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 …show more content…
An Italian housewife’s husband was suffering from the plague. Her sister had sent her a piece of bread that had touch the body of a saint, so this was an important relic for the Catholic family. As a Catholic, like the majority of Italy, she fed the relic, believing it had the capability of saving her husband. Once he was cured, she believed it was the relic to have saved him, and wanted others to know that this is what saved her husband, and could possibly save all of Europe. (Doc 7) A Priest in Italy, Father Dragoni, provided for those with the plague by feeding the ill and paid guards to help with the recovery process. As a priest at that time, Father Dragoni worked with the state and people in high positions to help those who were impacted by the plague. He felt the obligation to help those to practice good deeds, most likely for salvation, an idea that was spread among the Catholics in Italy during that time. (Doc 9) The Plague Column, built after the Plague thanked God for ending it. This shows how the people of Vienna looked up to God for comfort and is the one who is believed to be behind all events that occured (Doc 15). As hopeless as the public was, religion was something to turn to as a solution and to end suffering. This made the Catholic Church an important figure of the
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.
The primary source I chose for my analysis is “A Most Terrible Plague: Giovanni Boccaccio”. This document focuses on the account of how individuals acted when a plague broke out and hundreds of people were dying every day. This source is written by Giovanni Boccaccio as it is a story told by him and friends as they passed the time. Boccaccio discusses how “the plague had broken out some years before in the Levant, and after passing from place to place, and making incredible havoc along the way, had now reached the west.” Readers of this source can assume there wasn’t much cures and medicinal technology weren’t used much during this time as even their physicians stayed away from the sick because once they got close they would also get sick.
It spread rampant among the trade routes to Constaninople and Europe. It claimed the lives of close to sixty percent of the European population. The massive labor shortages are is what to be said what helped boost the emergence of the Renaissance in the 14th century. The Modern Plague also began in China in 1860 in Hong Kong. In just twenty years it had spread to port cities by rats on steamships.
Therefore, the medicine and treatments that people received for the Black Death were more based upon prayer and miracles, for example, a fifteenth century Italian medical book suggests that plague victims should make a good death through their last rites rather than treating their body . This would have meant that victims would have accepted their fate and exposed themselves to other people, such as the priest that would come to administer their last rites, meaning that the more contagious part of the disease, the pneumonic plague, would have been passed on to more and more people. However, whilst some of the medicines had no use, others did help to prevent the spread of the disease and, while no one had any idea why, some people did survive being infected due to some of the treatments. Lancing the Black Death’s famous buboes was one such treatment .
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.
The spread of this plague played a major role in migration and trade in Europe and it radically changed society in European countries. The Black Death had an impacting effect on Europe. It is estimated that the plague has killed 30-60% of Europe’s population What made the impact this plague had on Europe even more severe was the already
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
Politically there were also many different reactions that Christians and Muslims had toward the plague. Within the Christian community civilians were being denied entry to cities if there were any signs of infliction within that person. This is shown in source seven where Giovanni Boccaccio states, “the entry of any sick person into the
Many of them believed that this plague could be a punishment from God, and tried figuring out how they could please him again. However, “The Church could not save people from the disease, leading many Europeans to question their beliefs” (Plaza.ulf.edu). With the events of the plague leaving Europe with an end to feudalism, a better understanding of the world, access to better lifestyles, and less dedication to religion, Europeans were able to use this to their advantage and shift their focus into continuing these advancements. These advancements would lead to the creation of the Renaissance, a substantially better era in time for Europeans than the Middle
The Black Plague changed the course of European history, resulting in massive social and economic
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.
In the spring of 1348, the most devastating pandemic in European history infected it’s first victim along the coast of Italy. The Bubonic Plague had established a foothold and would continue to rip its way through Europe for the rest of the 14th century. The Bubonic Plague is a vector borne illness that is transmitted by a flea that is typically found on rats. The plague originated in Eastern Asia, but found its way to Europe along trade routes carried by rats on Genoese ships. The Bubonic Plague was extremely devastating to European society in several ways including: major population destruction, harsh invalid accusations, and compounding medical issues.
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.
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.