What Is The Distinction Between Celestial And Terrestrial Causes?

During the fourteenth century a disease ravaged across the middle east that calculated up to fifty million deaths and impoverished half of Europe. This disastrous disease had attained the nick-name, “Black Death”, referring to its high fatality rate. The plague, as some may call it, scattered amongst the whole world taking many lives because of the lack of medical attention or treatment and is even still around till this day. The Black Death is best understood through its symptoms, treatments, and death toll changing life in the fourteenth century.

The Black Death was the worst epidemic in the history of the world to date. The plague killed off more than a third of the total European population during the mid-1300’s. Several people believed that the plague was punishment from God for the sins of man, while others believed it was brought about by natural causes, and there were yet others who did not care where or why the plague came but only how they could better their own lives.

Doctors responded with a series of changes are to thank for the development of modern science. Gottfried succeeded in convincing me that his thesis was truth. The opening chapters gave me a solid background of plague, explaining why he believes it had such an impact on medieval population and culture. Next, it delves into the affect that changing weather had on the plagues, explaining the European environment during 1050-1347; the time of plagues greatest destruction. That complete, Gottfried describes the consequences immediately following the plague. It is said that the disease killed 25% to 40% of Eurasia and part of Africa. By this point, it is more than obvious that plague had a tragic affect on Medieval Europe, but it is unclear as to the causes, and the effect plague had on society, which seemed to be his theses in the opening chapters. But he does not ignore these topics. After giving a full background on plague and European culture and environment, Gottfried gives solid details to support his theses. According to Gottfried, the Medical structure of Medieval Europe, adopted from that of the Romans, was nearly eliminated in the search for ways to cure plague. The spread of plague, successfully stated by Gottfried, directly depends on climate. Plague can only spread under certain climate conditions. In order for Y. Pestis, a series of complex bacterial strains, to survive, it mustn't be too hot nor too cold.

The Black Plague (also known as the Black Death or Bubonic Plague) of the 1300s is considered by many historians to be one of the most influential events in the history of Europe. Originating in Asia, the Black Plague has three forms; Bubonic which affects the lymph nodes, pneumonic which affects the lungs, and septicemia which affects the blood. Through examining the effects of the Plague on Europe and its people, it is clear that politics, social life, and economics were all irreparably thrown off balance. Perhaps the part of Europe disturbed most by the Black Death was politics.

Sometimes the missteps of the medical community went so far as to cause inadvertent harm. Jacme D’agramont, physician and professor, writes in his “Regiment de preservacio a epidimia o pestiliencia e mortaldats” of the dangers of bathing because it opens one’s pores and “through these pores corrupt air enters and has a powerful influence upon our body and on our humors.” (Aberth, 1186). The entire period was wrought with novelty cures and hypotheses about overcoming the plague, and so often these approaches failed that eventually the people would find solace wherever they could. Even art had a voice in coping with the Black Death. Much of the art was not only therapeutic for the artists and those who enjoyed them but they serve as an insight into the shared setiments of the time. These pieces understandably emphasize death and its inevitability as a primary theme. While the real victor over the plague turned out to be time, this perspective on conflict serves as a testament to the long-suffering determination of humanity to survive and thrive.

the Great Mortality, and the Pestilence. The disease that most scholars believe struck Europe was

The word “plague” is defined as a contagious bacterial disease characterized by fever and delirium, typically with the formation of buboes, and sometimes infection of the lungs. The article entitled, “On the Progress of the Black Death”, written by Jean de Venette, a French Carmelite friar who was a leading clergyman around Paris at the time of the Black Death, is a well-known account of the spread of the plague in Northern Europe. In this account, Jean de Venette explained the history of the plague, its causes and its consequences.

Another example from the book is in chapter 2 on page 15 the idea that illness was caused by microscopic organisms, such as bacteria and viruses, was not known at the time. Instead, doctors based their medical thinking on the 2,500-year-old Greek humoral theory. THis concept stated that good health resulted when body fluids, called humors, were balance. This means that you could have the humors. The humors were phlegm, choler, bile, and blood.

One of the factors that led to the devastation the Bubonic Plague caused was the insufficient knowledge of the time. People did not understand the cause of the plague which made it difficult to prevent it. In much of the art work done at the time, it depicted Angels of Death shooting victims with their arrows, as a representation of the plague (Document 2). The idea that arrows could bring about the plague shows the lack of knowledge of the real cause of the Black Death. Many people searched for help from physicians, but either from their basic understanding of medicine or the essence of the

It was in the 14th century that a catastrophic and deadly Plague hit Europe. The Black Plague killed up to a 3rd of Europe’s population. This lead to medieval science changing dramatically as people began to question how much authority the church should be given, and began to turn to science for logical answers. The plague also contributed to the Peasants anger that evolved into the Peasants Revolt, and ultimately, the breakdown of the feudal system.

He/She talks about the different methods used in desperate need to find a cure such as astrology or it was punishment for human sin. Finally medical students such as Gentile da Foligno thought that it was thought the air, while rival school came up with “choleric matter.”The difference between the two is “Choleric matter”theory is basically stating that Cholera or yellow bite was part of the human body and deemed essential for health but any access to it was cause to disease. While Gentile’s theory was that once the air was corrupt with the disease and you inhale it your body creates “Poisonous Matter” near the heart and lungs which caused the disease. But neither of these really produced a cure, Alfonso de Córdoba explained that the black death was from human and artificial causes “played into popular psychology need to maintain human control over such an extraordinary disease.”Over all many citizens viewed doctors during the time of the Black Death very

In the middle ages people had no idea about how any disease such as the Black Death could spread. The Europeans think “it disseminated by the influence of the celestial bodies, or sent upon them by God in his just wrath” (Boccaccio). In other words, they think the plague came from the sky or sent by God. They think maybe it is God’s way of cleansing the earth or punishing them for their unfair behaviors. Some think that a supernatural origin caused the disease. This disease is a bacterium infection which has a variety of symptoms, such as, nose bleeding, tumors in the groin or armpits and black spots or

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.

Whilst some argue that the celestial cause of the plague prompted the terrestrial one, views on the pestilence are not as clear cut as a simple chain of causation, and in some cases there are outright discrepancies between doctors and medical experts. This is especially the case with Konrad of Megenberg, a German cleric and popular writer on scientific questions, who outright debunks the celestial cause, arguing that because no planetary conjunction lasts for more than a year or two, its influence could not have stretched for the entirety of the first outbreak (which had been underway for three years whilst he was composing his views). Megenberg also stresses that since the movements of the celestial bodies obey a strict order, the epidemic

The Middle Ages were tough times when it came to disease and medicine. There were numerous types of sickness and disease that flooded Europe during the Middle Ages. Not helping the situation, the medicinal knowledge of the people of Europe of the time was not up to par. Some of the diseases and illness that were running rampant during these times were pneumonia, leprosy, and the plague. The middle ages were a time of great suffering and death because of the abundant disease and lack of knowledge of the spread and treatments.