The 14th century was a time when the threat of disease controlled European society, putting fear into every person’s mind. The Bubonic Plague was the disease that led not only to death, but to the abandonment of chivalry and sympathy. The disease first appeared in Europe in 1347, and by the end of 1348, it had traveled across most of Europe, leaving a trail of death (doc 1). With about one third of the population dead, Europe’s society was destroyed, but it was devastated further by the pessimistic and anti semitic attitudes many of the people had. As the Black Death traveled through Europe, it left thousands dead.From 1315 to 1322, the Great Famine caused starvation and death, weakening Europe’s population. Once the Black Death came into …show more content…
Some people believed that the plague came because of the sins committed in that town or city. As a result of this belief, Flagellants emerged. This group of people would publicly whip themselves in order to receive forgiveness of their sins and prevention of the plague. Others had a different view. Many people believed that the Jews, a non-Christian people, had poisoned their water, causing the plague. This theory led to an extreme hatred of the Jews and the killing of thousands of them. Thousands of Jews were burned and tortured.“Those who wanted to baptize themselves were spared”(doc 7). During the plague was not the only time Jews were targeted for their beliefs. During the First Crusade, on the Christian’s way to defeat the Muslims in Jerusalem, they killed thousands of Jews in the Rhineland Massacres simply because of their non-Christian beliefs. Religion was not the only motive for killing Jews during the plague. The feudal lords used the anti semitism as a way to profit; they “took the cash that the Jews possessed,” (doc 7). The purpose of“The Cremation of Jews in Strasbourg, Germany” is to show the reasons of the Jewish massacres based on religion and desire for wealth. The religious and monetary motives to eliminate the Jews tore apart European society which continued for many years
During the thirteenth century, a disease known as the Black Death spread from Asia to Europe at an alarming speed. It travelled through the trade routes, in the form of infected fleas carried from town to town on rats causing catastrophic loses of population . The Black Death consisted of two forms of the disease; the pneumonic plague, and the bubonic plague . Since it was unknown as to what caused the disease at the time, their responses to the plague’s outbreak were almost entirely futile. Since religion was a big factor in nearly everybody’s lives, the records of the Black Death that we do have are heavily influenced by religion, and as such, their views strongly swayed things like treatments and medicine that were used against the plague.
The blame lead to the Jewish nation being oppressed and world understanding that the Jewish nation will forever be the easiest to hold responsible. After the plague, Christians declared that very few Jews died from the plague, compared to the rest of the population. The Jewish law orders that Jews must wash their hands before eating and they must bathe before Shabbat. Jews are forbidden to recite a blessing with a stench, they must help the sick and must bury the dead. The rest of the world might have gone half their life without bathing and during the plague, the dead were left on the streets.
The Bubonic plague ended up being catastrophic, and so devastating to European society because it caused changes in attitude towards religion, changes in population, and an increase of antisemitism. The Black Death spread so quickly through Europe that people did not even have time to process what was going on. As seen in the map “The Bubonic Plague spreads through Europe,”
The Black Death ravaged over 20 million people in China, India, Persia, Syria and Egypt during the early 1340’s. Most of these people were in Europe; this was over ⅓ of the population at the time (“BLACK PLAGUE”). This was the First Pandemic of the Bubonic Plague, killing far more than any Pandemic to follow it. Given the knowledge of medicine and science during this era, the Black Plague spread like wildfire, and caused many hideous symptoms which led to several ineffective treatments. Luckily, scientists and doctors worked together to create a cure, and while the Bubonic Plague does still infect people to this day, the wave that killed countless Europeans died out by 1400 (“IN THE WAKE OF THE PLAGUE:
The disease wreaked havoc on the continent for three long years, and it eventually went into Russia (Whipps). Many people believed that the plague was God’s wrath upon man, and they prayed for long hours about this. Due to the danger of trading goods, the economy went through inflation. The prices of goods spiked, and land workers (serfs) were dying very rapidly. This created a huge demand for land workers, and it gave serfs the ability to choose whom they wished to work for (“Social and Economic Effects of the Plague”).
