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Aug 7, 2023 · From 1348 to 1350 Europe was devastated by an epidemic that left between a third and one half of the population dead. This source book traces, through contemporary writings, the calamitous impact of the Black Death in Europe, with a particular emphasis on its spread across England from 1348 to 1349.
May 29, 2013 · Horrox, Rosemary. Publication date. 1994. Topics. Black Death, Plague. Publisher. Manchester ; New York : Manchester University Press ; New York, NY : Distributed exclusively in the USA and Canada by St. Martin's Press. Collection.
Nov 24, 2019 · The Black Death raged across Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia in the mid 14th century. Families were thrown into chaos, the Catholic church faced dissension in its ranks, and townships struggled to provide services and control infection.
Oct 15, 1994 · From 1348 to 1350 Europe was devastated by an epidemic that left between a third and one half of the population dead. This source book traces, through contemporary writings, the calamitous impact...
- Introduction
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 5
- Chapter 6
- Chapter 7
- Conclusions
The medieval world was ruthless, unforgiving and pestilential. This was perhaps most clearly demonstrated in the swift and vicious trajectory of a disease throughout the known world, then described as “the Black Death.” Considered to be history’s most devastating pandemic, the Black Death claimed anywhere between 75 to 200 million lives within four...
What was the Black Death?
The terrible thing about the Black Death is that no one at the time knew what it was. A current account describes it thus: “In men and women alike it first betrayed itself by the emergence of certain tumors in the groin or armpits, some of which grew as large as a common apple, others as an egg… From the two said parts of the body this deadly gavocciolo soon began to propagate and spread itself in all directions indifferently; after which the form of the malady began to change, black spots or...
Terminology
The Black Death is a European term, used first in its Latin form atra mors by a French physician called Giles de Corbeil in the twelfth century, approximately one hundred years prior to the Black Death itself. In his treatise on the “Signs and Symptoms of Disease,” (translated from the Latin), he likens pestilential disease to atra mors. Belgian astronomer Simon Couvin also makes mention of the Black Death in his poem “De judicio Solis in convinvio Saturni,” which translated means “On the jud...
A Short History of Pandemics
The first recorded account of a sweeping epidemic, known as a pandemic (the prefix pan referring to “everywhere” or “world-wide”) was in the sixth century in the Byzantine Empire while under the rule of the Emperor Justinian I. Most commonly known as the Plague of Justinian as the emperor himself contracted the disease but survived due to extensive treatment, the death toll in the first outbreak alone is thought to have reached upwards of 25 million people. As with most other recorded plagues...
Chronology & Trajectory
Historians and researchers postulate that the Black Death originated in Central Asia, specifically in Mongolia and western China. The rodents that carry the plague disease are indigenous to the central and western Asian areas of Kurdistan and Northern India. Graves found in Kyrgyzstan from 1338-9 make written mention of plague, and Chinese sources make mention of a large pestilential outbreak in or around Mongolia about a decade before the Black Death reached Europe. Many researchers believe...
Spread to the West
The disease spread as merchants and goods travelled from Asia west on the Silk Road, the famous trading route linking Europe, the Middle East, and ultimately the Far East. It was also carried by Mongol raiders as they pushed west to gain control of more territory. There is one specific documented incident in which The Golden Horde, the medieval Mongol khanate under the leadership of Jani Beg, attacked the Crimean city of Kaffa (first known as Theodosia and now known as Feodosia) in 1347 whils...
Spread to the South
The Plague swept across the Middle East, equaling the devastation recorded in Europe. While the Black Death ravaged the European mainland, it also descended from southern Russia into the Middle East. It reached Alexandria in Egypt at approximately the same time it reached Sicily in 1347. Alexandria had significant trading relations with Constantinople and other ports, potentially including Kaffa in the Crimea. From Alexandria, plague spread into Gaza and then north through large cities includ...
Causes & Pathology
The Black Death, also known as The Plague, is generally thought to have been caused by a bacterium called Yersinia pestis, named after Alexandre Yersin, the scientist and bacteriologist who discovered it in the nineteenth century. These bacteria are commonly present in fleas which are carried by rodents found primarily in the Orient. The flea that lives on central Asian rodents, called the Oriental Rat Flea, is the primary vector for the Y. pestis bacteria. 1. pestis causes a mutation in the...
Theories of Detection, Symptoms & Incubation Period
As described by Boccaccio in his medieval masterpiece The Decameron, the precursors to plague-induced death were horrible and grotesque. Govocciolos were puss-filled tumors, also known as buboes, hence the term bubonic plague. Modern medicine has discovered that in many cases, if the pus from the tumors is able to be discharged, recovery is possible. Following the appearance of buboes, many sufferers were subjected to acute fever and vomiting, often of blood. One of the most unsettling things...
