The Black Plague”. The Black Plague spread through Europe, killed half of the population, and had terrifying symptoms.

The Medieval Europeans Strong Christian Theological View of the Black Death The Black Death was a plague that ravished most of the western world in the Fourteenth century, killing an estimated 30-50 present of the population in Europe (Park). The medieval people of Europe during the Fourteenth century were integrating natural philosophy with Christian theology, which they had been doing for several decades (Lindberg). This integration of natural philosophy into Christian theology showed in how they understood the Black Death. Europeans saw the Black Death as being created by God, thus explaining it with Christian theology.

“The Black Death plague was one of the worst things to happen to Europe in the years 1346-53. The Black Death came from central Asia in the autumn to Britain in 1346. Also known as the bubonic plague, it spreads by infected fleas, the epidemic swept through over the better part of the next year. This horrible disease destroyed many lives and killed hundreds upon hundreds of people. It was probably one of the worst plagues in Europe.

The first outbreak of the plague was traced back to China, in the early 1330's, when suddenly a great pestilence spread out from the Gobi desert and started to reach the cities of the Monoglian empire. At that time the Mongolian empire was at its peak and it had set up trading routes to the different nations of Europe, which meant the bubonic plague could be spread very easily by merchants transporting their wares to Europe. The first merchant ships to bring the plague to Europe arrived on October 1347 when twelve ships that had just ended the journey sailing from the Black sea docked in the harbour town of Messina in Sicily. When people welcomed

In the 1300s, the Black Death swept across the western world, leaving behind a different perspective on the world. The Black Death rampaged through cities, killing thousands of people a day, leaving the remaining citizens distraught. With the multitude of death, many people began to contemplate what the afterlife held in store for them. Therefore, pieces like the Dance of Death, transi tombs, the Three Living and Three Dead, and many other artistic expressions about death began to appear. The artistic elements illustrate a complex combination of similarities and difference. However, the central theme focused on the inevitable fate of mankind.

If asked to perform a task or to accept a belief as the truth despite the asker’s justification contradicting the obvious, most people would laugh at the foolishness of such a request. After all, how can one be expected to wholeheartedly believe an argument when all evidence is pointing the other way? When told that a brown, oval-shaped object with white lace is a basketball, would one blindly submit to this new definition of a football without demanding evidence for the person’s claim? A similar situation occurred during the 14th century, as society began to fall into disarray. Not only did the Church, the most important societal establishment, begin to lose its supreme influence, but millions of people became ill and died as a result of