THE BLACK DEATH
1347 1351
1347-1351
Coming
C
i outt off the
th East,
E t the
th Black
Bl k Death
D th
reached the shores off Italyy in the spring
p g off
1347 unleashing a rampage of death across
E
Europe
unprecedented
d d in
i recorded
d d history.
hi
Byy th
the time
ti the
th epidemic
pid i played
p y d ititselff outt
three years later, anywhere between one
andd two thirds
h d off Europe's
E
' population
l
had
hd
fallen victim to the pestilence.
pestilence
Th Origins
The
O i ins
Usuallyy thought
th ght to
t have
h started
t t d in
i China
hi or Central
t Asia,
A i , the
th
plague had reached the trade city of Kaffa in the Black Sea by
1346 From there
1346.
there, black rats carried it onto merchant ships
bound for Italy. It then spread throughout the Mediterranean
and ravaged Europe.
Europe
Did You
Y Know?
Kn ?
ƒ In 1346,, the Tatars (Mongols)
g laid siege
g
to Kaffa. While surrounding the city, the
Tatars came down with plague.
ƒ The Tatars decided to use this to their
advantage. They started loading their
catapults of the infected, dead bodies and
began flinging them over the city walls.
ƒ An outbreak of plague in the city soon
followed. It has been speculated that this
operation may have been responsible for
the advent of the Black Death in Europe.
The
h Culprits
p
H Did It Sp
How
Spread?
ad?
ƒ Towns were dirty places
places, with
narrow filthy streets.
ƒ Waste
W disposal
di l back
b k in
i the
h Middle
Middl
Ages was very crude. People
would
ld simply
i l dump
d their
h i trashh out
the window and onto the streets.
ƒ The
T filth that littered streets and
gave rats the perfect environment
to breed and increase their
numbers.
H Did It Sp
How
Spread?
ad?
ƒ Typical
T i l bbathing
hi andd cleanliness
l li in
i the
h
Middle Ages was not very good.
ƒ In
I ffact, most people
l typically
ll only
l washed
hd
their hands and face; limiting baths to once
a year, usually
ll aroundd Easter.
E t
ƒ Additionally, people tended to sleep on
b d off hay
beds
h or sheep
h ’s wooll andd rarely
l
would have been changed or cleaned.
ƒ Because
B
off this,
hi people
l would
ld often
f have
h
problems with bedbugs, lice and fleas.
H Did It Sp
How
Spread?
ad?
ƒ Having no
n defense and nno
understanding to the cause of the
pestilence, the men, women and
children caught in its onslaught
were bewildered, panicked, and
f ll ddevastated.
finally
d
ƒ Also, the disposal of bodies was
very crude
d andd helped
h l d to spreadd
the disease even further as those
who
h handled
handl d the
th dead
d ad bodies
b di s did
not protect themselves in any way.
What Was the
th Black
Bla k Death?
D ath?
The Black
Th
Bl k Death
D th isi categorized
t i d into
i t three
th specific
ifi
types of plague caused by the same bacteria,
yersinia pestis:
- Bubonic Plague (infection in the lymph nodes, or buboes)
- Pneumonic
P
Plague
P
( infection in the lungs))
(the
- Septicemic
S i i Plague
Pl
( h iinfection
(the
f i iin the
h bl
bloodd [also
[ l the
h
most deadly of the three])
Bubonic Plague
g
The bubonic plague was the most commonly seen form during
the
h Bl
Blackk Death.
D h The
Th classic
l
sign off bubonic
b b plague
l
was the
h
appearance of buboes in the groin, the neck and armpits,
which oozed black pus and bled.
The term 'bubonic'
bubonic refers to the characteristic bubo or enlarged
lymphatic gland. It had a mortality rate of thirty to
s v nt fiv ppercent
seventy-five
nt and symptoms
s pt s including
in l din a high
hi h fever,
fv
headaches, painful aching joints, nausea and vomiting, and a
generall feeling
f l off discomfort.
d
f Off those
h who
h contractedd the
h
bubonic plague, 4 out of 5 died within eight days.
B b ni Plague
Bubonic
Pla
B b ni Plague
Bubonic
Pla
Pn m ni Plague
Pneumonic
Pla
Pneumonic plague was the second most commonly seen form
dduring
ring the Black Death, with a mortality rate of ninety
to ninety-five percent. Symptoms included fever, cough,
andd blood-tinged
bl d ti d sputum.
t As
A the
th disease
di
progressed,
d
your lungs basically start to liquefy and the sputum
became free flowing and bright red.
