The Black Death The Black Death, known as the Black Plague, or the Bubonic Plague killed one third of the population of Europe during the 13th and 14th centuries. The beginning of this plague set the scene for years suffering. It left the social and economic world in pause. The Black Death became a subject of art, music and folklore and it influenced the mind of the people. The impact of this mass killer caused disorder to the medieval society because of its unknown origin, the unknown causes and preventions, its deathly symptoms and its breakdown of life.
The sickness usually starts off with a dull headache, and your eyes start to burn. You start to shiver but no amount of blankets can keep you warm. Your fever starts to climb, your muscles will ache, and your head begins to throb. It can take a few days or even a few hours for the disease to progress. You start to cough up blood, and you are soon gasping for air.
The disease spread from nation to nation, killing millions of people and seriously affecting their lives especially Britain. It is thought to be one of the most devastating plagues in human history. It is thought to have begun in the mid 1340’s in China, caused by dirty rodents who had infected fleas. The fleas travelled through Asia and lived on Rats and all sorts of other creatures. Some of these creatures became passengers on merchant ships that sailed to Europe.
Plague It is little surprise that the plague was the most dreaded disease of Shakespeare's time. Carried by fleas living on the fur of rats, the plague swept through London in 1563, 1578-9, 1582, 1592-3, and 1603 (Singman, 52). The outbreaks in 1563 and 1603 were the most ferocious, each wiping out over one quarter of London's population. Lucky Elizabethans would contract the basic bubonic plague with their odds of survival around fifty percent. Symptoms would include red, grossly inflamed and swollen lymph nodes, called buboes (hence the name bubonic), high fever, delirium, and convulsions.
After weeks of tests and studying day to day lives of working class people in Manchester I made shocking discoveries and have found that many people live in horrendous living conditions, which create terrible health problems and disease. The combination of the dark damp courtyards in back to back housing and the broken and badly fitted windows mean that chest infections often lung infections. This can be diphtheria, pneumonia and tuberculosis. The symptoms are; serious throat infection (the throat swells up so you cannot swallow), fever, weight loss, chest pains, shortness of breath and sufferers cough up blood. These diseases can be cured with a good diet and warm, clean dry housing.
The Black Death was on of the most severe epidemics in history. In 1347 A.D., this great plague swept over Europe, ravaging cities and causing widespread hysteria and death. The Black Death is estimated to have killed 30% – 60% of Europe's population, reducing the world's population from an estimated 450 million to between 350 and 375 million in 1400. This has been seen as having created a series of religious, social and economic upheavals, which had profound effects on the course of European history. It took 150 years for Europe's population to recover.
It caused millions of deaths and was highly contagious. Proving the black plague was the deadliest disease of the 14th century. How did this horrible disease come to Europe one might ask? Though it is not completely certain most researchers believe that the Black Death originated
WHAT IS IT PART Well the black death is one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, a plague that swept through Europe and Asia which killed millions in the 1300's. A plague is a disease that spreads extremely quickly and kills many people violently. Most scientist think that the Black Death was caused by a type of bacteria called Yersinia Pestis carried by the oriental rat flea. These fleas infested black rats and unfortunately, due to the unsanitary lifestyles of humans during the Middle Ages, these rats were literally everywhere. Once contracted by a human the disease became airborne.
Over 3,000 ‘DMVs’ (Deserted Medieval Villages) have been discovered in England, with historians such as Chorpa attributing the reason for desertion to the plague. In perhaps the best known example, Wharram Percy in North Yorkshire, the surviving population is thought to have fled to York to avoid starvation as the village became unsustainable due to 85% of the population dying because of the plague. Some villages, including Kilkenny, saw total oblivoration and 100% death rates. However, perhaps the greatest impact was in the major cities, particularly London, England’s biggest city in the middle ages. London was described by contemporise
The Plague greatly affected the medieval world. It killed 25 million people, including a third of Europe's population. One of the economic effects caused by the Plague was inflation. Trade was dangerous and local goods weren't being produced as much because the number of workers decreased greatly. The prices went through the roof.