Black Plague

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The Black Plague started in 1347 CE and ended in 1351 CE. Europe declined dramatically by the spreading of an unstoppable virus sent from central Asia. As the virus spread through towns, villages, and across countries, dead bodies of the victims caught by the virus started to pile and gather. As more bodies began to pileup, they were dumped into pits (Wilson 438). There were many effects of the Black Plague in Europe. The three most important effects of the Black Plague was land became worthless, 1/3 to 1/2 of the European population died, and Jews were blamed for the outbreak and was targeted by Europeans. This impacted Europe economically.
The Black Plague began in central Asia. It originated from southern China and went along the Silk Road. It crossed through central Asia, India and also into the middle East (Stock Vol.4). Later on, scientists found out the cause of the Black Plague to start was ships and carriers, which had rats onboard that were infested by fleas. India was deeply affected by this, resulting in 13 million deaths (Wells 1097). The most common disease during the Black Plague was the bubonic plague. A person can only obtain it when a flea, that is already infected, bites a person or when there’s a cut in the person’s skin for bacteria to go through. People who had been infected can get fevers, headaches, and chills (Wells 1097). The bubonic plague was painful and had swollen lymph nodes. Inside of it was black, full of blood and pus, and it looked like it will burst any second (Bowers 132). In 1546, Girolamo Fracastoro, an Italian physician proposed a theory of transmissibility of plague. He explained how it was possible for the fleas to spread by jumping from one host to another (Bow...

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..., a Jewish doctor said he poisoned the wells. In Basle, Stuttgart, Dresden, and other German cities, they burned Jews (Economists 33). This began the rise in anti-Semitism. In 1349 Strasbourg, multiple cities blamed Jews for poisoning their water supply. Groups of people killed around two thousand Jews. Some people burned the Jews too, which took 6 days (Ed 438). Agnolo di Tura had to bury five her children in ditches that were dug up. As there were more piles of deaths, more ditches were created (Saylor 10).
The fear of so many people dying, decline in population due to the Black Plague, led many people across Europe to persecute Jews. The many deaths in Europe allowed land to be available, decreasing the worth of land. As more landowners died, land no longer had worth. As the economy went down, it made it seem as if the world was really coming to an end.

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