The Black Death
The Black Death
Following the fall of The Roman Empire population was at an all time low. Around the early fourteenth century there was a steady increase in the population. The economy was also showing signs of success. As farmers improved expertise, there was an overall improvement in the manner people produce and allocated resources. A great increase in population was due to people becoming more knowledgeable. That was until the greatest catastrophe began in the fall of 1347, when sailors returning to Sicily from eastern Mediterranean port brought with them a new disease, bubonic plague. There was a large decrease in the population, greater than ever before due to what some call “The Black Death”. The sad part about this plague is that people did not know how and what was causing this unbelievably high increase in the death toll. Also the way people went about curing the disease was totally off, sometimes making the problem worse. Incredibly high numbers of deaths occurred during The Black Death; unfortunately people did not have the power of knowledge to halt this crisis. Here is more detail on how people were affected, how the economy was affected, and an overall brief description of The Black Death.
The definition of The Black Death is a form of bubonic plague that spread over Europe in the 14th century and killed an estimated quarter of the population. These numbers of deaths did not just occur without any reason. It is said that the disease was transmitted through bacillus, fleas, animals, humans and the number one transporter was the rat. When such a tragic disaster occurs people are quick to panic, as they did during the fourteenth century. Most cities throughout Western Europe had their population split in half. Also the rich were quick to flee the infected areas, leaving all of the poor people to die. Ignorance was another huge contributor to the pestilence. For example, whatever house the pestilence visited was immediately nailed up, and if a person died within he had to be buried there. Many died of hunger in their own houses. Throughout the country, all the roads and highways were guarded so that a person could not pass from one place to another. Its amazing that people could have been so ignorant, being forced to die is absolutely wrong. It was extremely difficult not to be notice if you were infected, therefore making it difficult for someone to lead a normal life. It was complex for any signs of happiness to appear, there was always a sense of watching out for you. Negativity rose all over Europe, and eventually leading to violence, blame and anti-semitism. Some dont really understand the velocity and strength of this plague. It began among the Muslims, came to Italy, and then crossing the Alps reached Avignon, where it attacked several cardinals and took from them their whole household. Then it spread, unforeseen, to France, through Gascony and Spain, little by little, from town to town, from village to village, from house to house, and finally from person to person. From 1347 to 1349 the people of Western Europe were living in a horrible nightmare. No one really knew what to do, and when an attempt to help was made they probably accelerated the epidemic. It was hard to stay away from The Black Death, it could be in the water you drank, the food you ate, the clothes you were, the pets you had around, the air you took in, the restaurant you ate at, even someones hand you shook. Of course this was of no concern to the wealthy and government, they saw it as an opportunity. For instance charging people higher prices