S pti mi Plague
Septicemic
Pla
Septicemic plague was the least common of the three
fforms,, withh a mortalityy rate close to one hundred
h d d
percent. Symptoms were high fevers and purple/black
skin
ki patches.
t h Your
Y blood
bl d would
ld simply
i l nott do
d its
it job
jb
of bringing oxygen to your body and also would not
clot. As a result, your skin started to die and you
tended to bleed uncontrollably all over your body.
body
Did You
Y Know?
Kn ?
ƒ Black Plague still exists around the world
today, especially in Third World or
developing nations where trash and
pollution are prominent and vermin like
rats exist.
ƒ However, there are even cases of it
reported
t d iin th
the United
U it d States
St t eachh year.
ƒ While this is a very serious illness, it is
easily treatable nowadays with commonly
available
l bl antibiotics.
b
M
Mortality
l rate is
about 8-10%.
ƒ In most cases, a patient who quickly
q y
seeks medical care and treatment makes a
full recovery.
Path off the
th Plague
Pla
The
h plague
p g traveledd on trade
d routes andd caravans.. Its
path of death was generally from south to north and
eastt to
t westt passing
i th
throughh Italy,
It l France,
F
England,
E l d
Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Finland, and
eventually reaching as far as Greenland. If the
plague had just stayed in one city
city, the containment
might have spared Europe. Unfortunately, the plague
spread when
h people
l flfled to other
h cities.
Eff ts tto Stop
Efforts
St p the
th Plague
Pla
Cities were hardest hit.
hit In crowded cities,
cities it was not
uncommon for as much as fifty percent of the
population
l
to die.
d
Although governments had medical workers try to
prevent the plague, the plague persisted. Most
M
medical
d workers
k quit
q andd journeyed
j
y d awayy because
they feared getting the plague themselves.
Eff ts tto Stop
Efforts
St p the
th Plague
Pla
There were; however
however, methods that did work
work. For example,
example
in Milan, city officials immediately walled up houses
f d to
found
t have
h the
th plague,
l
isolating
i l ti everyone (even
(
the
th
healthy along with the sick) inside of them. Venice took
sophisticated and stringent quarantine and health
measures,, in
including
ding isolating
i ting all in
incoming
ing ships
hip onn a
separate island.
P l died
People
di d anyway, though
h h fewer
f
in
i Milan
Mil andd Venice
V i than
h
in cities that took no such measures.
Plague Doctors
A plague doctor's duties were often
limited to visiting victims to verify
whether they had been afflicted or not.
Surviving records of contracts drawn up
between cities and plague doctors often
ggave the pplague
g doctor enormous latitude
and heavy financial compensation, given
the risk of death involved for the plague
doctor himself. Most plague doctors were
essentially volunteers, as qualified doctors
had (usually)
(
) already fled, knowing they
could do nothing for those affected.
Plague
g Doctors
- A wide-brimmed black hat worn close to the head. At the time, this hat
would have been identified a person as a doctor and may have also been
used as partial shielding from infection.
- A primitive gas mask in the shape of a bird's beak. The beak of the mask
was often filled with strongly aromatic herbs and spices to overpower the
miasmas or "bad air" which was also thought to carry the plague. The mask
also
l included
i l d d redd glass
l eyepieces,
i
which
hi h were thought
th ht to
t make
k the
th wearer
impervious to evil.
- A llong,
n bla
blackk overcoat.
v at The
Th overcoat
v at wornn by
b th
the pla
plague doctor
d t was
as tucked
t kd
in behind the beak mask at the neckline to minimize skin exposure. It
extended
xt nd d to
t the
th feet,
f t, and
nd was
w often
ft n coated
t d head
h d to
t toe
t in suett or wax.
w x.
The coating of wax likely served as protection against respiratory droplet
contamination.
Pla DDoctors
Plague
t s
Pla DDoctors
Plague
t s
M nks in the
Monks
th Black
Bla k Plague
Pla
Many people also turned
to the monasteries where
the well educated and
always helpful monks
would try to care for the
sick.
This in turn infected
monks
k andd they
th began
b
to
t
die off as well.
The Death Toll
It is difficult to accurately estimate the number of people killed by
th Black
the
Bl k Death.
D th Many
M times,
ti
the
th Church
Ch h andd monks
k kept
k t records
d
of the census and populations, but as the sick poured into their
monasteries,
t i monks
k themselves
th lv were infected
i f t d andd their
th i records
d were
also lost or destroyed. At best, it can be estimated that between
1/3 andd 2/3 off European
E p population
p p l ti were decimated
d i t d by
b the
th
disease. (25-50 million people out of 75 million)
In fact, the bodies piled up so fast, the people were unable to provide
pproper
p Christian burials. Instead,, theyy threw them in pits
p and
burned them. This adds to the confusion of how many people died.
C ns q n s off The
Consequences
Th Black
Bla k Death
D ath
How did the Black Death effect European civilization?
