There were many symptoms that came with one getting the plague and very little medication to treat it. “The disease was present in two forms: one that infected the bloodstream, causing the buboes and internal bleeding, and was spread by contact; and a second, more virulent pneumonic type that infected the lungs and was spread by respiratory infection” (Tuchman). The first thing to strike after determining that you were ill was most commonly a headache, occasional chills, and a high fever. In most cases, it was clear that exhaustion was a playing a toll on people who were ill with the disease. Most often things like nausea, vomiting, back pain, soreness in your arms and legs all took place. Within a day or two after nausea and other symptoms, the swellings appeared (Snell). The swellings were hard and painful, in which also you had burning lumps on your neck, under your arms and on your inner thighs (Snell). Shortly after the lumps appeared on your skin, they started turning black, splitting open and beginning to release pus and blood. The most crucial and life threatening problem came in pretty close to immediately after the lumps started to bleed, which was: internal bleeding, causing bleeding through urine and other server problems as well. It was possible to recover from the plague, but more than likely death would come quickly (Snell) During these tough times both hardship and misfortune where faced in the medieval ages. Daily life was occasionally exceedingly hard to fathom. Medicine was immensely limited, but some methods were tested in hopes of finding a secure lead to restoring health. That fact that there were no antibiotics during the middle ages is what turned the hard times into the absolute most difficult times. ... ... middle of paper ... ...18 Nov. 2013. Alchin, Linda. "Middle Ages Hygiene." Middle Ages Hygiene. 16 July 2012. Web. 09 Dec. 2013. Alchin, Linda. "Medicine in the Middle Ages." Medicine in the Middle Ages. Web. 08 Dec. 2013. Betcher, G. "Town Life." Town Life. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. “Black Death.” 2014. The History Channel website. Jan 16 2014, 3:51 http://www.history.com/topics/black-death. K., Alchin L. "Black Death." Black Death. 16 July 2012. Web. 15 Jan. 2014. Knox, Skip E.L. "The Middle Ages." The Black Death. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. Martin, Phillip. "Middle Ages for Kids - The Plague!" Middle Ages for Kids - The Plague! Web. 08 Dec. 2013. "Plague." National Geographic. National Geographic, 2013. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. Snell, Melissa. "Death Defined." About.com Medieval History. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. Tuchman, Barbara. "Description of the Black Death." Description of the Black Death. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.
The symptoms would include the usual signs of sickness- fever, vomiting muscular pain and swelling in the lymph nodes. Nobody, physician or doctor knew how the Black Death was occurring or how to stop it. They did all they could to help with the symptoms. In fact, the song Ring around the Rosy was inspired due to the plague. At first, the plague was thought to be sent by the almighty God to punish men for their sins. Simone Buonacorsi, the notary, wrote a ordinances that in no way shall man have contact with those whom are
The Black Death is one of the deadliest epidemics to ever hit mankind. It is estimated that this epidemic killed nearly 30%-60% of the population depending on the location. Recently, scholars have argued over the existence of the Black Death as a Plague in the form of Yersinia Pestis. Many argue, through scientific research and primary sources, that the Black Death was indeed a plague. Their critics argue that there is not enough evidence in the correlation of the scientific research and the primary sources to conclude that the Black Death was really a plague. The primary source The Black Death, by Rosemary Horrox, is a compilation of different accounts of the plague throughout Europe in the 1300’s. The two modern sources Plague Historians
Alchin, Linda. “Elizabethan Medicine and Illnesses” www.elizabethan-era.org. UK. N.P. 16 May 2012 Web. 17 Jan 2014
...to prevent the disease. Some people fled to the country side and quarantined themselves. In the churches they took measures that would have not ever been seen if the plague had not taken place. In one instance, one of the priest was giving out mass on the end of a pole. Pope Clement sat in-between to big fires in order to breath pure air.
