Download Late Middle Ages – The Black Plague

Late Middle Ages
–
The Black Plague
12-6
Expanding Trade Routes
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By the mid 1300’s
Western Europe was
connected via trade
routes to the rest of the
“known world.”
It was virtually possible
to get pretty much
anything from anywhere
in the world.
ANYTHING!
Health
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
While living conditions
were getting better
throughout Europe, but
they were not great.
There was no pluming,
no garbage collection
and doctors and
medicine were not
extremely advanced.


GARDY LOO!
It was dirty and rats
were everywhere
The Black Death

Diseases were common
back in ancient times,
doctors didn’t know
what caused them, or
how to cure them.


The Bubonic Plague had
arisen quite a few times.
The Bubonic Plague
traveled along the
trade routes from
China to Europe.


Black Death
Black Plague
The Black Death
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The plague started in
Western Europe (1347)
in Messina, Sicily.
People fled from the
city in fear of what was
happening and kept
doing so wherever the
disease traveled next.

Which of course helped
spread the disease,
usually starting in port
cities and working its
way inland.
The Black Death


Fleas carried by rats
spread the disease.
The Disease





Headache / Stomachache
Swollen lymph nodes that
later burst, flesh would rot
while you were still alive
Pooling of blood under skin
leaving black spots
Vomiting blood / bloody
diarrhea
Usually dead within 3 to 5
days of start of symptoms
The Black Death

Church members tried to
help the sick, but ended up
dying.


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Church couldn’t explain what
was going on, or stop it.
People thought it was a
punishment from God.
Church lost even more power.
Mass burials, entire towns
dead, smell of rotting flesh.
The disease seemed to die
out on its own within four
years (1350).
Decline of Feudalism



The work force in Europe
was depleted. Labors
became highly prized.
Peasants were now
demanding wages for their
work, not just for protection
from their feudal lord.
Lords had no choice but to
pay their laborers!
Peasants gained rights that
they had not had before
freeing them from their
feudal obligations.
The Symptoms
Bulbous
Septicemic Form:
almost 100%
mortality rate.
Flea drinks rat blood
that carries the
bacteria.
Bacteria
multiply in
flea’s gut.
Human is infected!
Flea bites human and
regurgitates blood
into human wound.
Flea’s gut clogged
with bacteria.