The Black Death

melanise death refers to a bubonic and pneumonic harass believed to contribute come from rats and which overspread throughout Western atomic bod 63 during the 14th century resulting to the death of millions, drastically decreasing the overall population of Europe, and changing the sparing and cultural landscape of the region. It came in periodic epidemics from 1300s to the 1700s in the various places where it struck.The nuisance is said to have originated in Central Asia when the Mongol army, in an attempt to set intimately siege of the Caffa in the Crimea during the early 1300s, catapulted annoyance-infested corpses into the city. The fleeing traders carried the disease with them to Sicily. From Italy, it immediately spread into peopled towns and cities around neighboring France, Spain, Portugal, England, and other(a) parts of Europe. It caused the total disappearance of villages as about one-third of the entire population of Europe died in the epidemic which ensued.It w as most virulent in England where it claimed about half of its population. It spread quickly because doctors did non have enough knowledge then on how to cure the disease and any purpose of finding a cure was defeated by the fact that the blighter claimed its victim within a week. Poor hygiene and sanitation practices among the crowded European cities also contributed to the outbreak. Aside from the dramatic decrease in Europes population, the scorch Death stopped on-going wars and caused a slump in trade.It decreased available labor in the farmlands. It even affected the Catholic Church as people rancid to superstition to explain the cause of the plague when their faith could not do anything to cure it. in that location was mass slaughter and burning of Jews who were accused of spreading the plague. A good effect of the epidemic, however, is that the shortage of workers resulted to better remuneration for the peasants as farm owners tried to outdo each other in luring the peas antry to work for them.These resulted to social mobility which would ultimately lessen the power of the nobility and clergy in succeeding centuries. The Black Death experience illustrates how disease could change the history of humankind especially if it affects multitudes of populations around the world. With the innovational technology in the field of medicine today however, and the presence of international organizations like the World Health Organization, it has become easier to contain epidemics before they could become as widespread as the Black Death experience.The Black DeathThe Black Death Natural and Human Disaster in chivalric Europe by Robert S. Gottfried is known as A fascinating work of detective history, The Black Death traces the causes and far-reaching consequences of this infamous outbreak of plague that spread across the continent of Europe from 1347 to 1351. Drawing on sources as diverse as monastic manuscripts and dendrochronological studies (which measure gr owth rings in trees), historian Robert S. Gottfried demonstrates how a bacillus transmitted by rat fleas brought on an ecological reign of terror killing one European in three, wiping out entire villages and towns, and rocking the beation of medieval society and civilization. The Black Death was an epidemic which spread across almost all of Europe in the years 1346 1353 the plague killed over a third of the entire population. It has been describe as the worst natural disaster in European history.The Black Death discusses the causes and results of the plague that devastated medieval Europe. It focuses on the many effects it had on the enculturation of medieval Europe and the possibility that it expedited cultural change. Robert S. Gottfried argued that rodent and insect life cycles, as well as the changing of hold up systems affect plague. He claimed that the desolation plague causes is partly due to its perpetual recurrences. abuse ravaged Europe in cycles, devastated the peo ple when they were recuperating.As can be later discovered in the book, the cycles of plague consumed the European population. A second thesis, which he described in greater detail, was that the plagues expedited the process of cultural change. The plagues killed a large percentage of each generation, leaving mode for change. Why the name, Black Death? The traditional belief is that it was so called because the putrefying flesh of the victims blackened in the final hours before death supervened. The trouble about this other plausible theory is that no such phenomenon occurred.It is true that, in cases of septicemic plague, small black or purple blotches formed on the bodies of the sick and this presage must have made a vivid impression on beholders (Ziegler) Coming out of the East, the Black Death reached the shores of Italy in the spring of 1348 unleashing a violent disorder of death across Europe unprecedented in recorded history. By the time the epidemic played itself out thre e years later, anywhere in the midst of 25% and 50% of Europes population had fallen victim to the pestilence. The plague presented itself in three interrelated forms.The symptoms were not the same as in the East, where a blowup of blood from the nose was the plain sign