The Black Death

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The Black Death
1347 - 1351
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The Culprits
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The Famine of 1315-1317

• By 1300 Europeans were farming almost all the
  land they could cultivate.
• A population crisis developed.
• Climate changes in Europe produced three years of
  crop failures between 1315-17 because of
  excessive rain.
• As many as 15 of the peasants in some English
  villages died.
• One consequence ofstarvation povertywas
  susceptibility todisease.

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Wasnt the Silk Road supposed to give us goods we
needed? So what did the Silk Road give us?

• The silk road gave us Wealth/trade, Spread of
  ideas/religion, and Bubonic Plague!!!
• The fall of Constantinople and the Bubonic
  Plague ended the Silk Road trade.
• The Black Death was the most devastating disease
  of its time and had no cure!!!

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1347 Plague Reaches Constantinople!
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The Disease Cycle
Flea drinks rat blood that carries the
bacteria.
Bacteria multiply in fleas gut.
Human is infected!
Fleas gut cloggedwith bacteria.
Flea bites human and regurgitates blood into
human wound.
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What were the symptoms of the plague?
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• It came from China where it was carried by fleas
  and rats from traders.
• It was so deadly because it was spread without
  physical contact.
• Any positives?
• 1.) Population Control
• 2.) Decrease in population brought increase
  demand for workers and higher pay also.
• 3.) Awareness of hygiene and knowledge medicine
  increase.

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• Negatives???
• 1.) People fled the cities and towns for the
  countryside.
• 2.) Government had less money because fewer
  people paid taxes.
• 3.) Less people needed food and farmers income
  became low.
• 4.) About 50 to 75 of Europe died from the
  disease (25,000,000)

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Cures?

• Medieval people did not know about germs causing
  disease. They did not understand that plague was
  spread by rats and fleas. They thought that
  peoples bodies were poisoned.
• If the swellings burst and the poison came out
  people sometimes survived. It seemed sensible to
  draw out the poison.

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Medieval cure number 1

• The swellings should be softened with figs and
  cooked onions. The onions should be mixed with
  yeast and butter. Then open the swellings with a
  knife.

Medieval cure number 2
Take a live frog and put its belly on the plague
sore. The frog will swell up and burst. Keep
doing this with further frogs until they stop
bursting. Some people say that a dried toad will
do the job better.c
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Medieval Art the Plague
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Medieval Art the Plague
Bring out your dead!
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(No Transcript)
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Attempts to Stop the Plague
Leeching
A Doctors Robe
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Attempts to Stop the Plague
FlagellantiSelf-inflicted penance for our
sins!
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First Hand Account of The Black Death (resident
from Siena, Italy)

• And so they died. And nobody could be found to
  bury the dead for money or for friendshipAnd in
  many places in Siena huge pits were dug and piled
  deep with great heaps of the deadAnd I buried my
  five children with my own hands and many others
  did likewise. And there were many corpses about
  the city who were so sparsely covered with earth
  that dogs dragged them out and devourded their
  bodies.

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http//www.youtube.com/watch?vEVvttY0BcHI