The Great Plague: The Black Death

The reactions from the Christians and the Muslims to the greatly feared disease, known as the Black Death or the Great Plague were different in several ways. The first Plague was documented from 541 to 544 CE. Known as the Plague of Justinian. The Plague came in three different ways: bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic. With bubonic being the most common. 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,

The disease killed a multitude of people, the pre-plague population of Europe was 75,000,000, but in 1351 went down drastically to 51,160,000, leaving Europe with a mortality rate of 31%. The pre-plague estimated population of the English population was 4,200,000, the post-plague estimated population of the English population was 2,800,000. The general English population had a death rate of 33%, the death rate of English monks in monasteries was 44%. All of the parish priests had a death rate of 45%. The pre-plague Egyptian population was about 4 to 8,000,000 and the death rate becoming 25 to 33%. The pre-plague Syrian population was 1,200,000 with the death rate being 33%. The people who suffered from this diseases body’s were typically carried by biers and benches, although many people were dying and there was not an adequate amount of biers and benches to carry all the bodies. The bodies started being carried by wooden planks, ladders, doors, window shutters, and baskets. Sometimes a bier or a plank carried several bodies. (DBQ: The Black Death,

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. They believed the resurrection would come, and that means the deserving dead would resurrect, on this day everyone prayed. Some of the Muslim society at this time would have considered the Black Death an apocalypse. (DBQ: The Black Death, 2010) The Black Death was a tragic, scary time for everyone who lived in it, But the responses from the Muslims and the Christians were much different. The plague ended in 1351, as a result of the plague the people fasted for 3 days, afterward assembling in the Great mosque, and spent the night there in prayers. The Jews went out with their book of the law and the Christians with the gospel. (DBQ: The Black Death,