The Three Types of Plague
Based on contemporary accounts of the Black Death and modern examination of mass Plague graves, most researchers agree that there are three types of plague, all of which were active and deadly during the Black Death. The first and perhaps most commonly known type of plague is bubonic plague, so named because of the distinctive buboes (or gavocciolos) that arose on suffers. Buboes are swollen lymph nodes infected with the Y pestis bacteria. Bubonic plague is usually transmitted by fleas carryi...
Medieval Theories & Disease Control
Understanding of medicine and the spread of disease was extremely limited in the medieval period. Much of the ancient world’s knowledge and documented experimentation had been lost, and that which wasn’t was often proclaimed heretical by the religious leadership of the time. The concept of hygiene during this period was drastically different than we see it today. Human and animal wastes were common inside the home and were disposed of in the streets, which more often than not weren’t drained...
Recommended Treatment
Medieval doctors subscribed heavily to the miasma theory, which stated that the illness was caused by exposure to “bad air.” To remedy this, they recommended that people retreat out of cities into places of “clean air.” For the poor and middle class, it was almost impossible to leave their homes, thus causing this portion of the population to suffer heavy casualties. Though the people that were able to remove themselves from infected areas often were exempted from contracting plague, this mov...
Plague Doctors
One of the most infamous characters to come out of the Black Death was the Plague Doctor. Bearing in mind the fact that medical knowledge at the time was incredibly primitive compared to modern standards, and the overriding fear that overwhelmed Europe in the face of this unknowable killer, a special type of person was appointed to work with the sick. He was called the Plague Doctor. A plague doctor was hired by a village, town or city to treat, count and generally deal with victims of the Bl...
Black Death in Medieval Culture
The Black Death was such a cataclysmic event that it affected every inch of medieval life. History has passed down much of what we know today about the Black Death’s effect on society through prose, art, poetry and music. Writers such as Boccaccio, Petrarch and Chaucer documented not only the main events surrounding the plague, but also interesting tidbits about how the plague was handled on a daily basis by rich and poor alike. This gives us today a wonderfully well-rounded account of how co...
Black Death in Art
Quite a significant amount of art remains from the Black Death period and after. The devastation of The Plague would have been such an ever-present evil for medieval Europeans that it is only natural that this was expressed in paintings, tombs and illuminated manuscripts. The common view of the cause of the Black Death in Europe was overwhelmingly that it was caused by God as punishment for sin – sins of society and sins of the individual. This belief led society to a constant consideration o...
Black Death in Literature
The Black Death was a striking part of the life of anyone that lived through it, and some of those that were lucky enough to survive its deadly grasp strove to record what they had experienced. Much of what we know today about the Black Death is due to the descriptions of the disaster written in contemporary chronicles. Some chronicles were written by famous authors such as Boccaccio and Petrarch, but others were written by run of the mill people like Geoffrey Chaucer who became famous in his...
Consequences
The consequences of the plagues were vast and far-reaching. It resulted in massive population decline, which in turn resulted in extreme economic ramifications. It also spurred religious persecution, an increase in crime and war, and overall gave rise to the unfortunate belief that life was not as valuable as it had once been. The massive loss of life has been considered to have effectively marked a significant turning point in the economic system of Europe. Because of the severe decrease in...
Population Disintegration
Current research suggests that between 45-50% of the European population was devastated over a period of about 4 years (1348 – 1352). Over the course of the three waves of plague in the fourteenth century, it is estimated that anywhere from 75 million to 200 million people were killed. Though there are no exact figures due to the lack of record-keeping (even the plague doctors could not keep an accurate count due to the sheer enormity of loss of life), we are able to estimate the death toll i...
Persecution and Religious Fervor
The medieval period was one of superstition, disinformation and prejudice. Though the title “Dark Ages” is not entirely fair or appropriate, it certainly is accurate to say that the vast majority of the population had little to no knowledge of, or education about, anything outside of what they experienced on a daily basis. The one thing that bound most medieval Europeans together was their Christianity. Faith and the Catholic religion were the foundation on which almost every medieval communi...
In the end, the plague in general and the Black Death in particular remains one of history’s most lethal events, if not the deadliest. In the Black Death of 1348-1352 alone, the body count was more than both World Wars and all recorded genocides in history combined, including the Holocaust, the Soviet Union under Stalin, and all African genocides. ...
Aug 9, 2018 · Fascinated by the havoc wreaked by the Black Death? Read up on the deadly disease and Medieval life with these books about the plague.
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