Download The Black Death - bothwellishistory

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 Culprits
Oriental Rat Flea
Yersinia pestis
The Black Rat
The Crimea 1346
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.
The Symptoms
Bulbous
Septicemia Form:
almost 100% mortality rate.
Conditions of Europe allowed
for spread of disease
• Narrow streets filled with trash and
excrement, dead animals
• Rats could easily enter poorly built
houses
– Many people lived in close quarters
• Personal hygiene was low
– Combined with temporary ailments left the
body weak
From the Toggenburg Bible, 1411
Lancing a Buboe
Medieval Art & the Plague
Death Triumphant !:
A Major Artistic Theme
Medieval Art & the Plague
Bring out your dead!
Medieval Art & the Plague
An obsession
with death.
Boccaccio in The Decameron
The victims ate lunch with
their friends and dinner with
their ancestors.
The Danse Macabre
Attempts to Stop the Plague
A Doctor’s Robe
“Leeching”
Attempts to Stop the Plague
Flagellanti:
Extremist group who whipped and scourged
themselves as “penance” for our sins!
Attempts to Stop the Plague
Flagellants also killed Jews as
they thought they were
responsible!!
“Jew” hat
“Golden Circle”
obligatory badge
Effects of the Plague - Social
Farms Decline
• Population losses lead to increased
productivity by restoring a more efficient
balance b/w land, labor, and capital
• Increased labor demand = greater
mobility of workers
• Increase in per capital wealth
• Wages increase  better distribution of
wealth
Effects of the Plague - Social
Peasants Revolt
• The solution of the nobles was through
legislation
• Statute of Laborers 1351 (England) – Froze
peasant wages to pre-plague levels and
restricted serfs from leaving masters’ land.
– Result – English Peasants’ Revolt 1381
• (France) Direct tax on the peasantry (taille) was
increased
– Result – Jacquerie Rebellion
• Both rebellions were viciously put down!
Jacquerie Rebellion
English Peasants’ Revolt
Both images were taken from Froissart’s Chronicles
Effects of the Plague Psychological
• How will the mighty Catholic Church be
effected from the plague?
– Think about the plague itself
• How do you think the fragile monarchies of
Europe will be effected by the plague?
– Think about what limits the power of a
monarchy
Ring Around the Rosy
Ring around the rosy
Pocket full of posies
Ashes, ashes!
We all fall down!
Symptoms of serious
illness
Flowers to ward off the
stench
We're burning the
corpses
We all drop dead.
The Mortality Rate
35% - 70%
25,000,000 dead !!!