Black+Death

With its worst known and recorded outbreak in the Midieval Period, The Black Death, also known as the bubonic plague showed no distinction with its victims, and often healthy individuals were claimed by the raging infection. The stench of death was unavoidable, bodies lay piled up in the streets to be taken to mass burials, people no longer loitered in the streets, and prices dropped tremendously. Black spots and boils covered the bodies of victims, dried blood under the skin. The vile stench of the sufferers was the result of sweat and urine. There were so many sick and dying that life became disordered, there were no people to tend crops, run courts, or police what went on in the streets (like looting). Many theories floated around, as the people attempted to pinpoint the cause of such fear and death. Things such as bad air (miasma), punishment given by God, locusts, a series of violent earthquakes, movements of the animals, the work of the planets, and a cause of the Jews. Doctors scrambled to concoct tonics such as Theriac (supposedly foul tasting) and blood letting (phlebotomy), though even the doctors were reluctant to leave their homes, for it seemed that their only payment was the sickness itself. The people were desperate to find a cure and they tried preventive measures such as wearing amulets, swallowing prayers on little slips of papers, and following the magic of magicians. Images of death were everywhere, sometimes seen as a beautiful maiden, other times as a grotesque skeleton. Prices dropped dramatically and building projects were put on hold. Animals were cleared from the cities. Death was recruiting an increasingly large army. Jews were prosecuted, although it was like trying to blame Christians for causing leprosy. People declared ill were required quarantine for 40 days, if they ever lived to see that day- once the infection corupted the lungs the victim was claimed within 3 days. But most failed to see a connection between the flea infested rats and the death that swept the continent so viciously, and without mercy. Entering Europe's door in October of 1348, the Black Death (which originated somewhere in the Gobi Desert in 1330) had a significant impact on many aspects of society. Brought by the Genoese ships to the port of Messina (in Sicily, Italy), the Black Plague quickly spun into a whirlwind of chaos and despair, and leaving in its wake millions of occupants either on their deathbeds or buried haphazardly in the cold, hard ground of Europe’s unforgiving soil. All in all, about a third of Europe's population was buried during the plague, but the priests (who were required to report the death toll to goevernment officials) could not possibly have reported all the dead. Without obstacles of prevention, the plague spread like wildfire from the Mediterranean Sea to the Artic Circle, starting on the coast and working inland. Hosted by a flea, //Yersinia Pestis// was able to slip under the radar as a suspect of origin. The fleas, in turn resided on rats, which scrambled in the gutters, alleyways, and about everywhere else in the cities. There were three forms of the Black Death: the most common, Bubonic Plague (named for its characteristic buboes (boils), the Pneumonic of the respiratory (infection of the lungs) which included coughing up blood, and Septicemic (involving the blood, though was usually a complication of Bubonic and/or Pneumonic, or otherwise a fleabite that was sent directly to the bloodstream where the bacteria multiplied). Pneumonic was the most deadly of the three, giving its victims less than two days to live after coughing up blood; it was also observed that all who had died had corrupted lungs. The picture shown is of a midevil doctor, in an anti-plague outfit of around 1720: it consisted of a leather robe, a crystal eye, a beak filled with perfumes to ward off the death stench and bad air of the diseased, and a cane to point at the sick, or to lance their boils. Some say the the rhyme "Ring Around the Rosie" often sung by children originated because of the Black Death.

Invisible Enemies: Stories of Infectious Disease by Jeanette Farrel. Want to return to the Unit 3 term page? Click Here!

Created by Rachel Mitchell 10/18/08 Edited by Frances Grimball 10/22/08