The Plague Of The Century

The Bubonic Plague, also known as the Black Death, was a fatal disease that affected millions of people. Originated from China, the Bubonic Plague spread throughout Europe and made its way to Italy in 1347. (document 1) The Black Death, which covered the body with dark and livid spots, was difficult to treat. No one knew how to treat the disease nor how it began to spread.

The Florentine Chronicle is an interestingly organized piece of work, in which Stefani mixes a chronicling of the presentation of the bubonic plague and its effects with the wider effects on Florentine society. Written in the late 1370s and 1380s, Stefani begins by describing some of the effects of the disease, and how it would alienate families from each other. He goes on to explain how the sick were abandoned in droves,

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

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.

All throughout history nations all over the world have dealt with deadly diseases, but one in particular brought out the fear in the nations of Europe, the bubonic plague or as others call it, the black death. During the thirteenth century, medicine was not as developed as it is now, causing England to suffer more than others. According to Cantor (2002) the European nations encountered the bubonic plague in its most brutal state during 1348 to 1349, taking out about a third of Europe’s population (pp. 6-7). He continues on by claiming that one big question to this event was whether or not the plague was the full cause to the loss of lives or if there was another cause along with it (p. 11). Cantor (2002) also explained that the reason the black plague stopped in Europe around the eighteenth century could possibly have been from an introduction to a new species of rats, the gray rat (p. 13). Even though there is controversy based around the plague being spread by rats and how it was stopped by isolation, it may have taught countries useful strategies and ways to grow stronger.

Norman F. Cantor, In the Wake of the Plague (New York: Harper Collins First Perennial edition, 2001) examines how the bubonic plague, or Black Death, affected Europe in the fourteenth century. Cantor recounts specific events in the time leading up to the plague, during the plague, and in the aftermath of the plague. He wrote the book to relate the experiences of victims and survivors and to illustrate the impact that the plague had on the government, families, religion, the social structure, and art.

The Black Death of the mid-fourteenth century will have the greatest impact on the 16th and 17th centuries. The plague caused the European population the drop by 25 to 50 percent, induced movements and many revolts, and prompted changes in urban life. The European population dropped by 25 to 50 percent between 1347 and 1351. So, if the European population was 75 million, this would mean the 18.75 to 37.5 million people died in four years. There were also major outbreaks that lasted many years until the end of the 15th century. Mortality figures were incredibly high. As a result, the European population did not begin to recover until the 16th century. It took many generations after that to achieve thirteenth-century levels. The plague induced movements and many revolts in Europe.

The Bubonic plague has been said to be a part of history since the biblical eras and has had an undeniable effect on the development of contemporary civilization Gowen, B.S. (1907). The cause of the plague is not known. However, there is religious reference of God punishing sinners causing death and destruction using this deadly disease. Throughout the years, there has been a question to be answered by historians and medical professionals. This question is: if the destructive attributes of the disease was an act of God to punish sinners or an act of nature? Today, historians believe that the existence of germs, given suitable soil conditions, mass-produced the disease.

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

During this time there was a horrible plague called The Black Death. The Black Death was killing almost 100% of the population once it became airborne. Document A; Marchiontarst al Coppe di Stefano Buonaiuti, “[The Black Death] was such a frightful thing that when it got into a house, as was said, no one remained. ”Also, “There the plague sat like a lion on a throne and swayed with power, killing daily one

people in the city of Florence, Italy. Several years earlier in the orient it had manifested and

The Bubonic Plague took the lives of many individuals in the heart of Florence. Its reign affected “not just that of men and women…but even sentient animals” (Stefani). While the plague only lasted a mere six months, from March 1348 – September 1348, it is a piece of time that society should forever acknowledge and learn from. Much of the significant information from the Bubonic plague are unbeknownst to people today, even though it possesses such an importance aspect in our history. Therefore, in this essay, I will discuss the effects the plague had on the people of Florence, and how the appearance of this plague brought about short and long term historical change what we see today.

I am a lawyer living in Florence. The year is 1348. I am writing this

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.

A Journal of the Plague Year is a first person account of what it was like living through the times of the plague. It recollects stories and other accounts of plague times heard by and collected by the Defoe from other involved individuals. Explains many aspects before, during, and after the plague of their ways of life and culture. Tells of tales of survivors of the plague but mostly off different tales of deaths and how they died in many outrageous and tragic ways of people killing their families, themselves, or masses of people. The whole journal is filled with collections of stories, but also with charts showing the deaths in different parishes and how they change as the plague raged on. In the end, it tells how life went back to normal for London and Defoe and his family.