1. The Black Death

2. Where did the Black Death come from?

3. How Did It Affect So Many People?

5. How did people try to prevent the plague?
It was thought that by bleeding people, they could get rid of the bad blood which caused the plague.
Flagellants were people who believed that if they whipped and hurt themselves, God would take pity on them.
“[Toads] should be placed on the plague boil. The toad will swell and draw out the poison of the plague to its own body…”
Guy de Chauliac
Do you think that any of these methods would work?

6. 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!

7. 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.

8. The Disease Cycle Human is infected!
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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. The Mortality Rate
35% - 70%
25,000,000 dead !!!

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

14. EFFECTS Disease is a major determinant of human history.
Socially, and politically, Europe was turned upside down…
The church and the nobility…the two powerhouses of the Middle Ages lose prestige and power as a result of the plague.
As a result the kings of Europe consolidate power…it is the beginning of the end of Feudalism
Kings use a bureaucracy to rule, raise taxes, pass laws..
Serfs are in short supply…they can sell their labor to the highest bidder…their wages go up!
The decline in production led to higher prices which led to inflation
The plague led to an overwhelming pessimism, to religious fanaticism, to suspicion of travelers, and to intolerance of Jews.