Change in European Understanding of Plague in the 1348 versus 1352 Known as the “Black Death,” one of the most devastating plague pandemic wiped out approximately 30 to 60 percent of the European population, peaking in between 1348 and 1350 . It caused massive religious, social, and economic, upheaval in the European society causing great changes in the European culture and lifestyle1. Finally, when after three and a half years the first wave passed in 1351, it spared few regions causing devastation in towns, rural communities, families, and religious institutions . The plague was reportedly first introduced to Europe via the ports of Caffa and Sicily in 1347, when several Italian merchant ships returned from a trip to the Black Sea, one of the key links in trade with China .
In the spring of 1348, the most devastating pandemic in European history infected it’s first victim along the coast of Italy. The Bubonic Plague had established a foothold and would continue to rip its way through Europe for the rest of the 14th century. The Bubonic Plague is a vector borne illness that is transmitted by a flea that is typically found on rats. The plague originated in Eastern Asia, but found its way to Europe along trade routes carried by rats on Genoese ships. The Bubonic Plague was extremely devastating to European society in several ways including: major population destruction, harsh invalid accusations, and compounding medical issues.
The Black Death was a large-scale infectious disease that spread rapidly through Medieval Europe between 1349-1351. The Black Death was a bubonic plague, meaning people would experience egg-sized swellings (buboes) on their necks, armpits and groin. The source of the plague was traced back to the black rat and rat flea. Fleas would bite rats and obtain the bacteria then bite humans, which would cause the bacteria to enter the bloodstream, once in the bloodstream the person would die within three days.
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.
Many factors played a key role in the extensive spread of the Black Death, or Bubonic plague, like insect bites or rodents, but the progressive trade networks were the most impactful. It started in Asia, in the 1300’s, but the new trade routes allowed it to spread across the Indian Ocean. Many people from many different backgrounds were negatively affected by this disease, and many didn’t know that they were exposed to the disease until it was too late. The Black Death had a variety of clinical forms, but no matter which type a person had, they were guaranteed death. This disease completely changed the medieval world and affected religions as well as many other ways of life or cultures.
The historical pandemic of the Black Death (1347-1352), which killed 25 million people, greatly impacted the European history of the Middle Ages. Originating from China and Inner Asia, the infection of the bacterium Yersinia pestis had widely spread, rapidly infecting those who encounter the infected. The main cause of the spread derived from flea-infected rats on boats or the fleas on the bodies and clothes of the travellers. People at the time had limited understanding of the world, so they believed that the Black Death had an association with supernatural forces such as God’s punishment for sin and demonic acts, along with performing medical procedures that were futile for the disease. The era was highly affected by the plague,
The Black Death The Black Death: The Medieval black plague that ravaged Europe and killed a third of its population. It was due to the plague which is caused by a bacterium (Yersinia pestis) transmitted to humans from infected rats by the oriental rat flea. “By all accounts, the Black Death spread from France in the summer of 1348 to the port of Weymouth on the southern coast of England, from whence it travelled very rapidly to other ports in both directions along the coast. It progressed up through the Bristol Channel to Bristol before advancing along the Severn to Gloucester.
Woosh! Everyone is in their homes, trying to protect themselves from the deadly disease sweeping through the countryside. That plague was the Black Death, and it killed nearly two-thirds of the population in Medieval Europe. Miasma, bad air, and rats are possible causes of the horrible plague Black Death. In exhibit D, titled “The Miasma”, it explains that Plague doctors wore strange masks to protect from Miasma.
According to Ole J. Benedictow “Inevitably [the Black Plague] had an enormous impact on European society and greatly affected the dynamics of change and development from the medieval to Early Modern period. A historical turning point, as well as a vast human tragedy, the Black Death of 1346-53 is unparalleled in human history.” It was one of the most devastating diseases in history
The Black Death was a widespread of bubonic plague, a disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pastis that mixes between wild rodents where they live in great numbers. Normally, it takes ten to fourteen days before plague has killed off most of a contaminated rat colony, making it difficult for great numbers of fleas gathered on the remaining, but soon- dying, rats to find new hosts. After three days of fasting, hungry rat fleas turn on humans. Following very precisely the medieval
The Black Death Set in the 1340s, crucial disease started named by The Plague, this was one of the biggest world spreading diesis going through Europe. This was cause by an infection carried by rodents, biting the victim. In addition, this can be spread by trade, like trading over food that these rodents have been on. The plague was punishing to people, thinking that god had done this to them.
The Black Plague and its Impact on Society in Medieval Europe The Black Plague, also known as the Black Death, was a global epidemic that struck Europe in the 1300s. It killed millions of citizens and had an extremely negative effect on the growing and developing populous. However, death wasn’t the only major change that the people of Europe experienced. The most significant impact of the Black Plague rather than death was the lasting effects it had on society as job and gender roles broke the norm, and new religious tactics and beliefs were developed and implemented to control and protect the European people.
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.
The black plague is remembered as a very horrific and bleak crisis in the Middle Ages, a tragedy. However, the black plague was actually a good thing, and very beneficial to Europe. From population control, to higher living standards, there are many great things that the black death has helped create. First off, the black death is known to be the cause of death for millions in the Middle Ages. But these deaths were simply natural selection, and very beneficial to Europe, Survivors of the black death made it because of their superior immune system genes.
The economic impact of this contagious disease which spread across Europe during the Middle Ages affected the entire continent. It is, however, extremely difficult to gather the data needed to calculate the economic consequences of these infections. An analysis of various medieval infectious diseases can add to enlightening the possible economic and cultural consequences of plagues. The outcome of every epidemic is a systematic study and its effects are not always the same.
