How Did The Black Death Affect Society

The Black Death (Plague of 1348) had a deep and lasting impact on Medieval Europe for a variety of reasons. First of all, the Black Death influenced the way people lived in Medieval Europe. People formed communities, isolated from each other. Men and women also abandoned their cities, houses, dwellings, relatives, property, and went abroad. It is clear that they believed that God would have mercy on them if they fled, or that the Plague would decline outside of the city walls.

The Black Death, also known as the Plague, was caused by an epidemic of the bacterium called “Yersinia Pestis”. The pandemic struck Europe in the late-1340s and wiped out nearly a third of Europe’s population. However, this tragedy also transformed European society positively because it created an opportunity for economic benefits and the growth of Humanism.

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.

By the end of the fourteenth century, the Black Death killed nearly 60% of Europe’s population. First arriving in Europe through sick merchants on Genoese trading ships that docked in Sicily, the plague caused boils, fever, diarrhea, horrible pain, and shortly, death. No one was sure how the Death spread, and this combined with the fast course the disease took and the primitive medical practices of the time allowed for the disease to spread through the continent in devastating time. It only took about twenty-three days from the point of infection for the plague to be fatal (Benedictow). The Black Death spread extensively through Europe, affecting both nobility and peasants.

In 1347, the Black Death began spreading across Western Europe. Over the time span of three years, the plague killed roughly one third of the population in Europe. It killed more people than any other epidemic or war up to this time. The Black Death, was caused by the fleas from rats and spread throughout Western Europe, however one effect of the Black Plague would be that it wiped out a great chunk of Europe’s population.

The Black Death was a very rough time and harmful, with the population dropping 1/3, having the economy being poor because of inflation, and people being afraid to walk to streets, The Black Death or what scientist call it “The Bubonic Plague”. This tragedy started around 1347‐ 1352 A.D, originating from East Asia or China .This disease was brought by the sea from ships, and on the ship was black rats and fleas were carrying it and it was passed down to the rats. These rodents spread the Bubonic plague from China to Europe and lastly, it hit Britain in 1348.

medieval Europe suffered from many diseases and health problems as they had extremely poor hygiene and lack of basic medical knowledge. One of the most devastating disease they suffered from was the black death, which killed over one third of the population of England. There were also many illnesses occurring due to poor diet . Anaemia was common as well as arthritis, rheumatism, tuberculosis and dysentery. Sexually transmited diseases such as Syphilis, were also prevalent.

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.

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 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.

The Black Death The Black Death spread so quickly due to poor hygiene and overcrowding in major cities. It was the worst pandemic plague, and had significant results on the world. The black Death originated in Italy and rapidly spread throughout Europe due to poor city sanitization and overcrowding in major cities. The plague killed more than one hundred million people around the world.

The Black Death started during the Middle Ages in the 14th Century and killed about 150 million people in Central Asia. The epidemic originated from fleas and rats. The symptoms started out as egg shaped swellings in groin and armpit and ended up as dark blotches and swellings on the body. The people believed that the plague came from dead bodies and the victim’s clothing. According to the rulers of Pistoia, any old imported cloth was to be burned and corpses were not permitted to enter within the city (Doc 2).

“Ring around the rosy, Pocket full of posies, Ashes, ashes, We all fall down,” this tune can be heard today being sung by children, but the meaning of this song goes deeper than just a children’s song. This song is about the bubonic plague, the bubonic plague was a very dangerous disease that caused devastating effects all across medieval Europe. But why was this disease so devastating? Some reasons could have been: lack of medicine, the large death count, and the mass hysteria caused by the disease. These things are what made the bubonic plague such a devastating event in history.

Europe in the fifteen hundreds was a dangerous, local, hierarchic, tradition-bound, slow moving, and poor filled with the tasks of providence, salvation and community. Europe during the fifteen hundreds were a dangerous place; disease, famine, and violence all prevented the population of the era to live a long life. One of the major killers during the time was disease. Disease and plagues killed major parts of the population, the bubonic plague, for example, claimed the lives of perhaps a third of Europe’s population in five years.

The “Black Death” was one of, if not the most devastating pandemics to sweep the earth since humans have populated it. It was widely thought to be caused by a bacteria called Yersinia Pestis and in recent studies and research, evidence has made a strong case for the confirmation of that bacteria as the cause of the Black Death. Graves in Europe that were tied to that time period and the Black Death showed traces of that bacteria in both southern and northern Europe (Haensch et al. 4). In the 14th century about 20-30 years before the outbreak of the Black Death, there was a great famine occurring in much of Europe and coincidentally the same was happening in a large part of Asia along with China. The occurrence of these famines caused a large