THE BLACK DEATH a.k.a The Black Plague a.k.a. The Bubonic Plague

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THE BLACK DEATHa.k.a The Black Plaguea.k.a. The
Bubonic Plague
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Where did the Black Death come from?
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What were the symptoms of the plague?
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How was the plague transmitted?

1. A bite from fleas of the black rat that had
   sucked plague infested blood.
2. Exposure to bodily fluids of an infected human

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The Final Death Count

• From 1347-1351 the Plague killed an estimated 25
  million people, or about 1/3 to 1/2 of Europes
  population
• What kind of effects do you think this had on
  Europe?

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Panic and Disorder

• The Italian poet, Boccaccio, described how people
  behaved.
• "Some shut themselves away and waited for death,
  others rioted from tavern to tavern. The sickness
  fell upon all classes without distinction. The
  rich passed out of this world without a single
  person to comfort them. The poor fell sick by the
  thousand and most of them died. The terror was
  such that brother even fled from brother, wife
  from husband, yea the mother from her own child."

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Panic and Disorder

• People simply panicked, thousands of people were
  dying EVERY DAY
• People hid in their houses

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Panic and Disorder

• Doctors and the Clergy were dying the most
  because they were exposed to the plague the most
• Some doctors stopped tending the sick

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Panic and Disorder

• Some Medieval Solutions for stopping the spread
  of the disease
• Burn down house with plague victims
• Dont allow outsiders to enter your town or kill
  outsiders
• Flee into the countryside

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Panic and Disorder

• People flee cities, in doing so they spread the
  plague
• Children were left with no parents
• People come up with cures that cause more
  problems
• 1/3 of the population dies. Up to 3/4 of people
  die in some areas. All these deaths occurred in
  just 3 years!

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Mass Burials of Plague Victims
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Religious Effects of the Black Plague

• People seriously believed that god was angry at
  them and the world was coming to an end
• The Church lost credibility because people could
  not understand Gods Anger
• The Clergy died in the largest numbers because
  they cared for the dead and took final confessions

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Its the end of the world as we know it
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Long term effects of the Black Plague

• Economic Changes
• Political Changes
• Social Changes
• Cultural Changes

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Economic Changes

• So many were dying that there was a shortage in
  labor that leads to an increase in wages
• Food shortages as farmers are dying before they
  can plant or harvest

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Political Changes

• Many lords and vassals die
• Allows for Kings to gain more power
• Leads to a gradual breakdown of Feudalism

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Cultural Changes

• Death becomes a main focus of Medieval Art
• Many believe that the plague is a punishment from
  God
• Many nobles commission (pay for) Cathedrals to

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Social Changes

• Death of lords and vassals, as well as labor
  shortages lead to a decline of feudalism
• Roman Catholic Church loses power as many lose
  faith, and many members of the clergy die

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So what happened to the plague?

• The plague strikes again several times over the
  next 300 years
• No major outbreaks since the 1700s
• Modern medicine (antibiotics) are capable of
  treating the bubonic plague