How to Understand the Black Death

Posted by Anonymous , 9/4/2007 Tags:UnderstandBlackDeath
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How to Understand the Black Death

Introduction

The Black Death of 1348-1351 was unlike any other plague that had ever hit Europe before: the disease was so contagious, so deadly, and so horrible in its physical effects that many onlookers assumed the End Times were at hand. By the time the first wave of the plague had run its course, it had wiped out over one-third of the European population, and the pandemic sporadically recurred in smaller outbreaks over the next few hundred years. Here's a brief overview of the Black Death's march through medieval Europe.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Steps

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Step One

There were two kinds of a??black death.a?? The bubonic plague is caused by a bacteria, yersinia pestis, which is harbored by fleas (which were themselves carried to Europe by rats that migrated on ships from central Asia). The epidemic had two manifestations: a??bubonica?? plague was characterized by swelling a??buboesa?? in the groin, neck and armpit, and had a mortality rate of well over 50 percent. The a??pneumonica?? plague, in which the bacteria invaded the lungs, was less outwardly ghastly, but killed over 90 percent of its victims.
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Step Two

The plague originated in the Italian port of Messina. In October of 1347, a fleet of a??ghost shipsa?? washed up on the Italian shore, originating in Asia. The sailors were dying or already dead, but the thriving rats on board decamped and, carrying their plague-infected fleas, spread to Genoa and Venice over the next few monthsa??from there making their way north and west to France, Germany, and other countries in Europe.
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Step Three

Not all countries were equally affecteda??and not all at the same time. One of the terrifying things about the plague was that citizens could hear of its slow progress across the continent over two or three years, wondering when their village would be hit. Most nations didn't escape the plague, but oddly enough, a broad swath of Eastern Europe (including most of modern-day Poland) was spared.
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Step Four

No one knew the Black Death's cause. Fourteenth-century Europe wasn't exactly the apogee of science, sanitation, or rational thought. In many villages, the first response to the plague was to kill all the area's Jews, while only a few people made the connection between the crowded, unsanitary conditions of major cities and the disease's rapid progress. Some nobles did manage to quarantine themselves, though, by withdrawing for months (or years) to their country estates.
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Step Five

The plague may have hastened the European Renaissance. As horrible as it was, the Black Death had a profound effect on the European economy: for example, because so many people had been killed, laborers could demand higher wages. Also, the inability of the Church to prevent the widespread devastation may have led to a more cynical attitude toward religion in general, opening the door to the empiricism of the Renaissance age.
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