Transcript Plague – The Black Death

The Late Middle Ages
The Hundred Years War (1337-1453)
The Black Death (1347-1351)
Crisis in the Church (14th & 15th Centuries)
The Famine of 1315-1317
 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.
1347: Plague Reaches
Constantinople!
Spread of the Black Death
The Culprits
Yersinia pestis
Flea
Black Rat
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.
Three Types of Plague
Bubonic – Excruciatingingly painful swellings of
lymph nodes (buboes) in groin area and under
armpits. Vomited blood. Death usually came
within 5 days.
Septicemic – Attacked blood more swiftly and
usually killed within 3 days.
Pneumonic – Airborne when plague victims
coughed or sneezed. Usually fatal within 24 hours.
Almost always fatal.
The Symptoms
Bulbous
Septicemic Form:
almost 100%
mortality rate.
From the Toggenburg Bible, 1411
Attempts to Stop the Plague
A Doctor’s
Robe
“Leeching”
Attempts to Stop the Plague
Flagellanti:
Self-inflicted “penance” for our sins!
Boccaccio in The Decameron
The victims ate lunch with
their friends and dinner with
their ancestors.
What was the impact
of the Black Death??
The Mortality Rate
33% - 50% of European
population died
25,000,000 dead !!!
Economic and Social Effects
 Collapse of feudalism and manoralism
as labor force declined.
 Urban economies suffered as demand
for consumer goods decreased.
 Peasants revolts
 Best of the clergy died
 Persecution of Jews
 Literature and art was pessimistic and
focused on death
Results of the Plague
Pograms against the Jews
“Jew” hat
“Golden Circle”
obligatory badge
Medieval Art & the Plague
An obsession
with death.
The Danse Macabre
Medieval Art & the Plague
Death Triumphant !:
A Major Artistic Theme
Medieval Art & the Plague
Bring out your dead!