black death pandemic

8/7/2019 Black death pandemic

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Throughout history many things have befallen the English monarchy, its nobles and

parliament. The wars, deaths, assassinations, revolts and general chaos were part of everyday

life. Even with this lifestyle the populace had become accustomed too it still did not prepare

them for a disease carried by a mere flea. The Black Death as it would come to be known, hit a

population that was unprepared and without the means to combat it. The resulting cause would

change history forever and cause hair to stand and ears to perk even to this day at the mention of

the Black Death. The Black Death pandemic of 1349 is considered to be one of the major events

of world history. Historians often divide European history into periods before and after the

plague. (deathreference.com)

On October 1347, commercial ships sailed into Sicilian and Messianion ports, the ships

were ridden with a mysterious disease. (umn.edu) The plague will have came to all of Europe by

the fall of 1347. It would stay for three to five years according to most authorities. By 1350 it

had largely passed out of most of Western Europe and with it one out of three people were dead.

Before the Black Death the English population was estimated at about five and a half million.

By the end of the fourteenth century there were two million fewer. (Fraser, 197) The losses

were devastating to the countries located throughout Europe. King Alfonso XI of Castile was the

only reigning monarch to die of the plague. (history.boisestate.edu/20) He was not the only

royalty to parish, King Edward the IIIs daughter Joan succumbed to the plague in Bordeaux on

the 2 of September. (Simon, 222) These deaths alone showed that no one was above the death

that was plaguing and killing Europe.

The three forms of the Black Death were transmitted in only two ways. The septicemic

and bubonic plague were transmitted through direct contact with a flea or rat, while the

pneumonic plague was transmitted through airborne droplets of saliva coughed up by bubonic or


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(umn.edu) This belief was sustained mostly due to the smell of the dead and dying being so

over whelming and so awful. (Inspecta.com/Stop)

In truth though Fleas, rats and humans were the culprits and served as hosts for the

disease. (Inspecta.com/Transmission) It all started with the flea though and even the flea

succumbed to the disease. The bacteria Yersinia Pastis would multiply inside the flea blocking

its stomach causing massive hunger. The hunger would cause the flea to start voraciously biting

its host. The plague bacteria would now have a new host transferred from the bite to these

wounds. (Inspecta.com/Transmission) The early stages of the plague fleas transmitted the

disease to rats and then the rats to humans. Later the sickness would be passed person to person,

through saliva and other airborne droplets. (umn.edu) The pneumonic plague was transferred this

way which was transmitted differently than the other two forms. The bacteria entered the lungs

through the windpipe and would start attacking the lungs and throat.

(Inspecta.com/Transmission) The infected person may develop serious illnesses, such as

pneumonia, blood poisoning (septic) or meningitis. (rarediseases.about.com) The lungs of those

affected by the pneumonic plague resembled those of people later in life that were killed by

poisonous gas. (Barry, 2) Medical historians believed that pneumonic or respiratory form to be

accountable for most of the deaths. (deathreference.com) The Black Death was incredibly

deadly, the best of the many revised estimates still put the overall population loss in Europe at

about one third of the total population. (history.boisestate.edu/15)

The plague even affected the children, its warning appearing in a well known English

nursery rhyme.

Ring around the rosies, a pocket full of posies. Achoo! Achoo! We all fall down.


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The first line refers to the common pink rash. The posies were carried to perfume the corrupt

vapors as stated that people thought was the cause. The sneezing was brought on by the high

feverish chills and lastly death came to all. (umn.edu) When seen as it is meant it is quite a

chilling reminder.

People looked to their leaders for help and the King of England was supposed to be a

doctor and had sacred magic given by god. Edward III liked to touch for the kings evil using

his sacred magic to heal thousands of sufferers from scrofula, but the black death was no mere

malady but a plague. (Simon, 222) Edward distanced himself from the plague and worried more

on other matters though he had deemed more important. English clergyman Thomas Malthes

would purpose that overpopulation produced its own remedy through epidemic, famine and other

ways. (deathreference.com) Most people being uneducated and lacking proper schooling did not

share such views and therefore did not see the world in the same accord. Looking to place

blame, Jews were massacred all over Europe, for suspicion of water poisoning. These deaths

were horrible and without remorse. Jews were not only blamed but often burned alive.

(deathreference.com) Still the hysteria made others take the lead in persecuting strangers and

minorities as well as others as some unfortunate souls were killed as witches.

(deathreference.com)

Paranoia was as rampant as the disease its self. Most medical workers quit and

journeyed away because they feared getting the plague themselves. (Inspecta.com/Stop) With

the numbers of dead and dying rising so fast one could hardly blame them, others blamed people

migrating from plague areas to other places as helping spread the disease. Between forty five

and seventy five percent of Florence died in a single year. In Venice which kept excellent

records sixty percent died over the course of eighteen months. (history.boisestate.edu/15)


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The great plague of London, which some would say was the hardest city in England hit

with the plague, was also very devastating. When the plague initially hit three hundred people on

average died every day. (Simon, 224) In England the plague would carry off over half of the

population. The archbishop of Canterbury was asked by Edward the III to organize penitential

projects in Kent, an area ravaged by the plague, but unbeknown to the king the Archbishop

himself had died of the disease on the 23 of August that year. (Simon, 225)

Both the loss and replenishment of population had significant effects on all aspects of

society. Agriculture, family structure, politics, to military adventuring nothing was untouched.

