Europe from 1000 to 1300 was a place of prosperity and new opportunities. Due the introduction of the 3-field system and other changes brought to agriculture during this time, food was in surplus. This cerealization allowed for the support of a larger population, time for leisure activities, more money for luxury items, and specialisation of labour. Artisans, such as blacksmiths or bakers, formed guilds, lords and ladies held lovely parties, and the monarch ruled over the fruitful feudal society. Although the region flourished before the plague struck with its commercial revolution, and after with the Renaissance, the plague wrought devastation to the kingdoms within Europe from 1348 to 1351 through its exponential-like spread from city to …show more content…
It was like a wildfire-- going from place to place devouring cities and people whole, leaving nothing but devastation in its wake. It made its way to Europe from Asia, hitching a ride along the Silk Road. Unknowingly, travelers and merchants carried rats with disease-carrying fleas on them from crowded marketplace to marketplace. As the rats invested the marketplace and towns, the disease spread. It arrived in Constantinople in 1347 (Doc 1). From there, its fatal nature spanned the entire continent of Europe within 5 years. The spread of this awful disease was aided by the naive priests. The church was an important part of medieval European culture-- priests being held in high regard. As these priests went from sick house to sick house, they inadvertently transferred the plague to the un-ill residents of the next house (Doc 8). To the citizens of Europe, it seemed like no force could stop this horrible sentence, not even the men who served God. The human knowledge of the way that the plague was spread was little to none. Although many did bar themselves in their houses, and city officials ordered things such as manure to be cleaned off the streets, the citizens didn’t realize that the pest they needed to fight off was literally as small as a flea (Doc 2). The lack of knowledge, rounds made by priests and the prominence of trade caused the plague to spread over vast …show more content…
Many people were confused by the way that the plague seemed to strike down some while missing others. They compared it to the Angel of Death, whose arrows came and shot some people with sickness (Doc 3). They believed that the plague was a punishment sent from God. This belief, along with the imminency of death, sent people running back to churches and praying for a spot in Heaven. Along with the belief that this was a punishment mandated from Heaven, many believed that the plague was the fault of the Jews. Many monarchs of the time were indebted to the Jews, however, they did not want to pay them back the money owed. Instead, they blamed the Jews for poisoning the town’s water supply, condemning them to either being burned at the stake or baptised into the Christian church (Doc 6). This mentality of accusation and cruelty had been portrayed before this time, with the Crusades against non-Christians from 1095 to the late 1200’s. The plague became such a normality, that children were singing nursery rhymes about it. “Ring Around the Rosy,” a popular kids song to this day, was about the mortality caused by the plague (Doc 5). In a few short lines it mentions how even the church couldn't save the victims of the plague, and how one had to succumb to masked the stench using spices, such as cloves or vinegar, or flowers in this case to mask the stench of the
One piece of evidence stated, “As the plague kept occurring in the late 1300s, the European economy sank to a new low (Document 9).” Another piece of evidence states,” In the second half of the 14th century, a man could simply up and leave a manor, secure in the knowledge that Faith in religion had fallen because the prayers of the people were not answered. The people even thought that it was god whom had unleashed this deadly disease. One piece of evidence that I used stated,” Some felt that the wrath of God was descending upon man, and so fought the plague with player (Document 6).” Another piece of evidence stated,” Faith in religion decreased after the plague, both because of the death of so many of the clergy and because of the failure of prayer to prevent sickness and death (Document 6).”
One of the largest epidemic events in history, the Bubonic Plague had a devastating effect on European society. It is believed to have begun in China, and it reached European soil in 1347, when it struck Constantinople (Document 1). It was carried by infected fleas that spread the disease between humans and rats. A symptom of the plague was the development of large, dark swellings called “buboes” on the victim’s lymph nodes. By the time the plague left, Europe’s population had been reduced by almost half. The devastation as a result of the plague may seem shocking, but there were several important factors that contributed to its deadliness.
" In less than four years the disease carved a path of death through Asia, Italy, France, North Africa, Spain and Normandy, made its way over the Alps into Switzerland, and continued eastward into Hungary" (Microsoft Bookshelf, page 1). After a brief respite, the plague resumed, crossing the channel into England, Scotland, and Ireland, and eventually made its way into the northern countries of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and even as far north as Greenland. In other words, the plague touched almost the entire known world. So much death could not help but tear economic and social structures apart.
