Bubonic Plague Dbq Essay

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The Bubonic Plague DBQ Sweeping through Western Europe during the fourteenth century, the Bubonic Plague wiped out nearly one third of the population and did not regard: status, age or even gender. All of this occurred as a result of a single fleabite. Bubonic Plague also known as Black Death started in Asia and traveled to Europe by ships. The Plague was thought to be spread by the dominating empire during this time, the Mongolian Empire, along the Silk Road. The Bubonic Plague was an infectious disease spread by fleas living on rats, which can be easily, be attached to traveler to be later spread to a city …show more content…

During Bubonic Plague there were also many different beliefs and concerns, which include fear, exploitation, religious and supernatural superstition, and a change of response from the fifteenth to eighteen century. Fear of the Bubonic Plague mainly came from people not knowing what was the cause of the Plague, this fear seems to become even more uncertain as the best doctors, scientist, or even the educated do not know the cause of the Plague. This theologian Erasmus of Rotterdam (document 2) sees this fear, as he seems to blame the cause of the Plague in England because of the filth on the street. This fear can also be seen in by the educated as the representative of the Frankish king Staden (document 5) explains how the houses of the sick were immediately nailed up after …show more content…

During the course of the Plague common beliefs and/or concerns underwent a dramatic change. During the early years of the Plague outbreak the prevalent belief was of fear of the Plague and its uncertainty of the cause. Most people during this time were concerned that the Plague would affect their economy and their own work/business. People were also concerned of their lives and their family's well being. Then as time went on beliefs changed from this to fear to a religious superstition. We can see this as we compare the writings of Weyer, (document 4) from the fifteenth century, who feared the Plague, to the writings of Bertrand, (document 16) from the eighteenth as he declared the Plague was cause because of religious superstition. This shift in belief may be caused by the "Age of Enlightenment" that caused people to think more irrationality, and to heavily believe in

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