The Black Death

What caused the plague? The question that you are probably thinking is this; Q: Who or what caused the Black Death? A: This is your answer! The Oriental Rat Flea!

The plague arrives Historians think that the plague arrived in England during the summer of 1348. During the following autumn it spread quickly through the south west. Few villages escaped. Churchyards were full with bodies. The plague spread quickly during the winter of 1348-1349 to the north of England. By 1350, nearly the whole of Britain was infected with the plague. At the end of 1350 nearly one and a half million people were dead! About 1/3 of Western’s Population died.

World Population

How was the plague transmitted? We now know that the most common form of the Black Death was the BUBONIC PLAGUE! This disease was spread by fleas which lived on the black rat. The fleas sucked the rat’s blood which contained the plague germs. When the rat died the fleas jumped on to humans and passed on the deadly disease.

Where did the Black Death come from? http://www.wadsworth.com/history_d/templates/student_resources/0534627218_spielvogel/spielvogel_maps/swfs/map11_1.html http://www.wadsworth.com/history_d/templates/student_resources/0534627218_spielvogel/spielvogel_maps/swfs/map11_1.html

Two types of plague Plague became a killer when the infection reached the lungs. This was called pneumonic plague, because it destroyed the breathing system. This plague could be caught if someone breathed on you. (Victims died within one or two days) Bubonic plague did not spread on the victim’s lungs, but it caused large swellings as the body fought the disease. It’s a similar effect when you have a boil. To catch this type of plague you had to be bitten by a flea that had already bitten a black rat. (Victims died within a week)

What were the symptoms of the plague?

Cures? Medieval people did not know about germs causing disease. They did not understand that plague was spread by rats and fleas. They thought that people’s bodies were poisoned. If the swellings burst and the poison came out people sometimes survived. It seemed sensible to draw out the poison.

Medieval cure number 1 The swellings should be softened with figs and cooked onions. The onions should be mixed with yeast and butter. Then open the swellings with a knife.

Medieval cure number 2 Take a live frog and put its belly on the plague sore. The frog will swell up and burst. Keep doing this with further frogs until they stop bursting. Some people say that a dried toad will do the job better.

Question How useful do you think these medieval cures actually were? Did they help at all or were they more harmful?

What did people think caused the plague? There were lots and lots of different beliefs about the plague; people were so scared because they weren’t sure what caused it. Some believed it was a punishment from God, some believed that foreigners or those who followed a different religion (Jews) had poisoned the wells, some thought that bad air was responsible, some thought the position of the planets had caused the plague.

Avoiding the plague . Avoid breathing in the same air as a plague victim. 2. Sit next to a blazing hot fire, (it worked for the Pope in the summer of 1348). 3. Live in a house sheltered from the wind and keep the window closed. 4. Attack foreigners and people of a different religion. (Twenty thousand Jews were burned to death in Strasbourg in 1348).

5. Letter from King Edward III to the Lord Mayor of London in 1349: “You are to make sure that all the human excrement and other filth lying in the street of the city is removed. You are to cause the city to be cleaned from all bad smells so that no more people will die from such smells.” 6. You could walk around carrying flowers, herbs or spices, which you would often raise to your nose. 7. Live a separate life, only eating and drinking in moderation and seeing no one. 8. Run away to the country, leave everyone behind. 9. Go to church and ask for forgiveness. 10. Go on a pilgrimage. Punish yourself in public by joining the flagellants

11. “No poultry should be eaten, no waterfowl, no pig, no old beef, altogether no fat meat. ...It is injurious to sleep during the daytime... Fish should not be eaten, too much exercise may be injurious... and nothing should be cooked in rainwater. Olive oil with food is deadly... Bathing is dangerous.” 12. “In the first place no man should think on death.... Nothing should distress him, but all his thoughts should be directed to pleasing, agreeable and delicious things... Beautiful landscapes, fine gardens should be visited, particularly when aromatic plants are flowering.... Listening to beautiful, melodious songs is wholesome.. The contemplating of gold and silver and other precious stones is comforting to the heart.”

Treatments;Self-inflicted “penance” for our sins! open the boils and burn them with a red hot iron!! Bloodletting Beating or whipping yourself for your sins

If you were an ordinary doctor what could you do? You could wear your special protective suit. The nose of this frightening looking costume was supposed to act as a filter, as it was filled with perfumes and what were thought of as cleaning vapours. The lenses were glass and protected the eyes from bad air (miasma). You were protected with gloves and a long robe as well as boots. You could make sure your patient had sweet smelling perfumes and herbs around to get rid of bad smells, you could try bleeding them. Would it have helped? Well, may be the suit kept the fleas off and stopped the doctors breathing in so many germs – but remember people wouldn’t know why it worked. Most doctors knew they couldn’t help and stayed away.

Changes So many deaths meant that life changed for the people who survived. The biggest changes were on the farms and in the countryside. For the peasants things were getting better. The lords needed them to work the land but there were less people available. Laborers could ask for higher pay and get it. Serfs could break free and earn money by working for someone else.

After the Bubonic Plague ran it's course, people had either built up an immunity because their systems had successfully fought off the disease, or they had a natural immunity. Either way, that particular disease became far less visible. In Medieval England, the Black Death was to kill 1.5 million people out of an estimated total of 4 million people between 1348 and 1350. No medical knowledge existed in Medieval England to cope with the disease.