THE BLACK DEATH

1. THE BLACK DEATH

2. References:A History of the Modern World by Palmer and ColtonA History of Western Society by McKay, Hill, and BucklerThe Western Perspective by Cannistraro and ReichWestern Civilizationby Spielvogel

3. THE BLACK DEATHfrom A History of Western Society • Spread • In October 1347, the plague came to Messina on Genoese ships docking at the island of Sicily. • By January 1348, the plague had reached Venice and Genoa. • By mid-1348, Italy, Spain, and France were infected and the plague had reached Germany and England.

4. THE BLACK DEATHfrom A History of Western Society • By the end of 1349, the plague had swept across most of Ireland, Scotland, the Low Countries, and Denmark. • By the end of 1350, almost all of Europe was infected.

6. THE BLACK DEATHfrom A History of Western Society • The bacillus that causes the plague is the Pasteurella pestis. • Pathology and Care • Lived in the bloodstream of an animal or, ideally, in the stomach of a flea. • The flea resided in the hair of a rodent, preferably the black rat.

7. THE BLACK DEATHfrom A History of Western Society • Black rats • Often traveled by ship. • Could survive on cargoes of grain • Reached the cities of Europe following voyages probably from the Crimea

8. THE BLACK DEATHfrom A History of Western Society & from Western Civilization • Bubonic: the flea was the vector, or transmitter. • The plague took three forms • Pneumonic: the plague was passed from person to person. • Septicemic: very rare, but very lethal; passed by insects; death usually occurred within one day.

9. THE BLACK DEATH from A History of Western Society • Filthy, narrow, crowded streets • City life aided the spread of disease. • Sewage • Garbage • Dead animals • Possibly for financial reasons, houses’ upper stories were built to project over the lower stories, eliminating light and air.

10. THE BLACK DEATHfrom A History of Western Society & A History of the Modern World • Extreme overcrowding was common. • Houses were crowded within the city walls. • Family members normally slept in one room, sometimes in one bed. • Housing construction was frequently poor and rats had no trouble entering.

11. THE BLACK DEATH from A History of Western Society • How often did the average resident use the public bathhouse? • Personal hygiene • How does poor personal hygiene combine with minor illnesses to weaken resistance to serious disease?

12. THE BLACK DEATHfrom A History of Western Society • If body lice is a common occurrence, will one notice a particular bite from a particular flea?

13. THE BLACK DEATHfrom A History of Western Society • a growth the size of a nut or an apple in the armpit, in the groin, or on the neck • Symptoms • This was the boil, or buba, that gave the disease its name. • If the boil was lanced and thoroughly drained, the victim might recover.

14. THE BLACK DEATH from A History of Western Society • Secondary stage: black spots caused by bleeding under the skin. • Finally, the victim began to cough violently and spit blood. • Death followed in two or three days.

15. THE BLACK DEATH fromThe Western Perspective

16. THE BLACK DEATH from A History of Western Society • Contemporary explanations • Some "vicious property in the air” • The Jews

17. THE BLACK DEATH from Western Civilization • Anti-Semitism • The most common example of anti-Semitism was the accusation that Jews caused the Black Death by poisoning wells • Jews were persecuted in Spain and especially in Germany

18. THE BLACK DEATH from Western Civilization • Anti-Semitism: One example • The plague killed about 16,000 in the city of Strasbourg in the Holy Roman Empire beginning in the summer of 1649. • The Jews were blamed for the plague due to a combination of fear and greed.

19. THE BLACK DEATH from Western Civilization • Anti-Semitism: An excerpt from “The Cremation of the Strasbourg Jews” by Jacob von Konigshofen: • “On Saturday . . . they burnt the Jews on a wooden platform in their cemetery. • “There were about two thousand people of them.

20. THE BLACK DEATH from Western Civilization • Anti-Semitism: An excerpt from “The Cremation of the Strasbourg Jews” by Jacob von Konigshofen: • “Those who wanted to baptise themselves were spared. • “[About 1,000 accepted baptism.] • “Many small children were taken out of the fire and baptized against the will of their fathers and mothers.

21. THE BLACK DEATH from Western Civilization • Anti-Semitism: An excerpt from “The Cremation of the Strasbourg Jews” by Jacob von Konigshofen: • “And everything that was owed to the Jews was canceled, and the Jews had to surrender all pledges and notes that they had taken for debts. • “The council, however, took the cash that the Jews possessed and divided it among the working-men proportionately.