How did the disease travel so quickly if humans could only survive from the disease a maximum of a week? The answer is rats and flies. In Rats, Communications, and Plague: Toward an Ecological History, by Michael McCormick, McCormick talks about the rat and how it was so influential in the spread of the disease specifically the Rattus rattus. The rattus rattus is the black rat or ship rat that was responsible for the rapid spread of the plague. The rat would be a host to flies, which carried the disease. “Rats were particularly dangerous “amplifying” hosts because of their productivity to associate with humans and the ability of their blood to withstand enormous concentrations of the plague bacillus.” This allowed ample time for the fly to survive on the living rat as they where moved. Rats are not known for their ability to move quickly. They were most likely transported around Europe by way of ship. “Rattus rattus affinity for ships is well known. Most (forty-seven or 72 percent) Roman rat finds occur within 10km of sea coasts or river banks” This proves that it was possible for the rat to be the host of the virus as they moved with their ship. Once the rat died of the disease, the fly would fly to its next victim who was most likely a human. This is how the disease spread so quickly throughout
(SIP-A) The plague had many ways in spreading its disease making more and more people get sick very rapidly (STEWE-1) .The plague killed roughly half of the population of Europe, In crowded areas people could receive the Plague from fleas that had bitten wild black rats. Once transferred from flea to human it became fatal in days. (S3 27). (STEWE-2) In 1347 many sailors that were dying from the plague were on Italian merchant ships from the Black Sea, which is on the trade route between Europe and China. Within days the sailors on the ship had spread the plague from the port cities to the surrounding countryside, within a year the disease spread as far as England. (S14). (SIP-B) Because of the rapidly spreading disease the mortality rate and decrease of population was very high and greatly affected those who survived. (STEWE-1) Over half of the population had died and extremely quickly, there were so many bodies that there was no more room to bury them, the brutal depopulation is almost unimaginable for those who lived through such a painful time. (S1
1. The contrast between Cottard and the other characters is that while everyone else is in constant fear of catching the plague and doing everything they can to fight the disease, Cottard is cheerful in the fact that the plague has put a stop to the police investigating his mysterious crime . Cottard probably also enjoys the camaraderie of everyone else finally being in the same position as he is.
Multiple circumstances within the cities, families, and organizations of societies contributed to the rapid spread of the plague. Rats, ticks and other rodents or insects where one of the reason the plague spread throughout the world and most of Europe. The ticks and fleas where infected with the disease and they bit the rats and other rodents, which infected them with the disease. The ticks and fleas also bit other rodents, livestock and even the attached themselves to humans and transferred the disease to them. The rats or other rodents ran throughout the place they where bit by the tick. Some of the rodents began to go into ship yards and trains. They bread with other rats and begin to produce offspring which created an even bigger problem. The rodents got onto the ships and where transported around the world, along with the now infected materials on board. The rats would drop their feces around the ship and even on the drinking water and food. When the ships docked at ship yards around the world the rats got off and ran around the new country they now belonged to. Some of the supplies that where taken off of the ship included but was not limited to, liquids, foods and livestock. These supplies where shipped around the world and contributed greatly to the spread of the disease.
The Plague (French, La Peste) is a novel written by Albert Camus that is about an epidemic of bubonic plague. The Plague is set in a small Mediterranean town in North Africa called Oran. Dr. Bernard Rieux, one of the main characters, describes it as an ugly town. Oran’s inhabitants are boring people who appear to live, for the most part, habitual lives. The main focus of the town is money. “…everyone is bored, and devotes himself to cultivating habits. Our citizens work hard, but solely with the object of getting rich. Their chief interest is in commerce, and their chief aim in life is, as they call it, 'doing business’” (Camus 4). The citizens’ unawareness of life’s riches and pleasures show their susceptibility to the oncoming plague. They don’t bother themselves with matters not involving money. It is very easy for the reader to realize that they are too naive to combat the forthcoming calamity. The theme of not knowing life is more than work and habits will narrow the people’s chances of survival. Rieux explains that the town had a view of death as something that happens every day. He then explains that the town really doesn’t face towards the Mediterranean Sea. Actually it is almost impossible to see the sea from town. Oran is a town which seems to turn its back on life and freedom. The Plague was first published in 1948 in France. “Early readers were quick to note that it was in part an allegory of the German occupation of France from 1940 to 1944, which cut France off from the outside world; just as in the novel the town of Oran must close its gates to isolate the plague” (“The Plague” 202). When the plague first arrives, the residents are slow to realize the extreme danger they are in. Once they finally become aware of it...
