The Black Death

stern wipe surface refers to a bubonic and pneumonic aversion believed to shake come from rats and which open throughout Western atomic number 63 during the 14th cytosine resulting to the demolition of millions, drastically decreasing the overall existence of europium, and changing the economic and cultural landscape of the region. It came in periodic epidemics from 1300s to the 1700s in the various places where it struck.The plague is express to have originated in Central Asia when the Mongolian army, in an attempt to take siege of the Caffa in the Crimea during the early 1300s, catapulted plague-infested corpses into the city. The fleeing traders carried the malady with them to Sicily. From Italy, it flat spread into potd towns and cities around neighboring France, Spain, Portugal, England, and other split of europium. It sweatd the total disappearance of villages as close to angiotensin converting enzyme-third of the entire universe of discourse of Europe died in the epidemic which ensued.It was most virulent in England where it claimed approximately half of its macrocosm. It spread quickly because doctors did non have exuberant experience therefore on how to cure the disease and separately purpose of conclusion a cure was defeated by the fact that the plague claimed its victim within a week. Poor hygiene and sanitation practices among the crowded European cities also contri furthered to the outbreak. Aside from the dramatic decrease in Europes population, the Black end stopped on-going wars and caused a slump in trade.It decreased available crowd in the farmlands. It even affected the Catholic Church as mint turned to superstition to explain the cause of the plague when their faith could non do any affaire to cure it. There was mass slaughter and burning of Jews who were criminate of spreading the plague. A good effect of the epidemic, however, is that the shortage of workers resulted to better net profit for the peasant s as farm owners tried to outdo each other in luring the peasantry to work for them.These resulted to social mobility which would eventually lessen the power of the nobility and clergy in succeeding centuries. The Black close experience illustrates how disease could change the autobiography of humankind especially if it affects multitudes of populations around the orbit. With the advanced technology in the handle of medicine today however, and the presence of international organizations like the World health Organization, it has become easier to contain epidemics before they could become as widespread as the Black shoemakers last experience.The Black DeathThe Black Death immanent and Human Disaster in chivalrous Europe by Robert S. Gottfried is know as A fascinating work of detective history, The Black Death traces the causes and far-reaching consequences of this infamous outbreak of plague that spread across the continent of Europe from 1347 to 1351. Drawing on sources as d iverse as monastic manuscripts and dendrochronological studies (which circular growth rings in trees), historian Robert S. Gottfried demonstrates how a bacillus genic by rat fleas brought on an ecological reign of terror cleaning one European in three, wiping out entire villages and towns, and rocking the foundation of gallant society and civilization. The Black Death was an epidemic which spread across virtually all of Europe in the years 1346 1353 the plague killed over a third of the entire population. It has been described as the worst natural chance in European history.The Black Death discusses the causes and results of the plague that devastated medieval Europe. It focuses on the many effects it had on the culture of medieval Europe and the incident that it expedited cultural change. Robert S. Gottfried argued that rodent and insect life cycles, as well as the changing of weather systems affect plague. He claimed that the devastation plague causes is part due to its perpetual recurrences. Plague despoiled Europe in cycles, devastated the people when they were recuperating.As fuel be later discovered in the book, the cycles of plague consumed the European population. A second thesis, which he described in bang-uper detail, was that the plagues expedited the fulfil of cultural change. The plagues killed a large percentage of each generation, leaving elbow room for change. Why the notice, Black Death? The traditional belief is that it was so called because the putrefying remove of the victims blackened in the final hours before death supervened. The trouble rough this otherwise plausible theory is that no much(prenominal) phenomenon occurred.It is true that, in cases of septicemic plague, small black or purple blotches formed on the bodies of the sick and this symptom must have made a smart as a whip impression on beholders (Ziegler) Coming out of the East, the Black Death reached the shores of Italy in the spring of 1348 unleashing a ram page of death across Europe unexampled in recorded history. By the time the epidemic played itself out three years later, anywhere between 25% and 50% of Europes population had fallen victim to the pestilence. The plague presented itself in three interrelated forms.The symptoms were not the equal as in the East, where a gush of blood