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 .
There are many theories of how it was stopped; one of them is through implementation of quarantines. People would stay out of the way of infected people or rats. Another one is that people said it didn?t entirely stop it would keep coming back but it wasn?t as bad as the first time it hit. They said that it would keep coming back people so people started to become immune and it wouldn?t affect some people. There are many types of plagues and what they do to people is all different.
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.
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 decline of population was a prominent aspect in the deadly epidemic. Physicians didn’t have any knowledge of the Black Plague, which made it difficult to cure and eliminate the disease. With the lack of information about the disease and how it started, it resulted in many people not being able to get cured: “perhaps either the nature of the disease did not allow for any cure or the ignorance of the physicians… did not know how to cure it; as a consequence, very few were ever cured…” (Bubonic Plague DBQ Doc. 1). There was no medicine for
The plague raged throughout Europe from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century evoking various responses from the people who experienced its terror. It affected all regions of Europe, killing one-third of the population. Various responses to the plague expressed different beliefs and concerns including exploitation, fear, and religious superstition. During the course of the plague these beliefs and concerns underwent change. During the outbreak of the plague fear dominated Europe, and as time passed fear became more irrational and superstitious.
One of the biggest summer nuisance would be the mosquito, but more specifically the Ades aegypti mosquito. The Aedes aegypti is the vector for yellow fever and the cause of the numerous deaths. In her book The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, The Epidemic the Shaped Our History, Molly Caldwell Crosby presents the idea that the mosquito is not just the only reason an epidemic occurred in the 18th century. This story accounts for the disease that broke out across the world and nearly destroyed almost all of North America’s population, which some believe could have been avoided by simple quarantine analysis and sanitary methods.
Throughout history diseases have been and outbreak everywhere. There are cures, but the ones that are very deadly can kill an ill person within hours. The name of the diseases is the Bird flu, Spanish flu, the Plague, the Cholera, Smallpox, and the Ebola. The disease that is most affecting the nation is the plague.
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 arrived in Europe in the year 1347 and was also known as the Black Plague. This horrible disease spread throughout Europe in places such as Scandinavia, Spain, Britain, Italy, Greece, Moscow, London, Venice, Genoa, Caffa, Constantinople, Tabriz, Naples, Athens, , Baghdad, Mecca, Aden. It also spread throughout some places in Africa like Tunis, Marrakesh, Tripoli, Alexandria, Egypt. Asia was also affected by the plague it spread through places such as India, Bagan, China, Xian, Hangzhou and Hubei. There are many short term and long term effects of the plague.
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 Death” or bubonic plague that occurred in the middle ages, precisely about 1347 to 1351, was a catastrophic plague, or severe illness, that traveled to Europe and infected and killed at least 25 million people. Unfortunately for the Europeans at that time, there was no medical knowledge to cope with this disease. Ultimately, what made this plague so deadly was that the symptoms were fatal and it spread very quickly. In today’s time, the bubonic plague is easily treatable and the symptoms are not severe.
One of the most tragic things that happened in American history is the black plague, we will never know the true death toll, but it's estimated at around 25 million people. In the article “This Is the End of the World”: The Black Death” it states that the plague can present itself in two forms, one infecting your blood stream, and secondly virulent pneumonia. The lethal disease results in a lot of suffering, pain and in almost all cases death within 24 hours. “The swelling oozed blood and pus and were followed by spreading boils and black blotches on the skin within five days of the first symptoms” The plague was horrible dieses to catch that often left you suffering until you died.
The Plague or “Black Death” came about in the 1300’s and killed an estimated 75to 200 million people in Europe. The plague went on for a whopping seven years before it finally subsided. It wasn’t discovered until 2010 that the bacteria behind that caused the “Black Death” was the Yersinia Pestis bacterium. Today this event that occurred a very long time ago is seen as a very horrible happening and a true horrifying disease outbreak.