No other epidemic reaches the level of the Black Death which took place from 1348 to 1350. The epidemic, better regarded as a pandemic, shook Europe, Asia, and North Africa; therefore it deems as the one of the most devastating events in world history. In The Black Death: The Great Mortality of 1348-1350, John Aberth, compiles primary sources in order to examine the origins and outcomes of this deadly disease. The author, a history professor and associate academic dean at Vermont’s Castleton State College, specializes in medieval history and the Black Death. He wrote the book in order to provide multiple perspectives of the plague’s impact. Primarily, pathogens started the whole phenomenon; however, geological, economic, and social conditions
In Robert S. Gottfried’s book titled “The Black Death”, he analyzes the 14th century outbreak from an epidemiological perspective. The book is written as a historical account of one of the greatest epidemics on record. Gottfried is a well renowned Professor of History as well as the Director of Medieval Studies at Rutgers University. Another one of his books titled, "Epidemic Disease in Fifteenth Century England” focuses on the additional outbreaks that occurred in Europe after the Black Death plague. The Black Death also called the Great Pestilence the was the second of three pandemic plagues known and is considered one of the most damaging pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 25-50% of the Europe's population in the years 1348 to 1350. The origins of the plague began with east-west trade. In 1347 the Black Death entered Constantinople and spread throughout Byzantium and the Eastern Mediterranean, it is theorized that foreign rats migrating with the eastern trade carried the disease called Y. pestis to the west, fleas that were feeding on those rats then transmitted the infection to livestock and humans. The epidemic spread at an alarming rate and had devastating effects once contracted, at its peak the plague is said to have taken up to 1000 lives a day.
It was a bubonic plague that came from Asia and spread by black rats infested with fleas. The plague spread like a wildfire because people who lived in high populated areas were living very close to each other and had no idea what was the cause of the disease or how to cure it. The signs of the “inevitable death” where blood from the nose, fever, aching and swellings big as an “apple” in the groin or under the armpits. From there the disease spread through the body in different directions and soon after it changed into black spots that appeared on the arms and thighs. Due to the lack of medical knowledge, no doctors manage to find a remedy. Furthermore a large number of people without any kind of medical experience tried to help the sick but most of them failed “...there was now a multitude both of men and of women who practiced without having received the slightest tincture of medical science - and, being in ignorance of its source, failed to apply the proper remedies…” (Boccaccio). The plague was so deadly that it was enough for a person to get infected by only touching the close of the
"Life in Italy During the Middle Ages." Life in Italy. Life in Italy, 2014. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. .
Gottfried, Robert S. The Black Death: Natural and Human Disaster in Medieval Europe. New York:
Cosman, Madeine, and Linda Jones. “Medicine, Science, and Technology.” Handbook to Life in the Medieval World. Vol. 2. New York: Facts On Files, 2008. 470-549. Print.
"Women of History: Medieval Marriage & Childbirth." Women of History: Medieval Marriage & Childbirth. N.p., 29 Aug. 2007. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.
Women in the Middle Ages (Early 1400’s- late 1500’s). (2004, June 07). In WriteWork.com. Retrieved 18:27. March 06. 2014. from http://www.writework.com/essay/women-middle-ages-early-1400s-late-1500s
The Black Death was an extensive epidemic that spread across Europe from 1346 to 1353, killing over an estimated one-third of Europe’s entire population (Medieval World 56). Although historians are not entirely sure of its origin, the Black Death spread quickly across both Europe and Asia with a death toll that augmented rapidly. The plague also had unusual and deadly symptoms, causing “panic everywhere, with men and women knowing no way to stop death except to flee from it” (Kohn 28). The chaos created by the malevolent force of the Black Death impacted the society of Europe as a whole. Despite the extent of the Black Death, we know surprisingly little of it (Cartwright and Biddiss 38); however, historians have presented numerous theories of its origin and spread, uncovered records of deaths, symptoms and other characteristics, and have found political records, art, and other documents recalling the plague and its impact on Europe.
Plague has three stages, Bubonic, Septicemic and Pneunomin. The first few days, the bubonic stage takes place and that is after the individual has been infected. The symptoms that are given off are fever, headache, weakness, pains in the upper leg and groin, white tongue, rapid pulse, slurred speech, confusion and fatigue. At day three, throbbing inflammation of the lymph glands from the armpits, neck and groin happen resulting in “buboes.”
Trumbull, Eric W. "Introduction to Theatre -- Medieval Theatre." Introduction to Theatre -- Medieval Theatre. N.p., 16 Nov. 2008. Web. 18 Oct. 2013.