As it is with many major crises, the Jews were blamed during the time period of the plague. The people during the time thought that they may have had a disease bestowed upon them because they were living amongst Jews. They began exiling or murdering many Jews. Many Jewish areas were completely abandoned after the exiles, murders, and plague. People were also afraid because the Jews were getting the plague, but not at the same rate as the Jews.
The lack of legitimate scientific knowledge caused people to seek alternative answers. Superstitious beliefs both religious helped to alleviate fear. Many believed that the plague was punishment for their sins and turned to the church for repentance. Flagellantism became a trending movement during the time, and thousands of citizens gathered in processions, whipping themselves as a way of repenting. Feeling powerless, the majority of Europeans turned to the church for hope, especially the poor, who did not have the resources to flee the city like the rich, and were the most affected by the plague (Doc 3).
The Bubonic Plague, a Turning Point in World History During the 14th century CE, in Medieval Europe, the Bubonic Plague started in Mongolia (China) spreading west through trade routes bringing illness and death. The Bubonic Plague is an epidemic disease that resulted in big swellings in the armpits and couldn’t be cured with medicine. Based on an evaluation of the Bubonic plague, it can be considered a turning point in world history because it was a major factor in the decline of population, economy, and affected religion.
The epidemic affected Europe culturally, as the citizens developed an excessive reliance on religion as an answer for their tragedy. Additionally, the Black Death shifted the people’s social perspectives; they lost compassion for the sick and indulged in selfish desires. Finally, the pestilence altered the Europeans’ mental state, as their appreciation of life itself diminished, since the rapid spread of the plague caused torrential death rates across Europe. In response to the Black Death, the people of Europe became passionately pious, for they viewed their misfortune as a punishment from God and, thus, believed the only way to bring about continental happiness was through religion.
In the thirteenth century in Europe, the population had a relatively good life. Filled with fair weather and an expanding count of humans, progression seemed to be running smoothly along. However, something terrible was brewing on the horizon: toward the end of the century, a natural disaster hit in a magnitude that had never been seen before by anyone. The Bubonic Plague was a form of sickness that spread through Europe in the Black Death’s reign, riding on infected rats from fleas. This deadly bacterium, Yersinia pestis, killed “50 to 60 percent of its victims” (page 284) and was accompanied by “high fever, swelling joints, swelling of the lymph nodes, and dark blotches caused by bleeding beneath the skin” (page 284).
Most people saw it as a punishment from God. Jews were executed and accused of causing the plague by poising town
So why did they want to mass murder all the Jews? We now know how much Jews had to go through this time in history. Because seperation occured, the Jew lost their their belongings: this did not compare to witnessing the murders of their loved
The Bubonic Plague, also known as the Black death is a disease that ravaged Europe in the 14th century. The disease seemed incurable and spread like wildfire. The effects were devastating as roughly one third of Europe’s population is thought to have been lost along with countless Jewish people as the subject of blame. The origin of the Bubonic Plague was Central Asia but it made its way to Europe through trade ships. Fleas, the source of the disease, were on the rats carried over by these ships.
Thus, began the persecution of the Jews which involved burning all those accused, no matter age or gender. The last document however, states that the blaming of Jews was wrong and that they could not have possibly done such a heinous crime. The sickness had affected everyone regardless of who they were. The documents show and describe the Black Death and how it happened in many ways.
During the mid-fourteenth century, a plague hit Europe. Initially spreading through rats and subsequently fleas, it killed at least one-third of the population of Europe and continued intermittently until the 18th century. There was no known cure at the time, and the bacteria spread very quickly and would kill an infected person within two days, which led to structural public policies, religious, and medical changes in Europe. The plague had an enormous social effect, killing much of the population and encouraging new health reforms, it also had religious effects by attracting the attention of the Catholic Church, and lastly, it affected the trade around Europe, limiting the transportation of goods. As a response to the plague that took place