of inevitable death but it began both in men and women with certain swellings in the groin or nether the armpit. They grew to the size of a small apple or an egg, more or less, and were vulgarly called tumors. In a short space of time these tumors spread from the 2 parts named all over the body. Soon after this the symptoms changed and black or purple spots appe ared on the arms or second joints or any other part of the body, aroundtimes a few large ones, sometimes many slender ones.These spots were a certain sign of death, just as the overlord tumors had been and still remained. The bubonic variant (the most common) derives its name from the swellings or buboes that appeared on a victims neck, armpits or groin . These tumors could range in size from that of an egg to that of an apple. Although some survived the atrocious ordeal, the manifestation of these lesions usually signaled the victim had a life expectancy of up to a week. Infected fleas that attached themselves to rats and then to humans spread this bubonic fictitious character of the plague.A second variation, pneumonic plague, attacked the respiratory system and was spread by merely breathing the exhaled air of a victim. It was much more virulent than its bubonic full cousin life expectancy was measured in one or both days. Finally, the septicemic version of the disease attacked the blood system. Having no defense and no ground of the cause of the pestilence, the men, women and children caught in its onslaught were bewildered, panicked, and finally devastated. The Black Death covers the affects that numerous plagues had on the culture. at that place appear to have been several check introductions into Europe. It reached Si cily in October 1347 carried by cardinal Genoese galleys where it rapidly spread all over the island. Galleys from Caffa reached Genoa and Venice in January 1348 but it was the outbreak in Pisa a few weeks later that was the entry point to Yankee Italy. Towards the end of January one of the galleys expelled from Italy arrived in Marseilles. From Italy the disease spread northwest across Europe, striking France, Spain, Portugal and England by June 1348, then turned and spread east through Germany and Scandinavia from 1348 to 1350.It was introduced in Norway in 1349 when a ship landed at Askoy, then proceeded to spread to Bjorgvin but never reached Iceland. Finally it spread to north-western Russia in 1351 however, the plague largely spared some parts of Europe, including the Kingdom of Poland and isolated parts of Belgium and the Netherlands. The cycle of the plagues struck each generation. After a plague ravaged Europe from 599-699, plague killed in 608, 618, 628, 640, 654, 684-68 6, 694-700, 718, and 740-750. In the early stages of the above series, intervals are apparent.These intervals demonstrate the cycles of the rodent and insect life. Robert S. Gottfried also argues, rightfully so, that plague may have hastened cultural change. Along with plagues came the need for a cure. Plague destroyed the existing medical systems, and was re located by a new-made heir. Previous to the plague, scientists based their knowledge on early scientists such as Hippocrates and Galen. Scientists knew little about what they were doing. The medical community was divided into five parts. These divisions were physicians, surgeons, barber-surgeons, apothecaries, and unlicensed practitioners.These divisions were adequate when Europe was without plague, but were straightforwardly not prepared for plague. Doctors responded with a series of changes are to thank for the development of modern science. Although the government had medical workers try to prevent the plague, the plague p ersisted. Most medical workers quit and journeyed away because they feared getting the plague themselves. There were methods that did work. Cities were hardest hit and tried to take measures to control an epidemic no one unders besidesd.In Milan, to take one of the most successful examples, city officials immediately walled up houses found to have the plague, isolating the healthy in them along with the sick. Venice took sophisticated and stringent quarantine and health measures, including isolating all incoming ships on a separate island. But people died anyway, though fewer in Milan and Venice than in cities that took no such measures. Pope Clement VI, living at Avignon, sat between two large fires to breath pure air. The plague bacillus actually is destroyed by heat, so this was one of the few truly effective measures taken.Gottfried succeeded in convert me that his thesis was truth. The opening chapters gave me a solid background of plague, explaining why he believes it had such an impact on medieval population and culture. Next, it delves into the affect that changing weather had on the plagues, explaining the European environment during 1050-1347 the time of plagues greatest destruction. That complete, Gottfried describes the consequences immediately following the plague. It is said that the disease killed 25% to 40% of Eurasia and part of Africa. By this point, it is more than obvious hat plague had a tragic affect on Medieval Europe, The Consequences and effects of the Black Death plague were prices and wages