Black Death
Leo Gelband
Sheldon Forsyth
Did you know that the Black Death killed over three million Europeans during the Medieval Ages? It is actually known to be the worst epidemic of all times. The Black Death affected many aspects of society during Medieval Times. One of the aspects that were affected was the Catholic Church's power. The Black Death negatively affected the Catholic Church's power in Medieval Times.
To understand how that happened better, we first have to learn a bit more about the Black Death. The Black Death, or bubonic plague, was a disease that came from bacterias in rats. Fleas caused the spread of it by getting the disease from rats, and infecting humans. The disease originated in China, and spread mostly through trade routes. The disease hit Europe in 1346 and only ended in 1351. It came back in waves on the 15th century. Some common symptoms of the Black Death were: coughing, sneezing, vomiting, and buboes, which are egg-sized swellings located under the arms or in the groin that are usually black or blue. Simple hygiene would help prevent the disease, "History Alive!" stated.
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Firstly, one of the three main effects the Black Death had on the Catholic Church was that nobody at that time had an explanation for the disease. According to "History Alive!", "Terrified people falsely blamed the plague on everything from the positions of the planets to lepers and to Jews." This shows us that when people asked the Catholic Church why the disease was there, no answer was given, because they didn't have the technology we do nowadays to find out what origins the disease. With that being, people began to lose faith in the Catholic
Many started to question the church and they started doing things that were seen as sinful, such as drinking, laughing and dancing all day despite death being all around them. To sum up everything that has been stated, the Black Death brought many positive and negative changes to medieval Europe that would end up in the downfall of the feudal system and changing the way society worked. Bibliography: Armstrong, D. (2021). How the Black Death Devastated the Church.
The Black Death did not just cause death; it caused panic and destroyed the economy, the family structure, and so much more. The Black Death traveled as an invisible invader across waters. In 1346, travelers reported millions of deaths across China, central Asia and the Middle East (Worlds, 418). Just like the travelers who carried it, the disease moved with them “by fleas to city rats and other animals, including humans” as it spread (Worlds, 418). The Black Death killed so many people in some cities that more than half the population fell victim to this epidemic (Worlds, 418).
The Black Death The Black Death was tragically devastating to the European Society, it affected many people. The Black Death is exactly what it sounds like. The Bubonic Plague (The Black Death) spread in Italy in the spring of 1348. The Black Death is a disease carried by bacteria, which is carried by fleas, on to rats, who pass it on to humans.
During the thirteenth century, a disease known as the Black Death spread from Asia to Europe at an alarming speed. It travelled through the trade routes, in the form of infected fleas carried from town to town on rats causing catastrophic loses of population . The Black Death consisted of two forms of the disease; the pneumonic plague, and the bubonic plague . Since it was unknown as to what caused the disease at the time, their responses to the plague’s outbreak were almost entirely futile. Since religion was a big factor in nearly everybody’s lives, the records of the Black Death that we do have are heavily influenced by religion, and as such, their views strongly swayed things like treatments and medicine that were used against the plague.
The Bubonic Plague, is a disease that is caused by Yersinia pestis. This bacteria is found in rodents, such as rats. Fleas feed on these rats, and it can be passed to humans through flea bites. The Bubonic Plague was first seen in China, yet it came to Europe in the year 1347 with the use of Genoise Ships. These ships would bring the contaminated rats across the Black Sea.
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 bacillus infects people through the bite of infected fleas and rats (“BLACK DEATH”). This was especially prominent in urban and over populated areas (“Ecology and Transmission“). When Plagues strike people and animals alike die horrifically, in turn fleas need to find other sources of food. The people living in poor conditions often get forayed by flea bites, thus infecting them (“Ecology and Transmission“). It was seldom for the Black Death to be spread from person to person.
The Black Death contributed to the fall of trade between countries, and the halt of trade routes. Since many people were afraid of the Plague, they did not like to allow outsiders to enter their countries or trade with them. People still needed certain goods, so they ended up trading with infected people, for infected things. The Black Death shut down about three major trade routes, making it hard for disease long distance trade to occur. Trade ships were a large disease spreader, and made up about 20% of infection making it very easy for the Plague to spread to different countries.
The Bubonic Plague (Black Death) came to the eastern Mediterranean along the shipping routs. It reached Italy in spring of 1348. By the time the disease spread between 25% and 50% of Europes population had died (document 1, (Source: EyeWitnesstoHistory.com) the Bubonic Plague was spread because in this time there was not any place to put garbage and wast products like we have today, so they would just leave the trash/wast anywhere and everywhere and the result of this would bring rats and many other animals, and with these animals they had fleas and eventually the fleas would get to the people and the humans would get sick and spread it to everyone. Some symptoms of the Bubonic Plague were large swelling lumps which they called "buboes" sizing
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.
Economic and Social Consequences of the Black Death The Black Death was no modest disease it swept all over Europe during the dark ages , had immense and annihilating effects and is in fact one of the most disastrous and destructive pandemics in human history. It rapidly spread through Medieval Europe during 1347-1351 killing more than one third of the population. In the midst of Italy’s overpopulated cities 50 to 60 percent of the population died while villages were completely swept of their people in England and Germany (Spielvogel World History and Geography 248-249). The Black did not only bring the tragedy of killing millions but it also came with many consequences such as economic inflation and extreme social distinction ("Social and Economic Effects of the Plague").After the intense shock of the Black Death, Europe’s economically declined, its internal affair were instable and its social systems
Introduction The Black Death, swept across Europe in the late 1340, was one of the most fatal epidemics in the history. It should be noted that the name ‘Black Death’ was created in later ages. Contemporaries didn’t have specific name for it but called it ‘plague’ or ‘epidemic’. The Black Death arrived in the ports of Europe first in 1347, and soon spread in all directions in the next three years, and brought immediate death to victims.
The Black Death (1347-1352) was 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 (MedicineNet, 2018). There are three main forms of plague in humans: bubonic plague (the commonest form of plague in humans, characterized by fever, delirium, and the formation of buboes), septicemic plague (an especially dangerous form of plague in which the infecting organisms invade the bloodstream), and pneumonic plague (a severe lung infection caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis). There are a few factors in explaining plague in the Middle Ages: religion, medieval medicine, and modern science, and I will be discussing religion in the Middle Ages as well as
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 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.