It not only affected Europe's population and also
its economy as well.
well Changes in the size of
civilization led to changes in trade, the
church,
h h music and art, and many other
h things.
h
Da k HHumor
Dark
m
The Black Death crept slowly into the everyday lives of people.
people
The abundance of death was used for laughter. Funeral
processions
i were usedd as jokes.
j k It
I got to the
h point
i where
h
deaths were nearly ignored altogether. Citizens looked for
causes and the developmentally delayed, deformed and crazy
people outside town were the perfect candidates.
B d? Go
Bored?
G throw
th some stones
t
att the
th crazy person to
t help
h l stop
t
the plague.
At
Art
The damage to art is irreparable. Carving was changed. Coffins had
pictures of corpses on the lid, usually showing a very flattering
likeness of the body inside wearing their best clothes. Some of
these dated around 1400 showed bodies with about half of their
flesh and shredded garments. A few of the sculptures showed
worms and snails munching on the diseased. Painting was effected
too. There are a number of paintings containing people socializing
with skeletons. Artists abandoned old ways of painting things
idolized by the Christian religion. They were so depressed by the
death that surrounded them that they began to paint pictures of
sad and dead people.
Ma ab A
Macabre
Artt ffromm the
th Middle
Middl Ages
A s
E nm
Economy
Fields went unplowed as the men who usually did this were victims of
the disease. Harvests would not have been brought in as the
manpower did not exist. Animals would have been lost as the people
in a village would not have been around to tend them. Therefore
whole villages would have faced starvation. Towns and cities would
have faced food shortages as the villages that surrounded them could
not provide them with enough food. Those lords who lost their
manpower to the disease, turned to sheep farming as this required
less people to work on the land. Grain farming became less popular –
this, again, kept towns and cities short of such basics as bread.
E nm
Economy
One consequence of the Black Death was inflation – the price of
f d went up creating more hardship
food
h d h for
f the
h poor. In
I some parts off
England, food prices went up by four times.
How did peasants respond?
Those who survived
s rvived the Black Death believed that there was
something special about them – almost as if God had protected
them. Therefore,
f , theyy took the opportunity
pp
y offered
ff
byy the disease
to improve their lifestyle.
PPeasants
t could
ld demand
d d higher
hi h wages as they
th knew
k that
th t a lord
l d was
desperate to get in his harvest.
Th Church
The
Ch h
Many pe
people
ple ccould
ld not
n t comprehend
c mprehend
why God was punishing them.
Th sought
They
h answers that
h the
h Church
Ch h
could not provide.
Many people turned their back on the
Church.
h h.
As a result of death in the church,
written
itt language
l
was almost
l t llostt andd
whole churches were abandoned.
J s and the
Jews
th Black
Bla k Plague
Pla
Because Jews
B
J were less
l susceptible
ibl
to the Black Plague than their
neighbors
i hb (lik
(likely
l the
h resultl off
Jewish ritual regarding personal
h i ) Jews
hygiene),
J were accusedd off
poisoning Christian wells, were
thought
h h to be
b the
h source off the
h
plague. As this image illustrates,
J were expelled,
Jews
ll d tortured
t t d andd
murdered for the supposed "crime."
J s and the
Jews
th Black
Bla k Plague
Pla
Jews are seen burning in hell
in a medieval German
manuscript. The devil is on
the
h right.
i h The
Th inscription
i i i
on the cauldron reads
"Juda," or Jews.
Did You
Y Know?
Kn ?
NNot only
l were the
h children
hild effected
ff d physically,
h i ll but
b also
l
mentally. Exposure to public nudity, craziness, and
(obviously) abundant death was premature
premature. The death of
family members left the children facing pain and anguish
at an early age.
age Parents even abandoned their children
children,
leaving them to the streets instead of risking the babies
ggivingg them the dreaded "pestilence".
p
Children were
especially unlucky if they were female. Baby girls would
be left to die because parents would favor male children
that
h could
ld carry on the
h family
f l name.
Did You
Y Know?
Kn ?
Children duringg the Black
Death suffered greatly. A
ccommon
mm n nnursery
rsery rhyme is
proof.
Ring a-round the rosy
Pocket full of posies
Ashes, ashes!
We all fall down!
Did You
Y Know?
Kn ?
Ring around the rosy: rosary beads give you God's help or
possibly
l the
h round, bruising marks
k left
l f on the
h bodies.
A pocket full of posies: used to stop the odor of rotting
bodies which was at one point was thought to cause the
plague,
pl
g , it wwas also
l usedd widely
wid ly by ddoctors
t r tto pr
protect
t t th
them
from the infected plague patients.
A h ashes
Ashes,
h : the
h church
h h burned
b d the
h dead
d d when
h burying
b i
them became to laborious.
We all fall down: dead.