Key questions

There are 3 questions that will be asked during the course of the lesson;

1. What is the “Black Death”?2. What caused the Black

Death?3. What were the

consequences?

The Famine of 1315-1317 By 1300 Europeans were farming

almost all the land they could cultivate. A population crisis developed. Climate changes in Europe produced

three years of crop failures between 1315-17 because of excessive rain.

As many as 15% of the peasants in some English villages died.

One consequence ofstarvation & povertywas susceptibility todisease.

1347: Plague Reaches

Constantinople!

The Plague Arrives

Historians think that the plague arrived in England during the summer of 1348. During the following autumn it spread quickly through the south west. Few villages escaped. Churchyards were full with bodies.The plague spread quickly during the winter of 1348-1349 to the north of England. By 1350, nearly the whole of Britain was infected with the plague. At the end of 1350 nearly two and a half million people were dead!

Where did the Black Death come from?

What were the symptoms of the plague?

What caused the plague?

The question that you are probably thinking is this;

Q: Who or what caused the Black Death?

A: This is your answer!

The Oriental Rat Flea!

The Culprits

How was the plague transmitted?

• We now know that the most common form of the Black Death was the BUBONIC PLAGUE! This disease was spread by fleas which lived on the black rat. The fleas sucked the rat’s blood which contained the plague germs. When the rat died the fleas jumped on to humans and passed on the deadly disease.

The Disease Cycle

Flea drinks rat blood that carries the

bacteria.

Flea’s gut cloggedwith bacteria.

Bacteriamultiply inflea’s gut.

Flea bites human and regurgitates blood into human wound.

Human is infected!

The Black Death• The Black Death came in three

forms: • 1. bubonic• 2. pneumonic• 3. septicemic

Bubonic plague• The bubonic plague was the most

commonly seen form of the Black Death. The mortality rate was 30-75%. The symptoms were enlarged and inflamed lymph nodes (around arm pits, neck and groin).

• Victims were subject to headaches, nausea, aching joints, fever of 101-105 degrees, vomiting, and a general feeling of illness.

• Symptoms took from 1-7 days to appear.

Bubonic Symtpons

Bulbous

Pneumonic Plague• The pneumonic plague was the second

most commonly seen form of the Black Death. The mortality rate for the pneumonic plague was 90-95% (if treated today the mortality rate would be 5-10%).

• The pneumonic plague infected the lungs. Symptoms included slimy sputum tinted with blood. Sputum is saliva mixed with mucus exerted from the respiratory system.

• As the disease progressed, the sputum became free flowing and bright red. Symptoms took 1-7 days to appear.

Pneumonic Symptoms

The Septicemic Plague• The septicemic plague was the most

rare form of all. The mortality was close to 100% (even today there is no treatment). Symptoms were a high fever and skin turning deep shades of purple.

• The black death got its name from the deep purple, almost black discoloration." Victims usually died the same day symptoms appeared. In some cities, as many as 800 people died every day.

Septicemic Symptoms

Septicemic Form:

almost 100% mortality rate.

Medieval Art & the Plague

Bring out your dead!

Lancing a Buboe

Medieval Art & the Plague

An obsession with death.

Boccaccio in The Decameron

The victims ate lunch with their friends and

dinner with their ancestors.

Attempts to Stop the Plague

A Doctor’s Robe

“Leeching”

Attempts to Stop the Plague

Flagellanti:Self-inflicted “penance” for our

sins!

Attempts to Stop the PlaguePogroms against the

Jews

“Jew” hat

“Golden Circle” obligatory badge

Death Triumphant !:A Major Artistic

Theme

A Little Macabre Ditty“A sickly season,” the

merchant said,“The town I left was filled with dead,and everywhere these queer red fliescrawled upon the corpses’ eyes,eating them away.”

“Fair make you sick,” the merchant said,“They crawled upon the wine and bread.Pale priests with oil and books,bulging eyes and crazy looks,dropping like the flies.”

A Little Macabre Ditty (2)“I had to laugh,” the merchant

said,“The doctors purged, and dosed, and bled;“And proved through solemn disputation“The cause lay in some constellation.“Then they began to die.”“First they sneezed,” the merchant said,“And then they turned the brightest red,Begged for water, then fell back.With bulging eyes and face turned black,they waited for the flies.”

A Little Macabre Ditty (3)“I came away,” the merchant

said,“You can’t do business with the dead.“So I’ve come here to ply my trade.“You’ll find this to be a fine brocade…”And then he sneezed……….!

The Mortality

Rate35% - 70%

25,000,000 dead !!!

Effects of the Black Death on Europe

• 1/3 of the population of Europe died.• In all, 2.5 million people died from

the plague.• Art, science, and literature stopped

being created.• People were only worried about their

survival.

Effect on Children• Children suffered as well. A

common nursery rhyme is: • Ring a-round the rosy           • Pocket full of posies           • Ashes, ashes!           • We all fall down!

• Ring around the rosy: rosary beads give you God's help.

• A pocket full of posies: used to stop the odor of rotting bodies which was at one point thought to cause the plague, it was also used widely by doctors to protect them from the infected plague patients.

• Ashes, ashes: the church burned the dead when burying them became to laborious.

• We all fall down: dead.

Cures?• Medieval people did not know about

germs causing disease. They did not understand that plague was spread by rats and fleas. They thought that people’s bodies were poisoned.

• If the swellings burst and the poison came out people sometimes survived. It seemed sensible to draw out the poison.

Medieval cure number 1• The swellings should be softened

with figs and cooked onions. The onions should be mixed with yeast and butter. Then open the swellings with a knife.

• Take a live frog and put its belly on the plague sore. The frog will swell up and burst. Keep doing this with further frogs until they stop bursting. Some people say that a dried toad will do the job better.

Medieval cure number 2