from the snoot was the plain sign of inevitable death but it began both in men and women with certain swellings in the groin or under(a) the armpit. They grew to the size of it of it of a small apple or an egg, more or less, and were smuttily called tumors. In a short space of time these tumors spread from the devil split named all over the body. Soon after this the symptoms changed and black or purple spots appe ard on the arms or thighs or any other part of the body, sometimes a few large ones, sometimes many little ones.These spots were a certain sign of death, unspoilt as the original tumors had been and still remained. The bubonic variant (the most common) derives its name from the swellings or buboes that appe ared on a victims neck, armpits or groin. These tumors could range in size from that of an egg to that of an apple. Although some survived the painful ordeal, the manifestation of these lesions usually signaled the victim had a life forethought of up to a week. Infected fleas that attached themselves to rats and then to humans spread this bubonic type of the plague.A second variation, pneumonic plague, attacked the respiratory system and was spread by merely breathing the exhaled air of a victim. It was a lot more virulent than its bubonic cousin life expectancy was measured in one or deuce days. Finally, the septicemic variation of the disease attacked the blood system. Having no defense and no understanding of the cause of the pestilence, the men, women and children caught in its onslaught were bewildered, panicked, and finally devastated. The Black Death covers the affects that numerous plagues had on the culture.There appear to have been several separate introductions into Europe. It reached Sicily in October 1347 carried by twelve Genoese galleys where it rapidly spread all over the island. Galleys from Caffa reached Genoa and Venice in January 1348 but it was the outbreak in Pisa a few weeks later that was the entry signify to northern Italy. Towards the end of January one of the galleys expelled from Italy arrived in Marseilles. From Italy the disease spread northwest across Europe, striking France, Spain, Portugal and England by June 1348, then turned and spread easternmost through Germany and Scandinavia from 1348 to 1350.It was introduced in Norway in 1349 when a ship landed at Askoy, then proceeded to spread to Bjorgvin but never reached Iceland. Finally it spread to north-western Russia in 1351 however, the plague largely spared some parts of Europe, including the Kingdom of Poland and isolated parts of Belgium and the Netherlands. The cycle of the plagues struck each generation. After a plague ravaged Europe from 599-699, plague killed in 608, 618, 628, 640, 654, 684-686, 694-700, 718, and 740-750. In the early stages of the above series, intervals are apparent.These intervals demonstrate the cycles of the rodent and insect life. Robert S. Gottfried also argues, rightfully so, that plague whitethorn have hastened cultural change. Along with plagues came the need for a cure. Plague done for(p) the existing medical systems, and was replaced by a modern heir. Previous to the plague, scientists establish their knowledge on early scientists such as Hippocrates and Galen. Scientists knew little about what they were doing. The medical community was divided into five parts. These divisions were physicians, surgeons, barber-surgeons, apothecaries, and unlicensed practitioners.These divisions were adequate when Europe was without plague, but were frankly not prepared for plague. Doctors responded with a series of changes are to thank for the developmen t of modern science. Although the government had medical workers try to keep back the plague, the plague persisted. Most medical workers quit and journeyed away because they feared getting the plague themselves. There were methods that did work. Cities were hardest hit and tried to take measures to control an epidemic no one understood.In Milan, to take one of the most successful examples, city officials immediately walled up houses found to have the plague, isolating the healthy in them on with the sick. Venice took sophisticated and stringent quarantine and health measures, including isolating all inbound ships on a separate island. But people died anyway, though less in Milan and Venice than in cities that took no such measures. Pope Clement VI, aliment at Avignon, sat between two large fires to breath fresh air. The plague bacillus actually is destroyed by heat, so this was one of the few truly effective measures taken.Gottfried succeeded in convincing me that his thesis w as truth. The spring chapters gave me a unattackable background of plague, explaining why he believes it had such an squeeze on medieval population and culture. Next, it delves into the affect that changing weather had on the plagues, explaining the European environment during 1050-1347 the time of plagues greatest destruction. That complete, Gottfried describes the consequences immediately following the plague. It is said that the disease killed 25% to 40% of Eurasia and part of Africa. By this point, it is more than obvious hat plague had a tragic affect on gothic Europe, The Consequences and effects of the Black Death plague were prices