Transcript The Black Plague

The Black Plague
The Culprits
The Famine of 1315-1317
 By 1300 Europeans were farming almost all
the land they could cultivate.
 A population crisis developed.
 Climate changes in Europe produced three
years of crop failures between 1315-17
because of excessive rain.
 As many as 15% of the peasants in some
English villages died.
 One consequence of
starvation & poverty
was susceptibility to
disease.
The Symptoms
Bulbous
Septicemia Form:
almost 100%
mortality rate.
The Disease
Cycle
Flea drinks rat blood
that carries the
bacteria.
Bacteria
multiply in
flea’s gut.
Human is infected!
Flea bites human and
regurgitates blood
into human wound.
Flea’s gut clogged
with bacteria.
Medieval Art & the Plague
Symptoms
• Mortality rate was 35-70%
• Enlarged and inflamed lymph nodes
(armpits, neck, and groin)
• Enlarged bubo or lymphatic gland
• Headaches, nausea, aching joints, fever,
vomiting
• Infected the lungs
How did it spread?
• Is believed to have spread from Asia along
Mongol trade routes
• It moved west with armies and traders
• Kept spreading when people fled to other
cities to avoid it
• Path was generally south to north and east
to west
Efforts to stop the plague
• Most medical workers quit and fled to
avoid getting the plague themselves
• Believed the disease was transmitted
through air so people turned to scents to
ward it off
• Towns rang church bells to drive the
plague away
• Some cities used quarantine methods
• Lastly, they began using fire
Changes in the Economy
• Valuable artisan skills disappeared when large
numbers of working class died (1/3 pop.)
• Those who had skills became more valuable
than the rich
• Social structure changed giving the poor more
say
• Peasants demanded higher wages
• Farming communities became rare because
serfs were leaving the land
• Lack of sufficient law enforcement promoted
lawlessness
The Church
• Church lost prestige, authority, and
leadership over the people because it had
no answers for them
• Said the plague was God’s will, but the
reason for its punishment was unknown
• Clergy abandoned their Christian duties
• Villagers revolted against the church and
people were enraged at doctors
Changes in Europe
• Death and funerals became a joke, dead
were not buried
• Written language was almost lost,
churches were abandoned
• Morbid themes in art
• Children suffered socially, mentally, and
physically
• Children were especially unlucky if they
were female
Long-term effects
• Economy suffered due to a lack of
population, no taxes, birth rate dropped
• People migrated to cities to look for higher
wages
• Large estates and manors collapsed
• Breakdown of feudal system
• Jews used as scapegoats
Medieval Art & the
Plague
Bring out your
dead!
Attempts to Stop the
Plague
Flagellanti:
Self-inflicted “penance” for our sins!
A Little Macabre Ditty
“I had to laugh,” the
merchant said,
(2)
“The doctors purged, and dosed, and bled;
“And proved through solemn disputation
“The cause lay in some constellation.
“Then they began to die.”
“First they sneezed,” the merchant said,
“And then they turned the brightest red,
Begged for water, then fell back.
With bulging eyes and face turned black,
they waited for the flies.”