Black Death

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Recommended: Positives and negatives of the plague

One could only imagine the fear the people in Europe experienced after learning of so many deaths across the land. Hearing of an illness heading towards you, a plague so severe, that it would end up causing a third of the population in Europe to parish. Originating in China in 1347 making its way to Europe in 1348, The Black Death is one of the worlds’ deadliest occurrences in history. The researcher will cover how the illness made its way to Europe, how the Church was effected, and what the doctors thought to be the blame for the illness and their frugal attempts for a cure. The social and economic ramifications of the plague will also be addressed.

During the timeframe of 1333-1345, there were droughts followed by famine in China where numerous deaths occurred. Not only were there crop eating locust but a number of natural disasters were taking place. Both humans and animals suffered together. The rats there, having nothing to eat started moving south into India and stowed away in materials going to market in the Crimea. People died from a mysterious illness there (Martin, S.).

Muslim traders blamed the Christian traders for the deaths. They attacked the trading station at Tama and the Christians retreated to their trading station Kaffa. The Muslims were dying in great numbers and the commanders thought the Christians should suffer too so they began to catapult dead bodies over the walls of Kaffa. The Christian traders would carry the bodies as quickly as they could and throw them into the sea. It became a daunting task and after a couple of days of enduring this, they boarded their ships and sailed away. Unbeknownst to them, they were carrying The Plague with them (Martin, S.).

The Black D...

... middle of paper ...

...ge in histories of medieval plague. Vol. 24, (2) pp. 265-289.

Journal of the History of Biology. Springer.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/4331174.

Lerner, R. E. (2008). Fleas: Some Scratchy Issues Concerning the Black Death. Journal of the

Historical Society, 8(2), 205-228. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5923.2008.00244.x.

Martin, S., (11/2001). Black Death. Pocket Essentials. ISBN: 9781903047743.

Pamuk, S. (2007). The Black Death and the origins of the 'Great Divergence'

across Europe, 1300-1600. European Review of Economic History, 11(3), 289-317.

Retrieved February 19, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1417732121).

Sanders, T., Nelson, S.H., Morillo, S., Ellenberger, N. (2006). Encounters in world history.

(Ashford University, ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

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