and wages rose, greater take to be was placed on labor, farming land was given over to pasturing, which was much less labor-intensive, this change in farming led to a get along in the cloth and woolen industry, peasants moved from the country to the towns, the Black Death was therefore also responsible for the decline of the Feudal system, p eople became disenchant with the church and its power and influence went into decline, this resulted in the English reformation.After giving a full background on plague and European culture and environment, Gottfried gives solid details to support his theses. According to Gottfried, the Medical structure of Medieval Europe, adoptive from that of the Romans, was nearly eliminated in the search for ways to cure plague. The spread of plague, successfully stated by Gottfried, directly depends on climate. Plague can unaccompanied spread under certain climate conditions. In order for Y. Pestis, a series of complex bacterial strains, to survive, it mustnt be too piquant nor too cold.Too cold can kill the bacteria, and too hot can slow its progress. During the plagues most devastating times, the temperature was perfect for the spread of Y. Pestis. Gottfried also describes that spread of plague can also depend on the strength of animals. Humans are merely secondary forcess to the fleas ca rrying Y. Pestis. The fleas afflict their emcee with the plague when they regurgitate the bacteria. These fleas prefer an animal innkeeper, not humans. When their animal host dies, they move on to a secondary host, possibly humans, but not necessarily.When the generation of bacteria-carrying fleas dies, or the temperatures prevent the plague from spreading, the cycle continues until all the variables at a time again allow for the plague to spread. Gottfried successfully start outs his point. Robert S. Gottfried achieved in getting his two theses across. His methods were to educate the reader on the topic, giving only the facts necessary to convey his point. After giving the reader information on plague and Medieval Europe, he argued his thesis, making frequent informants to points he had made earlier in the book.Gottfried also made it obvious that others supported his theories. At the end of each important point, he marked it with a number corresponding to the reference in the back of the book. Neither physicians nor medicines were effective. Whether because these illnesses were previously unknown or because physicians had not previously studied them, there seemed to be no cure. There was such a fear that no one seemed to know what to do. When it took hold in a house it often happened that no one remained who had not died. And it was not however that men and women died, but even sentient animals died.Dogs, cats, chickens, oxen, donkeys sheep showed the same symptoms and died of the same disease. And almost none, or very few, who showed these symptoms, were cured. The symptoms were the following a bubo in the groin, where the thigh meets the trunk or a small swelling under the armpit sudden fever spitting blood and saliva (and no one who spit blood survived it). It was such a frightful thing that when it got into a house, as was said, no one remained. Frightened people decrepit the house and fled to another. -Marchione di Coppo Stefani In conclusion, The Black Death successfully proves that a great deal of tragedy in the 13th century had much to do with animals in the environment. Death was a habitual visitor to fourteenth century Europe. Never before had humanity seen such widespread dying. Famines, wars, and a host of deadly diseases all took millions of lives during the 1300s. But the worst single hazard to wreck this troubled century was the Black Deatha plague that killed anywhere from 24-25 million Europeans between 1347 and 1351.As Frederick F. Cartwright and Michael D. Biddis, authors of Disease and History, observe, The Black Death was not just another incident in the long list of epidemics which have stricken the world. It was probably the greatest European catastrophe in history. Anywhere from 25 to 40 percent of the total population of Europe died from this plague. Similar death rates took place in Asia, the Mideast, the Mediterranean, Africa, and as far away as Greenland and Iceland, thus making the Black Death the greatest ecological calamity in human history.It also conveyed that plague accelerated the progress of culture, bringing the need for modern medicine. Gottfried makes it apparent that man did not understand enough about the environment to prevent plague, maybe a message to the world today. Dense population, as Gottfried suggested, breeds plague. Early plague has educated us, and we should focus on this, plague seems to be inevitable with certain circumstances and lack of knowledge. not only did Gottfried educate us on the past, but may have prepared us for the future.Works CitiedEfforts to Stop the Plague. Insecta Inspecta World. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. . Gottfried, Robert Steven. The Black Death Natural and Human Disaster in Medieval Europe. New York Free, 1983. Print. The Black Death, 1348. EyeWitness to History History through the Eyes of Those Who Lived It. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. .