The Plague DBQ

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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, “....Whatever house the pestilence visited was immediately nailed up and if a person died within, he had to be buried there...” Staden’s observation was the people’s method …show more content…

For instance, Nehemiah Wallington wrote in his diary, “What if the sickness should come into this house? Who would I be willing to give up…? The maid. Who next?...” Wallington was deciding the order in which he would like the disease to take his family if it came. He specified all his servants and unrelated members of the household, thereby protecting his loved ones (Doc. 8). Another example is with Lisabetta Centenni, an Italian housewife whose husband had contracted the plague. So she reached out to Sister Angelica del Macchia who, “...sent me a little piece of bread that had touched the body of St. Domenica. I fed it to my husband and suddenly the fever broke” As soon as her husband became sick she looked for help protecting her loved one (Doc. 7). Also, Father Dragoni said, “I have accompanied severity with compassion and charity.” Father Dragoni took anyone in who needed help, fed many people, and paid guards and gravediggers for others (Doc. 9). Finally, If a family member or relative contracted the disease the family would do anything in their power to assist that person. They would go searching for cures or treatments and would give that person as much attention as possible before their eventual recovery or death. In conclusion, the Black Death was one of the most deadly plagues in the history of the world. Horrible events like this force human beings to respond