The Black Death
1347 and on - - -
The Black Death - Structure
Introduction Forms of Disease and
Transmission Path of the Plague Recurrences Efforts to stop the Plague Quotes on the Black Death Consequences:
Economic
Social and Psychological
Religious
Music and Art
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.
Symptoms of the bubonic Plague Swellings “egg apple” Fever of 101-105 degrees F Headaches and Aching joints Nausea and vomiting (of blood) General feeling of malaise Swellings expanding until they burst death following soon after Whole process: 3-5 days NB: People who didn’t develop swellings invariably died. People
with swellings might have a chance.
Mortality Rate: 30-75 % If 40% of population was getting infected, and
80% of them died = mortality rate of 32%
The Pneumonic Plague
Second most commonly seen form of the Black Death
The Pneumonic Plague
Infected the lungs. Symptoms: Slimy sputum tinted with blood (Sputum = saliva mixed with mucus excreted from the respiratory system) Sputum became free flowing 1-7 days for symptoms to appear Mortality Rate : 90-95%
The Pneumonic Plague
Airborne transmission – added to its danger!
Through bacteria in droplets of saliva coughed up by sick persons
Inhaled by bystanders New infection starts
directly in the lungs or throat.
The Septicemic Plague
Attacked the blood system (Blood Poisoning)
Fevers Skin turns deep
shades of purple due to DIC(disseminated
intravascular
coagulation)
The Septicemic Plague
In its most deadly form, DIC causes a victim’s skin to turn dark purple, almost black = The Black Death.
Victims died the same day symptoms appeared.
Mortality Rate: close to 100%.
No treatment even today
Transmission of the Bubonic and Septicemic Plague
Direct contact with a Flea The Bacteria (Yersinia
pestis) carried by rodents Fleas infest animals,
primarily rats Then move to human
hosts The oriental rat flea,
Xenopsylla cheopis
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!
The Flagellants
Flagellants – self-flogging to
atone for sins. Popular after
disillusionment with the church’s reaction to the Black Death
Outside the Church
The Flagellants Christians - and
an angry Deity. Bands wandering
through towns and countryside
Public penance. Inflicted all kinds of punishment upon themselves
Sacrifice for the sins of the world – like Jesus
The Flagellants Society
disapproved Tendency to kill
Jews and clergymen who opposed them
Condemned by the Pope in 1349
Reappeared in times of plague into the 15th century
Quotes on the Black Death
Boccacio: The victims “ate lunch with their friend and dinner with their ancestors in paradise”
Samuel Pepys: “Realizing what a deadly disaster had come to them the people quickly drove the Italians from their city… Fathers abandoned their sick sons. Lawyers refused to come and make out wills for the dying. Friars and nuns were left to care for the sick…Bodies were left in empty houses, and there was no one to give them a Christian burial.”
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
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