The Black Plague is known to be one of the most deadly pandemics in history, estimated to have killed 30-60% of Europe’s population in the series of outbreaks between the 14th and 18th centuries. The devastation of the plague was made much worse by the incomprehension of those affected by it. Y. Pestis, the bacteria which causes plague, was spread by infected hosts, including rats and fleas. However, the sparse knowledge of science and medicine led Europeans to blame other sources for the debilitating disease. Some believed the plague was the wrath of God, punishing the guilty for their sins. Others used the various outbreaks to blame and persecute outsiders, including Jews, Romani, lepers, foreigners, and beggars. People responded to the outbreaks
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 .
This Primary Source is an excerpt from "The Cremation of Strasbourg Jewry, St. Valentine's Day, February 14, 1349—About the Great Plague and the Burning of the Jews" This document talks about how the Jews were blamed for the spread of the plague by putting poisons into water and wells. Because of this it was decided that all Jews would be burned to death and none would be allowed to enter specific cities for 200 years. Our primary source gives us an idea of what people thought started the plague. Many people blamed the Jews saying that they had killed christ and that they poisoned the water and the wells with the plague. The Black Plague allowed a new wave of Anti-Semitism to spread through Europe.
Cylina Schibig Paris Hendry English 2020 2 April 2023 Yellow Wallpaper and Turn of the Screws One of the most lethal pandemics in recorded human history was the bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death. Between 75 and 200 million individuals are thought to have perished during the 14th century. The disease was caused by a bacterium called Yersinia pestis that was spread by fleas living on rats. The bubonic plague had a profound impact on society, leading to economic collapse, social unrest, and religious upheaval.
If war can eliminate people 's lives, so can a plague. The Black Death was the disastrous pandemic of mankind. This plague swiped over Europe and parts of Asia and Africa. Back then, insufficient of research of medical studies aided the spread of the Black Death. Variety of factors contributed to lack of research.
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.
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 Black Death ravaged over 20 million people in China, India, Persia, Syria and Egypt during the early 1340’s. Most of these people were in Europe; this was over ⅓ of the population at the time (“BLACK PLAGUE”). This was the First Pandemic of the Bubonic Plague, killing far more than any Pandemic to follow it. Given the knowledge of medicine and science during this era, the Black Plague spread like wildfire, and caused many hideous symptoms which led to several ineffective treatments. Luckily, scientists and doctors worked together to create a cure, and while the Bubonic Plague does still infect people to this day, the wave that killed countless Europeans died out by 1400 (“IN THE WAKE OF THE PLAGUE:
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.
Often as a result of overpopulation, pandemics—like swine flu and ebola, for instance—have affected life on Earth for centuries; one of the most well-known, and possibly the most unforgiving epidemics was the Bubonic Plague, also known as the Black Death . Although the first symptoms of the Plague trace back to the Mongol Empire in 1331, the disease first struck Europe in Venice and Genoa during the winter of 1348. In the following years, the Bubonic Plague spread rapidly throughout Europe, killing roughly a third of its population. It is suggested that the rapid spread and extreme severity of the Black Death was partially due to the weakened immune system of the Europeans, which had been caused by the Great Famine, a period of food scarcity that affected Europe from 1315 to 1322. Additionally, the lack of knowledge about the spread of
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.
The Bubonic Plague, also known as the Black death is a disease that ravaged Europe in the 14th century. The disease seemed incurable and spread like wildfire. The effects were devastating as roughly one third of Europe’s population is thought to have been lost along with countless Jewish people as the subject of blame. The origin of the Bubonic Plague was Central Asia but it made its way to Europe through trade ships. Fleas, the source of the disease, were on the rats carried over by these ships.
The Black Death had a big impact on European religion. Because people could not understand the plague, they strongly believed that the plague was a punishment sent by God. The church claimed that God was punishing people because of the sins they have committed. They organized religious marches and told people to pray to get rid of the horrible disease. However, around 1348, Christians started accusing the Jews of bringing and spreading the plague to Europe.
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.
During the mid-fourteenth century, a plague hit Europe. Initially spreading through rats and subsequently fleas, it killed at least one-third of the population of Europe and continued intermittently until the 18th century. There was no known cure at the time, and the bacteria spread very quickly and would kill an infected person within two days, which led to structural public policies, religious, and medical changes in Europe. The plague had an enormous social effect, killing much of the population and encouraging new health reforms, it also had religious effects by attracting the attention of the Catholic Church, and lastly, it affected the trade around Europe, limiting the transportation of goods. As a response to the plague that took place
Gods’ Hand in Devastation In the sixteenth century, a highly infectious disease known as the Black Plague, began to spread across the shores of Europe. The term the Black Plague was quickly recognized and feared by all Europeans. In just a short amount of time the disease had spread throughout the entire continent of Europe, killing roughly fifty percent of Europeans. Those who survived the disease were left wondering “why did this happen?”.