3. 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.

4. The Culprits

5. Forms of Black Death Bubonic Plague- infection of lymph system Septicemic Plague- infection of the blood Pneumonic Plague- infection of the lungs Pneumonic Plague spreads easily from person to person through coughing and sneezing.

6. Symptoms

7. The Symptoms Buboes Septicemic Form: almost 100% mortality rate.

8. The Plague Reaches Europe Coming out of Asia, the plague reached the shores of Italy by the spring of 1348. Men, women and children caught in the onslaught were bewildered, panicked and finally, devastated. They had no defense and no understanding of the cause of the disease.

9. 1347: Plague Reaches Constantinople!

11. The Disease Cycle Flea drinks rat blood that carries the bacteria. Flea’s gut clogged with bacteria. Bacteria multiply in flea’s gut. Flea bites human and regurgitates blood into human wound. Human is infected!

12. Historical Timing of the Plague The Mongols and Ottomans had disrupted trade routes Certain areas of Europe were entering a depression. Climate was changing, with cooler, wetter weather meaning lower crop yields. Population was increasing. The Church was in poor shape. The Hundred Years War added to problems of plague and famine

13. Medieval Art & the Plague

14. Bring out your dead!

15. Medieval Art & the Plague An obsession with death.

16. Boccaccio in The Decameron The victims ate lunch with their friends and dinner with their ancestors.

17. The Danse Macabre

18. Attempts to Stop the Plague A Doctor’s Robe “Leeching”

19. Attempts to Stop the Plague Flagellanti: Self-inflicted “penance” for our sins!

20. Attempts to Stop the Plague Pograms against the Jews “Jew” hat “Golden Circle” obligatory badge

21. Lancing a Buboe The swellings should be cut open to allow the disease to leave the body. A mixture of tree resin, roots of white lilies and dried human excrement should be applied to the places where the body has been cut open.

22. Treatments for the plague Vinegar and water treatment-If a person gets the disease, they should be washed with vinegar and rose water Diet-We should not eat food that goes off easily and smells badly such as meat, cheese and fish. Witchcraft-Place a live hen next to the swelling to draw out the pestilence from the body. To aid recovery you should drink a glass of your own urine twice a day.

23. A Little Macabre Ditty “A sickly season,” the merchant said, “The town I left was filled with dead, and everywhere these queer red flies crawled upon the corpses’ eyes, eating them away.” “Fair make you sick,” the merchant said, “They crawled upon the wine and bread. Pale priests with oil and books, bulging eyes and crazy looks, dropping like the flies.”

24. A Little Macabre Ditty (2) “I had to laugh,” the merchant said, “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.”

25. A Little Macabre Ditty (3) “I came away,” the merchant said, “You can’t do business with the dead. “So I’ve come here to ply my trade. “You’ll find this to be a fine brocade…” And then he sneezed……….!

26. The Mortality Rate 35% - 70% 25,000,000 dead in Europe!!!

27. What were the political, economic, and social effects of the Black Death??