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The Black Death: The Plague And The Greatest Catastrophe Ever

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“The Greatest Mortality”
Life throughout the Middle Ages was incredibly difficult due to over population, famine, lower standards of living, disease and illness due to lack of proper hygienic upkeep. Some of these societal conditions contributed to far greater crisis. In fact, Europe experienced one of the greatest crisis or pandemics known to man, the Black Death. The Black Death has also been referred to as “The Plague”, “The Greatest Biomedical Disaster in History”, and “The Greatest Catastrophe Ever”. The Black Death was a crisis that significantly impacted the late Middle Ages and brought about one of the most prosperous period, known as the Renaissance. It was an event which came unexpectedly and changed several important aspects of life …show more content…

In October 1347, The Black Death entered Europe through the Sicilian Ports of Messina in Italy. Locals eagerly awaited the merchant ships to dock so that they may enjoy the riches and traded goods brought from afar. Instead, people quickly discovered the merchant ships to be filled with sailors whom were dead or severely ill. Out of fear, Sicilian authorities ordered the “death ships” to leave the ports and return to sea (“Black Death”). However, the short time docked was just enough to welcomed this “terrible and unnatural event” as recorded by Michele da Piazza (Scott and Duncan 44). Although the plague took approximately three years to spread throughout all of Europe, an unprecedented number of deaths occurred within a matter of weeks of first contact. Undoubtedly, the Black Death quickly spread throughout Europe moving along trade routes, cities, and by sea. It wasn’t long before Europeans were surrounded by …show more content…

Not only did the church believe the Black Death to be a punishment from God, they also refused to help those who exhibited signs of plague. This caused to turn away from the church and beginning viewing the world in an individualistic way. In addition, people began to question the credibility and power of the church as they witnessed the significant shortage in qualified priests increasing (Byrne 141). If the plague was a punishment from God, why were so many clergy dying? The church attempted to recruit new clergymen to fill voids within the church, however, most new recruits were illiterate and deemed unqualified (James). This caused some remaining clergymen to abandon the church because their standards were lowered. Eventually, the church lost a significant amount of power and became weakened by the Black

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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:

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The Bubonic Plague (Black Death) came to the eastern Mediterranean along the shipping routs. It reached Italy in spring of 1348. By the time the disease spread between 25% and 50% of Europes population had died (document 1, (Source: EyeWitnesstoHistory.com) the Bubonic Plague was spread because in this time there was not any place to put garbage and wast products like we have today, so they would just leave the trash/wast anywhere and everywhere and the result of this would bring rats and many other animals, and with these animals they had fleas and eventually the fleas would get to the people and the humans would get sick and spread it to everyone. Some symptoms of the Bubonic Plague were large swelling lumps which they called "buboes" sizing

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In mid-fourteenth century Europe a plague (also known as the Black Death) appeared in which the first wave killed millions of people. But the plague didn’t stop there, it persisted, spreading around the whole known world and exerting its power on people up until the eighteenth century. In Europe there were many responses to the plague which included helping to stop and cure the plague, profiting off it, and trying to protect and care for their loved ones. One response to the plague was to help stop and cure the plague. As the traveler Heinrich von Staden observes, “....

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In 1347, Europe had just been infected by the Black Death. This epidemic killed over 2/3 of Europe’s population and lasted for over five years. The pathogen that caused the Black Death was Yersinia Pestis which causes many forms of plague. The Plague originated in central and south Asia then traveled through trade routes like the Silk Road, all the way to Sicily The Black Death killed most of Europe’s population, thus ending Feudalism by having not enough serfs and workers to run fields and farms. The land owners started to offer more for their work and labor, making the lower class more wealthy, and providing more jobs.

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The Christians thought the Lord was punishing them with the disease, and that when the Lord was enraged to embrace in acts of penance, so that you do not stray from the right path and parish. The Christians pray to their Lord and ask what they should do? A great number of saintly sisters of the Hotel Dieu, who did not fear to die, nursed the sick in all sweetness and humility, with no thought of honor, a number too often renewed by death, rest in peace with Christ, as we may piously believe. People began to think the Jews were guilty for the disease. The Muslims looked at praying for the disease to go away in disgust, because they believe the plague is a blessing from God.

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The trade and trade routes allowed the unknowingly infected people of a village to move to uninfected villages and cities around Europe. This trading and the trade routes also allowed the infected rats and fleas to move and infect other villages too. These trade routes soon become the main point of infection for many town living on the coast of Italy, spain and France during the time of the Black Death, killing up to 30 - 70% of their population. Trade and trade routes were a significant factor towards the spread of the Black Death but was not the only factor that helped it spread.

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The Black Death was a disease that had a catastrophic impact on Europe. Reaching Europe in 1347, the plague killed an estimation of one-third of the population in the first wave. Each document varies with its reasons for the cause of the plague and how to deal with it. The first document Ordinances against the Spread of Plague seemed to blame Pisa and Lucca for the plague and thus, began to forbid contact with those places. It was forbidden for citizens of Pistoia to go to, or have contact with anyone or anything from Pisa or Lucca.

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Often as a result of overpopulation, pandemics—like swine flu and ebola, for instance—have affected life on Earth for centuries; one of the most well-known, and possibly the most unforgiving epidemics was the Bubonic Plague, also known as the Black Death . Although the first symptoms of the Plague trace back to the Mongol Empire in 1331, the disease first struck Europe in Venice and Genoa during the winter of 1348. In the following years, the Bubonic Plague spread rapidly throughout Europe, killing roughly a third of its population. It is suggested that the rapid spread and extreme severity of the Black Death was partially due to the weakened immune system of the Europeans, which had been caused by the Great Famine, a period of food scarcity that affected Europe from 1315 to 1322. Additionally, the lack of knowledge about the spread of

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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

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Like many horrendous events that have altered the course of history, there always seem to be a scapegoat to point blame to. The Black Death of the 14th century was no different. The Europeans looked to religion to find answers of why the plague was taking place, why people were leaving this world, and why others were spared. But as stated before, an answer from a religious point of view would be that god is angry for the sins that were taking place during that century. From this analysis, it can be argued that this line of thought led the Europeans to cast blame on non-Christians--or more specifically people that were not Christendom, “People looked for answers [...]

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The Black Death The Black Death, also known as the Bubonic Plague, was one of the biggest pandemics in the world. It started to spread from Eastern China, to Europe in the early 1300’s, and it reoccurred multiple times during the years to come. Merchant ships and rodents were the two main ways this disease spread and infected humans (The Black Death 1348). The symptoms for this plague were extremely painful and death was the most likely outcome in most cases.

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It was the Spring of 1348, and the citizens of Europe were malnourished due to limited food supplies for such a large population. This made them more susceptible to the outbreak of the Black Death. The Black Death originated in Asia, then moved westward into Sicily. From Sicily, the plague crept its way up through Europe infecting millions of people, in total killing more than one third of Europe’s population. In fact, over fifty percent of the population of Siena died, along with fifty percent of Paris, eighty percent of Florence, and over two thirds of Venice.

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Did the Black Death break the Malthusian Deadlock that was hanging over England in the 14th century? Did the people really create a better country after this horrendous plague? These exemplify some of the intriguing questions asked about the Black Death. The essay examined a variety of factors from population to the economic factors regarding the Black Death.

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