rose, greater value was placed on labor, farming land was given over to pasturing, which was much less labor-intensive, this change in farming led to a boost in the fabric and woolen industry, peasants moved from the country to the towns, the Black Death was therefore also responsible for the decline of the Feudal system, people became disillusioned with the church and its power and diverge went into decline, this resulted in the English reforma tion.After giving a full background on plague and European culture and environment, Gottfried gives solid details to support his theses. According to Gottfried, the health check structure of Medieval Europe, adopted from that of the Romans, was nearly eliminated in the search for ways to cure plague. The spread of plague, successfully stated by Gottfried, directly depends on climate. Plague can only spread under certain climate conditions. In order for Y. Pestis, a series of complex bacterial strains, to survive, it mustnt be too hot nor too cold.Too cold can kill the bacteria, and too hot can slow its progress. During the plagues most devastating times, the temperature was perfect for the spread of Y. Pestis. Gottfried also describes that spread of plague can also depend on the strength of animals. Humans are merely secondary hosts to the fleas carrying Y. Pestis. The fleas afflict their host with the plague when they regurgitate the bacteria. These fleas prefer an animal host, no t humans. When their animal host dies, they move on to a secondary host, possibly humans, but not necessarily.When the generation of bacteria-carrying fleas dies, or the temperatures prevent the plague from spreading, the cycle continues until all the variables once again allow for the plague to spread. Gottfried successfully conveys his point. Robert S. Gottfried achieved in getting his two theses across. His methods were to educate the reader on the topic, giving only the facts necessary to convey his point. After giving the reader information on plague and Medieval Europe, he argued his thesis, making frequent references to points he had made earlier in the book.Gottfried also made it obvious that others supported his theories. At the end of each important point, he marked it with a number corresponding to the reference in the back of the book. Neither physicians nor medicines were effective. Whether because these illnesses were previously unknown or because physicians had not pr eviously studied them, there seemed to be no cure. There was such a fear that no one seemed to know what to do. When it took hold in a house it often happened that no one remained who had not died. And it was not just that men and women died, but even sentient animals died.Dogs, cats, chickens, oxen, donkeys sheep showed the same symptoms and died of the same disease. And almost none, or very few, who showed these symptoms, were cured. The symptoms were the following a bubo in the groin, where the thigh meets the trunk or a small swelling under the armpit sudden fever tongueting blood and saliva (and no one who spit blood survived it). It was such a frightful thing that when it got into a house, as was said, no one remained. Frightened people abandoned the house and fled to another. -Marchione di Coppo Stefani In conclusion, The Black Death successfully proves that a great deal of tragedy in the 13th century had much to do with animals in the environment. Death was a habitual visi tor to fourteenth century Europe. Never before had humanity seen such widespread dying. Famines, wars, and a host of deadly diseases all took millions of lives during the 1300s. But the worst bingle calamity to wrack this troubled century was the Black Deatha plague that killed anywhere from 24-25 million Europeans between 1347 and 1351.As Frederick F. Cartwright and Michael D. Biddis, authors of Disease and History, observe, The Black Death was not just another incident in the long list of epidemics which have smitten the world. It was probably the greatest European catastrophe in history. Anywhere from 25 to 40 percent of the total population of Europe died from this plague. Similar death rates took place in Asia, the Mideast, the Mediterranean, Africa, and as far away as Greenland and Iceland, hence making the Black Death the greatest ecological calamity in human history.It also conveyed that plague accelerated the progress of culture, bringing the need for modern medicine. Go ttfried makes it apparent that man did not understand enough about the environment to prevent plague, maybe a message to the world today. Dense population, as Gottfried suggested, breeds plague. premature plague has educated us, and we should focus on this, plague seems to be inevitable with certain circumstances and lack of knowledge. Not only did Gottfried educate us on the past, but may have prepared us for the future.Works CitiedEfforts to Stop the Plague. Insecta Inspecta World. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. . Gottfried, Robert Steven. The Black Death Natural and Human Disaster in Medieval Europe. New York Free, 1983. Print. The Black Death, 1348. EyeWitness to History History through the Eyes of Those Who Lived It. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. .