The Black Death
Devastation in the Middle Ages
What Was the Black Death?
The Black Death of the 1340's was actually three different plagues.
These plagues were:
The Bubonic Plague
The Pneumonic Plague
The Septicemic Plague
Click Here to see a video on how each of the plagues affected the body.
The Pneumonic Plague
Pneumonic Plague was an airborne illness, and was passed when someone talked or coughed.
Sufferers developed pneumonia and coughed up blood.
90%-95% of sufferers of this form of plague died within a few days.
The Septicemic Plague
The Septicemic Plague was the deadliest form of the plague, infecting the person's bloodstream.
It was the quickest-acting plague, showing no symptoms and killing within hours.
Almost 100% of sufferers died of this form of plague.
What Caused the Black Death?
Fleas bit rats carrying the yersinia pestis bacterium. This blood was undigested, and then regurgitated into a person's bloodstream when the flea bit a human.
What Did Medieval People
Think Caused the Black Death?
Many people thought it was divine judgement --
God was punishing people for their sins.
Groups of people called flagellants would travel from town to town chanting, praying, and whipping themselves to atone and be saved from the disease.
How Was the Black Death Treated?
Treatment of the victims varied:
The pus-filled buboes would be lanced to drain the vile-smelling disease from the body. This was very painful for the patient.
Since the doctors thought the disease must be in the blood, some patients were bled, with doctors cutting and draining blood from the veins, or placing leeches on the body to remove the blood.
Herbs and flowers were thought to keep sickness at bay, so doctors would burn them and have patients breathe in the smoke.
Who Treated the Plague?
The doctors who were brave enough to treat victims of the plague did everything they could to keep safe.
Many wore a costume that completely covered their faces and bodies. The beak of the nose contained sweet-smelling herbs to protect them from the foul-smelling disease.
What of the Victims of the Black Death?
The Black Death spread quickly. Entire villages were wiped out in a week. Bodies were collected and carted to mass graves.
The dead bodies grew so numerous that bodies were burned, and the bones were placed underground and set up in intricate patterns. These places, or catacombs, are still around today.
What Was the Aftermath of the Black Death?
The Black Death ended in Western Europe around 1351. However, this was not the end of plagues in this area. Towns and cities were dirty and rat-infested, and outbreaks of plague continued until the mid-1700's.
By the time the Black Death ended, between one half and one third of the population of Europe were dead.
When the Black Death finally ran its course, the survivors were left to rebuild. For the first time in almost a thousand years, people began to question their beliefs and their stations in life.
With less people to do menial work, wages increased, affording the peasant class a level of wealth and comfort previously unknown in pre-Plague times.
It was this re-ordering of thought that led to events like England's Peasant's Revolt of 1381, and ultimately, the Renaissance.
Works Cited
Books
Elliot, Lynne. Medieval Medicine and the Plague. New York: Crabtree Publishing, 2006.
Senker, Cath. The Black Death 1347-1350. Chicago : Heinemann/Raintree, 2006.
Websites
The Center for Disease Control's webpage on the plague
Dictionary.com for glossary definitions
History.com's Black Death Website
Mann Museum's Site on the History of the Black Death
Mr. Donn's Middle Ages Website
Pictures from the Paris Catacombs are from my 2000 trip.