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Shocking Plague: The Black Death

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The Black Death was one of the most shocking plagues ever to exist. It caused the deaths of approximately 75 to 200 million people, and was at its most devastating between 1346 and 1353. This highly contagious disease started with bacteria called Yersinia pestis. Yersinia pestis is mostly discovered in rodents, especially rats, and in the fleas that forage on them. Contact with other humans and fleabites spread the Black Death. The Black Death changed society in three significant ways. These were Religion, Medical Science and the Feudal System.

The Black Death had a shocking impact on Religion. The pandemic was devastating, but perhaps that was because doctors knew so little about the Black Death. During the Black Death religion was considered …show more content…

The fighting began because of aroused suspicion. The two main religions at the time were Christian and Muslim. The two religions were suspicious of one another mainly because of the Crusades, and the persistence of the Spanish Christians that led to the recapture of Spain from Muslim control. Due to the fact that both Christians and Muslims saw disease as a way of God punishing them, the individuals of both religions accused the other of being the cause of the Black Death when it destroyed their people. As well as all this, the Jews were being tortured. The Christians also accused them of being the cause of the Black Death and would torment them until they admitted to bad deeds. Christians would take whole cities of Jews and burn them at the stake.

People’s belief was not as strong after the Black Death, because religion failed to cure the destructive illness.

The appearance of black or purple blotches on the skin is thought to be the origin of the name ‘Black Death’.

Medical Science was drastically altered because of the Black Death. During the Black Death people had varied opinions on how to treat the illness. Draining the blood from the body and herbal medicines were popular forms of treatment. Some patients would even have amputations in an attempt to get rid of the

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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.

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The Black Death had a big impact on European religion. Because people could not understand the plague, they strongly believed that the plague was a punishment sent by God. The church claimed that God was punishing people because of the sins they have committed. They organized religious marches and told people to pray to get rid of the horrible disease. However, around 1348, Christians started accusing the Jews of bringing and spreading the plague to Europe.

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The bacillus infects people through the bite of infected fleas and rats (“BLACK DEATH”). This was especially prominent in urban and over populated areas (“Ecology and Transmission“). When Plagues strike people and animals alike die horrifically, in turn fleas need to find other sources of food. The people living in poor conditions often get forayed by flea bites, thus infecting them (“Ecology and Transmission“). It was seldom for the Black Death to be spread from person to person.

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The Black Death contributed to the fall of trade between countries, and the halt of trade routes. Since many people were afraid of the Plague, they did not like to allow outsiders to enter their countries or trade with them. People still needed certain goods, so they ended up trading with infected people, for infected things. The Black Death shut down about three major trade routes, making it hard for disease long distance trade to occur. Trade ships were a large disease spreader, and made up about 20% of infection making it very easy for the Plague to spread to different countries.

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The Black Death was caused by various reasons, non-religious and religious. The disease in Europe, was said to be caused by, miasma (impure air) carried by warm southern winds, the March 20, 1345, conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, excessive clothing or outrageous fashion, and in the near east, caused by, miasma due to wind carrying the stench of Mongol bodies from Crimea,

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