22. THE BLACK DEATH from Western Civilization • Anti-Semitism: An excerpt from “The Cremation of the Strasbourg Jews” by Jacob von Konigshofen: • “The money was indeed the thing that killed the Jews. • “If they had been poor and if the feudal lords had not been in debt to them, they would not have been burnt. . .”

23. THE BLACK DEATH partly from Western Civilization • Anti-Semitism • Surviving Jews fled to Russia and especially to Poland where they were offered protection by the king. • As a direct result of the Black Death, Eastern Europe became home to large numbers of Jews.

24. THE BLACK DEATH from A History of Western Society • The infectious nature of the disease was recognized by some, but apparently only certain Muslims realized how to respond. • Ibu Abu Madyan • Ibu Abu Madyan shut in his household and allowed no one to enter or leave until the plague had passed. • Abu Madyan’s efforts succeeded.

25. THE BLACK DEATHfrom A History of Western Society • Rats carrying the fleas were largely confined to the cities. • The countryside was relatively safe. • City dwellers with money fled.

26. THE BLACK DEATHfrom Western Civilization • “Still others . . . maintained that no remedy against plagues was better than to leave them miles behind. Men and women without number . . . caring for nobody but themselves, abandoned the city, their houses and estates, their own flesh and blood even, and their effects, in search of a country place.” • from The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio

27. THE BLACK DEATHfrom A History of Western Society • Contemporary Europe could neither explain nor cure the disease. • The medical literature of the day indicates that physicians could sometimes ease the pain.

28. THE BLACK DEATHfrom A History of Western Society & from Western Civilization • Priests and nuns often stayed with the sick until they too caught the plague. • Care and treatment • Hospitals which existed in 14th and 15th century European cities “could offer only shelter, compassion, and care for the dying.”

29. THE BLACK DEATH from A History of Western Society • Professional medicine had no theory of infection, but the basic concept was understood – on some level – by those who witnessed the spread of the disease. • European port cities, beginning with Ragusa (modern Dubrovnik), quarantined arriving ships to determine whether they brought the plague.

30. THE BLACK DEATHfrom Western Civilization • Italian cities: 50-60% • Northern France: • Mortality rates • Farming villages: 30% • Cities: 30-40% • England: similar to France • Germany: not as bad as England and France • Europe: 25-50% or approximately 19-38 million people

31. A mass burial in Europe from The Western Perspective

32. Mass burial of Plague Victims from Western Civilization

33. THE BLACK DEATHfrom A History of Western Society & from Western Civilization • Recurrences • 1361-1362 • 1369 • Every 5-6 to 10-12 years for the rest of the fourteenth-century and the fifteenth century • Intermittently • Last outbreak was 1721 in Marseilles

34. THE BLACK DEATH from A History of Western Society • The decline in population led to a labor shortage • Economic and social consequences. • Increased demand for labor • Higher wages • Increase in per capita wealth • Increase in the slave trade

35. THE BLACK DEATH from A History of Western Society & from Western Civilization • Heroism • Psychological consequences. • Cowardice • Pessimism • Debauchery • Asceticism

36. THE BLACK DEATHfrom Western Civilization • “Others . . . held that plenty of drinking and enjoyment, singing and free living and the gratification of the appetite in every possible way . . . was the best preventative of such a malady . . . Day and night they went from one tavern to another drinking and carousing unrestrainedly.” • from The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio

37. THE BLACK DEATHfrom Western Civilization • The flagellants • “men who did public penance and scourged themselves with whips of hard knotted leather with little iron spikes. Some make themselves bleed very badly . . . The object of this penance was to put a stop to the mortality.” • A contemporary chronicler

38. “The Flagellants”from Western Civilization

39. THE BLACK DEATH from A History of Western Society • Death in the literature and art of the fourteenth century • One motif, the Dance of Death, depicted a dancing skeleton leading away a living person.

40. Dance of Death

41. THE BLACK DEATH from A History of Western Society • All types of leaders and institutions had failed them • Survivors experienced a crisis of faith. • Religious and Moral • Political and Social • Medical • This crisis contributed to the decline of the Middle Ages.