The Black Death (jan 1, 1346 – jan 1, 1353)

Description:

Spread from Crimea across Europe in mid 1300s

One third of Europe’s population died in a few years on average over the entirety of europe

Same bacterium as the Justinian plague (Yersinia pestis)

Spread by fleas on the backs of rats, and through contact with pus and blood of the infected

Believed during the time to be spread through Miasma (bad air)

Believed to be prevented through the usage of herbs and spices (good air)

Many thoughts that god had punished humankind for its sins, leading them to focus on making penance and behaving according to religion

Astrogly was a legitimate science at the time, and many attributed the plague to an unfavorable planetary conjunction or to comets

Natural causes were identified in effluvia and bad air, in a tradition going back to the Hippocratic corpus

At times contagion from person to person, or also from objects that had been in contact with affected people, such as bedding and furniture, was suspected, but its agent remained unknown

Jews were seen ss an alien body in a Christian society, spreading the poison of the plague. Were generally seen with suspicion but in times of plague believed to spread it
Measures against the plague varied

Religious processions led to more deaths

Flagellants flogged themselves to the point of bleeding

Purifying fires were lit and rooms were fumigated with aromatic herbs

Vinegar was used for its strong scent to purify surfaces and coins, and to drink

Surgeons tried lancing the buboes

Dissections of plague victims were carried out to find the cause of the disease

Doctors wore gowns, goggles, and a beak-like mask filled with perfumed herbs to purify the air, following Hippocrates

Jews were burnt alive during the black death plague. Whilst Pope Clement VI defended the Jews, who died of the plague just like Christians. At the local level Christians were often responsible for pogroms


The Dissolution of Society
Contemporary accounts depict a grim picture of the contrasting effect of the Black death on the population
• Family and civic bonds were dissolved
• Human laws were ignored
• Wealthy noble families exterminated with no funeral rites

Gender roles too were subverted, women losing modesty and shame, some of their defining characteristics in medieval society

Some sought moderation, others indulged in unrestrained pleasures, ignoring medical prescriptions & religious laws

Obsession with plague spreaders led to horrific torture on innocent people

Health boards were created in times of plague in order to introduce public health measures

Measures included closing borders to people & goods, quarantine, & sealing the houses of affected people

Another remedy was escape. Essentially to leave the city and live in the countryside

Port city of Dubrovnik, was the first place to introduce quarantine. Forced all ships from a plague area to isolate on a nearby island for 40 days

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