The CulpritsThe Culprits

3 Forms of the DiseaseBubonic Plague - painful lymph node

swellings, buboes (most common)Septicemic Plague - also called

“blood poisoning,” it attacked the blood system.

Pneumonic Plague - attacked the respiratory system (second most common).

BuboesSepticemic:almost 100%

mortality rate

What were the symptoms of the plague?

1347: Plague Reaches 1347: Plague Reaches Constantinople!Constantinople!The progress of the plague

coincided with the medieval trade routes.

The victims ate lunch with their friends and dinner with

their ancestors.

Attempts to Stop the Attempts to Stop the PlaguePlague

A Doctor’s Robe

“Leeching”

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

If the swellings burst and the poison came out people sometimes survived, so therefore it seemed sensible to draw out the poison.

Attempts to Avoid/Stop Attempts to Avoid/Stop the Plaguethe Plague• Scents - incense and

aromatic oils• Talismans worn around

body to ward off evil• Burning bodies• Church/prayer• Fleeing to the

countryside• Fires to cleanse air• Boarding up houses of

the ill/pestilence houses• Avoiding certain foods,

exercise, and bathing.

• Isolation of both sick & healthy• Flagellants – people who self-

flogged to atone for their sins (popular after disillusionment with the church’s reaction to the plague)

A Cure for Black Death?? Suggested Preventions and Cures

 Carry Flowers or wear a strong perfume

 Drink hot drinks

 Carry a lucky charm

 Use leeches to bleed the victim

 Smoke a pipe of tobacco

 Give a strong dose of laxatives

 Coat the victims with mercury and place them in the oven.

How they were supposed to work

 The smells would help to ward away the disease

 

The victim would then sweat out the disease

The charm would ward off the disease

 This would remove infected blood 

The smoke would ward off the disease 

This would cause the victim to completely empty his bowels, thus removing the

disease.

 The combination of mercury and heat from the oven would kill off the disease. 

What were thepolitical,

economic,and social

effectsof the Black

Death??

The Mortality

Rate

•Approximately 25 million deaths in Europe.•About one-third of the European population died between 1347-1351.•25% of villages completely depopulated**In a 400-year period of recurring plagues, it reduced the world’s

population from an estimated 450 million to between 350 and

375 million.

Effects of the Plague•For four years, the disease would disappear in winter, when fleas were dormant, and resume its killing spree each spring.

•Governments, trade, and commerce virtually ceased.

•Faith in religion decreased because many clergy died and prayer failed to prevent sickness and death.

•Because trade was difficult, the price of goods skyrocketed.

• A decreased work force required higher wages, leading to peasant revolts in England, France, Belgium, and Italy.

•Lack of law enforcement led to lawlessness.

•Persecution of Jewish people, who some blamed for the plague.

Positive Effects of the Plague• Set the stage for more modern medicine and

spurred changes in public health and hospital management.

• Higher education emphasized because of the gaps in education left by the Black Death.

• Advancements in technology, such as the printing press, to compensate for the huge loss of skilled, specialized workers.

• Feudalism declined, leading to a rise in the middle class.• Workers’ wages rose and living conditions improved because they were high in demand.

The Children – Ring Around the Rosy• Ring around the rosy = one of the first visible signs of

infection were red rings surrounding a rosy bump, all over the victim's body.

• Pocket full of posies = used to stop the odor of rotting bodies and the belief that the plague was transmitted through "foul air."

• Ashes, ashes! = the church burned the dead when burying became too hard (too many died to be given proper burials).

• We all fall down! = dead Children were often abandoned by their parents out of fear

and/or if they developed symptoms.

Recurrences

• Every 5-7 years

• Next plague: 1360 = The Pest of the Children

• Italian Plague: 1629-1631

• Great Plague of Vienna in 1679

• Great Plague of London: 1665 -1666 – one of the last major outbreaks

• Resembles modern day Ebola