Effects Of The Bubonic Plague

The Bubonic Plague, decimated nearly sixty percent of Europes entire population in the middle of the 14th century. Leaving nothing but death in its tracks, the bubonic plague derived the name the Black Death. Cases of this deathly plague were first reported in 1347, and gradually increased as the disease began to flourish from city to city. During this time, temperatures in Europe had significantly dropped, the heavy rainfall created widespread crop failures, which forced peasants to migrate towards heavily populated cities, just to survive. The population in urban areas soon tripled, as over crowding and severe poverty began to take place. Over population resulted in a disarray of poor sanitation, causing the black rat population to significantly

The drastic drop in population, created a dramatically increase in wages, a fall in food supplies, change in medicine, and an undetermined mindset of religion. As food prices began to drop, and the need for food supplies decreased, landowners where finding it more and more difficult to make ends meets. These effects led to an end in the once great manorial system of Europe, and adapted peasants from farmers to the urban life. Doctors treating the disease soon became infected, and killed off most physicians treating this disease. This caused an awakening in the medical field, as physicians where viewed as a failure. “New medical tests were developed” and science began to make its way into medicine, as new concepts and health measures were beginning to develop (Swenson 185). The sight of death was in the eyes of every individual who witnessed this plague, and the unquestionable Catholic Church soon began to fall also. Peasants began to question their creators and turned away from religion for “having failed totally during the epidemic” (Swenson 185). The plague decimated nearly more than 50 percent of catholic clerics, paving the way for

The infected where placed in quarantines and isolated from the rest of the population. While the contagion theory, blamed the poor for the outbreak, justifying government officials to execute them. Clothing and “other personal items belonging to the victim were burned,” in order to kill the plague (217). Children where forced to leave their parents, who were victims of the plague, behind in order to survive. Many cities filled with the decaying corpses of the Black Death where locked away, and abandoned. Strict policies where enforced and “restrictions were placed on public assemblies and gatherings,” to ensure no further outbreaks (Sumich 217). To them quarantine was the only way to control and prevent the disease, but little was known about the disease during that time. The Black Death was very selective on who it infected, some regions such as Iceland and Finland, avoided the Black Death entirely. “The medieval epidemic powerfully shaped patterns of health and demography in the surviving population, producing a post-Black Death population that differed in many significant ways,” presenting a strong force of natural selection, which led to an adaption in human genes (DeWitte 1). This is the reason why some individuals survived the Black Death while others didn’t. The Black Death never fully left