(deathreference.com) The hardest hit would be the special groups, such as friars, who took a

couple of generations to recover. (history.boisestate.edu/15) Of the forty two monks in

Castercian Abbey of Meraux, Yorkshire just ten survived the first hit of the plague. (Simon, 232)

The parish priests of England were reduced by forty five percent. The lack of leadership and men

of faith would not go unnoticed. (Davies, 412) A religious draught would come shortly

following the plagues end; lack of faith and the apparent uncaring of God for his people, along

with the death everywhere helped this movement. This was even after priests had persistently

nursed their highly contagious flock even after family had abandoned them. (Fraser, 191) This

caring of the sick would be the end of many of the priests who wanted to help those under their

care.

The methods of prevention and containing the plague were as varied as the people it

affected. In Milan, city officials immediately walled up houses found to have plague, isolating

the healthy in along with the sick. Pope Clement VI sat between two large fires to breathe pure

air. The plague actually is destroyed by heat, so this method was one of the few truly effective

measures taken. (Inspecta.com/Stop) This practice would be copied by many nobles and


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monarchs. The Deaths were so overwhelming Clement the VI had to consecrate the Rhone river

so corpses could be sunk in it; there was neither time nor room to bury them.

(history.boisestate.edu/15) This probably hurt the containment of the plague contaminating the

river up and down stream. Needless to say the Black Death killed until it ran out of large

numbers of vulnerable people. (deathreference.com) Many people believed that the filth added

to the woes, in an attempt to show a proactive stance Edward the III ordered street cleaning

measures to be undertaken in London. (Simon, 235) It would be determined later that

controlling the rat population and watching for the symptoms of the plague in not only humans

but rats as well was the best form of prevention. (rarediseases.about.com)

The plague had no permanent effect on the course of politics in England, but it did take

its toll. (history.boisestate.edu/20) Parliaments were adjourned when the plague struck fear and

illness though eventually reconvened in due time. Nothing was untouched by Black Death it

even halted feuds. The Hundred Years War was suspended in 1348 because so many more

soldiers were dying from illness than the war. (history.boisestate.edu/20) City counsels were

ravaged by the disease and whole families of local nobles were wiped out. Courts closed down

and wills could not be probated. This caused great issues in terms of ownership rights and other

family affairs. The legal mess caused by so many deaths was eventually sorted out and political

life went on. (history.boisestate.edu/20) Urban populations recovered quite quickly, while rural

population recovered drastically slower. This was caused in part by the loss of peasants leaving

farms for open jobs in the cities. (history.boisestate.edu/15) As a single example of the

devastation the English population would take 200 years to recover. (umn.edu)

The devastating and immediate impact of the black death prepared the way for

reconstruction of English society. (deathreference.com) Death however had seized the center of


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the human imagination and would not easily ease its grip. Depictions of death as skeleton,

corpse, or hooded figure had their hay day during and after the plague years.

(deathreference.com) The economic balance of power also shifted dramatically and for the first

time the people not the lords benefited. One of the benefits of the plague was the fact that serfs

were eliminated; the new supply and demand had eliminated the need for them. (Simon, 236)

The pressure on the peasants would ultimately lead to revolt. In June of 1381 Wat Tyler and

some men attacked and burned houses throughout London, until meeting up with the King and

being killed. (Davies, 417) The long term effects would be forever remembered throughout

history. The Black Deaths memory would stretch far and wide and throughout the centuries. It

would even reach as far as Australia almost 600 years later when an epidemic brought back the

memory of the deadly event. (Barry, 377)

In short the destruction of one third the population of Europe and half of England, the

black death affected everyone from the nobles and the monarchy, the members of parliament and

the church, to the common citizen. The Black Death stretched its fingers deep into the future of

England; many of the ramifications from the plague would be felt many years later. Even though

there would be more outbreaks of the Black Death none would be as horrible and totally

devastating at its first introduction to England and all of Europe.


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Works Cited

"Black Death - History of the Disease, The Disease and How It Spread, Impact on Society."

Encyclopedia of Death and Dying. 20 Mar. 2009 .

"Black Death - News Archive Search." Google. 20 Mar. 2009

.

"The Black Death." Insecta Inspecta World. 20 Mar. 2009 .

"The Black Death: Political Effects." Department of History, Boise State University. 20 Mar.

2009 .

"The Black Death: Population Loss." Department of History, Boise State University. 20 Mar.

2009 .

"Black Death." University of Minnesota Duluth Welcomes You. 20 Mar. 2009

.

"Bubonic Plague - Information About Bubonic Plague." Rare Diseases - Information About Rare

Diseases. 20 Mar. 2009 .

"Efforts to Stop the Plague." Insecta Inspecta World. 20 Mar. 2009 .


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