The Black Death

1347 and on - - -

Introduction Epidemic Disease Divider betw. Central

and late Middle Ages

Illustration

From the

Toggenburg

Bible, 1411

3 Forms of the Disease

Bubonic Plague.

painful lymph node swellings, buboes Septicemic Plague.

also called “blood poisoning”, attacked the blood system

Pneumonic Plague.

attacked the respiratory system

The Bubonic Plague

Painful lymph node swelling, called buboes

In groins and armpits Oozing pus and blood Damage to the skin and

underlying tissue Dark blotches = acral

necrosis Black Death!

The Bubonic Plague

A plague victim reveals

the telltale buboe on

his leg. From a 14th

Century illumination.

The Rat Flea

The flea drinks rat’s blood

The bacteria multiplies inside the flea

The flea’s stomach is blocked

The flea is very hungry

The flea voraciously bites a host = a human

The flea is unable to satisfy its hunger

The flea continues to feed

Infected blood carrying the plague bacteria is flowing into the human’s wound

The rat dies The flea dies of

starvation The human dies

The Path of the Plague Erupted in Gobi

Desert, late 1320’s Epidemic in Europe

in 6th century but dormant since then

Reached the shores of Italy in 1348

Spread in every direction, primarily westward

Lasted 3 years

The Path of the Plague Traveled on trade routes and caravans Generally from south to north And east to west Passing through

Italy France England Germany Denmark Sweden Poland Finland Greenland

Preexisting Conditions

War – Civil War in China 1205-1353 Little Ice Age at beg. Of 13th century The Great Famine 1315-1322 in Northern

Europe Typhoid Epidemic Pestilence, maybe anthrax, hit the animals of

Europe in 1318 Unemployment, famine, disease

The Path of the Plague The progress of the

plague coincides with the medieval trade routes

Iceland, North Finland, and North Sweden had no plague

Norway 1348 (Oslo, Bergen)

Denmark 1348, from Jutland to the islands, and then on to Sweden

Recurrences

Every 5-7 years Next plague: 1360 = The

Pest of the Children Italian Plague 1629-1631 Great Plague of Vienna in

1679 Great Plague of London

1665-1666 – one of the last major outbreaks

Resembles modern day Ebola

Efforts to Stop the Plague

Cities were hardest hit

Isolation – healthy and sick

Quarantine Isolation of incoming

ships Here: a reproduction

of a peasant’s hovel

Efforts to stop the Plague Scents -

incense and aromatic oils

Sound – church bells

Sound – cannons

Talismans Here:

burial in coffins

Efforts to stop the Plague

Quarantine was the best method Avoiding the sick The wealthy fled to the countryside (Isaac

Newton) Pope Clement VI in Avignon sat between two

large fires to breathe pure air. The plague bacillus is destroyed by heat, so this worked!

Consequences for Populations

Approx. 25 million deaths in Europe

Between one third and one half of European population died 1348-1350

25% of villages depopulated 45-75% of Florence died in one

year In Venice, 60% died over 18

months

Consequences for Population

Urban populations recovered quickly Rural populations recovered slowly Friars took a couple of generations to recover Pre-plague population reached in the 1500s

or 1600s

Later period of Middle Ages was characterized by chronically reduced population

Consequences for Population

1348: Gaza: 10.000 dead Aleppo: 500 dead per day Damascus: 1000 dead per day Syria: total of 400.000 dead

Lower mortality rate in the Middle East of less than one third of population

Economic Consequences

Shortage of laborers rising wages for peasants and artisans

Valuable artisan skills disappeared Oversupply of goods prices dropped For the living, standard of living rose! Landlords stopped freeing their serfs serfs

revolting and leaving the land The oppressed demanded fairer treatment

Economic Consequences

The great equalizer

Lack of sufficient law enforcement personnel

Promoted lawlessness

People tried their luck

Religious Consequences

Persecutions of the Jews – scapegoats

Massacres and burnings By 1351, 60 major and

150 smaller Jewish communities had been exterminated

Lepers were also targeted Jews expelled, moved to

Poland & Lithuania

Religious Consequences

Church lost prestige, spiritual authority, leadership Promised cures, treatment, and explanations No answers to the people Revolt against the church Severe shortage of clergy – functioned as nurses and

consequently died. The church targeted the Jews for persecution – had

killed Jesus and brought sin to the world

Music and Art

Culture turned morbid Sense of death – impending &

inevitable Death is a game, like chess! Dance of death – death is random Everyone suffered Despair

Music and Art

Danse Macabre = the dance of death: skeletons mingling with the living (here: Hans Holbein the Younger)

Shocking juxtapositions Written language almost

lost Coffins had pictures of

corpses on the lid New creativity in motives

The Children

Ring a-round the rosy = rosary beads give you God’s help

Pocket full of posies = used to stop the odor of rotting bodies through to cause the plague

Ashes, ashes! = the church burned the dead when burying became too laborious

We all fall down! = dead Children suffered mentally and physically Children were not thought worth the trouble to raise!

And Now? The bubonic Plague still exists Quite common among rodent

populations A cure is known today – but the

disease moves very quickly The Plague is still with us

Hythe Ossuary, remains of victims of the Black Death