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History 210: The Black Death and its consequences

History 210: The Black Death and its consequences. Nature strikes back! Little Ice Age, ca. 1300-1850 CE:. Early 1300s: Four centuries of warmer temperatures in the northern hemisphere came to an end. in 1309-1310 Thames River froze over

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History 210: The Black Death and its consequences

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  1. History 210: The Black Death and its consequences

  2. Nature strikes back!Little Ice Age, ca. 1300-1850 CE: • Early 1300s: Four centuries of warmer temperatures in the northern hemisphere came to an end. • in 1309-1310 Thames River froze over • China extremely severe winters 36 of the 100 years of the 14th century. • Shipping was disrupted in the northern seas, and some higher elevations were no longer habitable, as were areas in Greenland, Norway, and Finland. • Colder temperatures in the far north also meant lower rainfall globally. • Famine was a key result (Malthusian)

  3. The Pestilence, 1320s-1370s • Bubonic Plague and Anthrax, later called the “Black Death” (also possibly typhus, smallpox, and influenza) • Origin was likely Central Asia, whence it spread east and west

  4. Spread of the Pestilence, 1320s-1370s

  5. China suffered first • Initial outbreak was in Hubei province in 1334: up to 90 percent of population died, five million people. • Ebbed and flowed • 1353-54 up to two thirds of China’s population died prematurely.

  6. Kaffa (Caffa) incident, 1346 • Genoan trading port in Crimea (est. 1266) • Made a deal with “Tartars” – “Golden Horde” or more accurately – Kipchak Khanate • Deal broke; siege resulted • Source: Genoese notary Gabriele de’ Mussi • More likely, trade from the Black Sea in general spread it to Europe and North Africa.

  7. Europe, 1348-1350 • Estimates vary, one quarter to one third, about 35 million people died. • Hit cities and towns very hard (but also remote villages?) • e.g. Florence’s population reduced from 110-120,000 in 1338 to 50,000 in 1351

  8. Middle East • Not as much or as reliable data. • Mortality particularly high in rural areas, esp. Judea and Syria. • City records are better: • in 1348 Gaza lost 10,000 • Aleppo death rate was 500 per day in 1348 • Damascus experienced 1000 deaths per day (25-35 percent overall) • Syria lost 400,000 by March 1349.

  9. William Langland, Piers Plowman (c. 1330-1387) • “So Nature killed many through corruptions,
Death came driving after her and dashed all to dust, Kings and knights, emperors and popes;
He left no man standing, whether learned or ignorant; Whatever he hit stirred never afterwards. Many a lovely lady and their lover-knights swooned and died in sorrow of Death’s blows….. For God is deaf nowadays and will not hear us. And for our guilt he grinds good men to dust.”

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