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The Black Plague The Culprits 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 of starvation & poverty was susceptibility to disease. The Symptoms Bulbous Septicemia Form: almost 100% mortality rate. The Disease Cycle 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. Medieval Art & the Plague Symptoms • Mortality rate was 35-70% • Enlarged and inflamed lymph nodes (armpits, neck, and groin) • Enlarged bubo or lymphatic gland • Headaches, nausea, aching joints, fever, vomiting • Infected the lungs How did it spread? • Is believed to have spread from Asia along Mongol trade routes • It moved west with armies and traders • Kept spreading when people fled to other cities to avoid it • Path was generally south to north and east to west Efforts to stop the plague • Most medical workers quit and fled to avoid getting the plague themselves • Believed the disease was transmitted through air so people turned to scents to ward it off • Towns rang church bells to drive the plague away • Some cities used quarantine methods • Lastly, they began using fire Changes in the Economy • Valuable artisan skills disappeared when large numbers of working class died (1/3 pop.) • Those who had skills became more valuable than the rich • Social structure changed giving the poor more say • Peasants demanded higher wages • Farming communities became rare because serfs were leaving the land • Lack of sufficient law enforcement promoted lawlessness The Church • Church lost prestige, authority, and leadership over the people because it had no answers for them • Said the plague was God’s will, but the reason for its punishment was unknown • Clergy abandoned their Christian duties • Villagers revolted against the church and people were enraged at doctors Changes in Europe • Death and funerals became a joke, dead were not buried • Written language was almost lost, churches were abandoned • Morbid themes in art • Children suffered socially, mentally, and physically • Children were especially unlucky if they were female Long-term effects • Economy suffered due to a lack of population, no taxes, birth rate dropped • People migrated to cities to look for higher wages • Large estates and manors collapsed • Breakdown of feudal system • Jews used as scapegoats Medieval Art & the Plague Bring out your dead! Attempts to Stop the Plague Flagellanti: Self-inflicted “penance” for our sins! A Little Macabre Ditty “I had to laugh,” the merchant said, (2) “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.”