At this time however, cold weather and rains wiped out many crops creating a shortage of food for humans. Rats also went through this shortage in food. This made them “crowd in cities, providing an optimal environment for disease”(Karin Lehnardt in 41 Catastrophic Facts about the Black Death). Before the black death spread through Europe, sanitation wasn’t very good. Living conditions were bad so when the black death came to Europe, it spread more rapidly because people were not clean and healthy. Another reason the plague spread so fast was because the dead “bodies were piled up inside and outside city walls where they lay until mass graves could be dug”(Karin Lehnardt in 41 Catastrophic Facts about the Black Death). This made the air very polluted and contributed the spread of the epidemic. In total, the black death killed about thirty million people. This was about one-third the population of Europe. Some towns were completely wiped out. Because of this, medieval people thought everyone would eventually die, although we now know that some populations did survive. Also, because people were not being saved by the church, their beliefs were questioned. Less people dedicated their lives to the church because of this. Both the poor and the rich died but more than one-half the people dead were poor. This was also a result of poor sanitation and living conditions. The Black Death initiated in China in the early 1340’s
The Black Plague, perhaps one of the worst epidemics in history, swept its evil across Europe in the middle of the 14th century, killing an estimated 20 million people. This major population shift, along with other disasters occurring at the time, such as famine and an already existing economic recession, plunged Europe into a dark period of complete turmoil. Anarchy, psychological breakdowns, and the dissipation of church power were some of the results. As time passed, however, society managed to find new ground and began its long path of recovery. The plague, as catastrophic as it was to medieval Europe, had just as many positive effects that came with this recovery as it did negative effects prior. An end to feudalism, increased wages and innovation, the idea of separation of church and state, and an attention to hygiene and medicine are only some of the positive things that came after the plague. It could also be argued that the plague had a significant impact on the start of the Renaissance.
In 1665, in the Kingdom of England, there was a great disease going through the kingdom that killed over 100,000 people, it was passed throughout the population by tiny bugs that were everywhere and were nearly impossible to avoid. This epidemic is known as the Great Plague of London, 1665 and it is the strand of the Bubonic Plague that tore through London, killing about 15% of London’s population which was around 100,000 people. This Plague was one of the worst diseases to tear through Europe in the 1300’s - the 1600’s. It hit England especially hard because they were on an island and had to where to go and couldn't avoid the spreading of the disease.
Europe’s social structure in the Middle Ages consisted of feudalism. A hierarchical society of Kings granting land to nobles, who would then give a fief to a knight in return for service. The knight would then have peasants or serfs working on their fief. However, as the plague spread, many peasants died and their labour could not be replaced. This loss of workforce had a significant impact upon the economy as grain was not being harvested and livestock roamed free. The agrarian economy had been severely damaged, the land became uncultivated and returned back to its natural state. This rural collapse eventually led to food shortages in towns and cities.
Infectious diseases also called as communicable diseases are caused by pathogenic microorganisms (such as bacteria, viruses, parasites or fungi), can be spread directly or indirectly from one person to another.
The Plague is a novel describing the plague epidemic in the large Algerian city of Oran in the 1940s. In April, numerous rats staggered into the open to die. Once a mild hysteria gripped the population, the newspapers began searching for any action they could take. Finally, the authorities arranged for the daily collection and cremation of the rats, but by mid-afternoon they were already pilling up again. When a cluster of cases of a strange fever appeared, Dr. Rieux's partner, Castel, became certain that the illness is the bubonic plague. He and Dr. Rieux are forced to confront the indifference and denial of the authorities and other doctors in their attempts to urge quick, decisive action. Only after it became impossible to deny that a serious epidemic was ravaging Oran, the authorities did enforce strict sanitation measures, placing the entire city under quarantine.
The Bubonic Plague, otherwise known as the Black Death was a raging disease. Most people thought of it as the physical Grim Reaper of their town or community. The disease lasted about six years, 1347 to 1352. The Bubonic Plague was a travesty that has traveled throughout Europe and has raged and decimated both large and small towns, putting Europe through a lot.