1. Differing responses to Black Death: Christian and Muslim

2. Contextualization
The environmental consequences of connectivity were the result of the intensified connections of cultures through trade. With the integration of networks of trade like the Silk Routes, Indian Ocean and Trans-Sahara, new diffusion of religions like Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism saw the role of ideas and the cultural consequences of connectivity bring diasporic merchant communities between the East and the West. Technologies like the innovations of banking, gunpowder weaponry, paper (and paper money) as well as guilds and the building of monasteries, mosques and temple, caravanaseri and large hulled junk ships, Dhows with lateen sails and science and technological ideas saw the diffusion of cultures, the syncretism of ideas and the spread of crops (sugar, citrus fruits, spices, bananas). The little ice age and the deforestation due to new crops saw problems throughout Afro-Eurasia and the worst problem; a microscopic organism known as the yersinia pestis bacillius (the Bubonic Plague)

3. Thesis
Sweeping through Western Europe during the fourteenth century, the Bubonic Plague wiped out nearly one third of the population and did not regard: status, age or even gender. All of this occurred as a result of a single fleabite. Bubonic Plague also known as Black Death started in Asia and traveled to Europe by ships. The Plague was thought to be spread by the dominating empire during this time, the Mongolian Empire, along the Silk Road. The Bubonic Plague was an infectious disease spread by fleas living on rats, which can be easily, be attached to traveler to be later spread to a city or region. Many factors like depopulation, decreasing trade, and huge shifts in migrations occurred during the Bubonic Plague. During Bubonic Plague there were also many different beliefs and concerns, which include fear, exploitation, religious and supernatural superstition, and a change of response from the fifteenth to eighteen century.  In 1348 Christianity and Islam came face to face with the Black Death. (doc. 3A) In truth, Muslims and Christians responded in many different ways. Their ideas for what caused the Black Death were somewhat different from each other also. Even the way they thought they could cure the disease was almost entirely different. With evidence and accounts of people that exist from the Bubonic Plague, one may come to a conclusion that Christians were actually much more out of control than Muslims were during this time of need..

5. Doc #2 Agents of Pope Clement VI may have provided these records as the sacrament of anointing of the sick and may be inaccurate ( why?) Would you go to account for the dead?

7. This Catholic in document 4 sees the plague as a curse from God and deeply wishes to repent and gain forgiveness so as to not reach the fate of others accounted in the previous documents.

8. This Islamic scholar has reached a decisions based on his study of Koran and Hadith (sayings of the prophet Muhammad) that this plague is a divine act ( remember, most individuals whether Christian or Muslim were primarily concerned with the afterlife and gaining entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven/paradise) His purpose was to instruct Muslims to accept their fate.

9. Although there was science in the Classical world preserved in both Islam’s “Golden Age” in in universities and Monasteries in Europe, the nature of the disease and its treatment were still religious mostly in nature. Most Christians and Muslims thought in was caused by God and, therefore, came up with these treatments ( note: impure air AKA miasma was a common belief as to the cause)

10. Again, some scientific experimentation would try to alleviate the plague but most were based on the attempt to get right with God.

11. This chronicler , in an attempt, to warn others about the impurities and corruption of souls perhaps as a cause or maybe an effect of the plague. He is clearly worried about the outcome and may be serving as warning to man and God ( perhaps even apocalyptic)

12. The scapegoating tapped into a pre-existing anti-Semitism in Europe which Jews were forced to confess and burned alive (Holocaust) even though many authorities condemned and tried to stop it. The angst of the crowd “scapegoated” Jews as cause of the plague.

13. This legal doctrine by the Pope attempts to free the Jews from the conspiracy charges which led to their mass executions. He claims that everyone is afflicted with the disease and is an attempt to stop the violence and bloodshed against the Jews.

14. This famous Muslim judge (Qadi) illustrates the level of tolerance and acceptance the city of Damascus has in the face of the adversity of the plague. He chronicles that people are growing closer to each other and to that of God. As a religious man, he is very supportive of this event.

15. This scholarly account of the event suggests that Muslims did not persecute or blame for the plague as it was not perceived of as the end of the world nor were they intolerant.

16. During the time of The Black Death many things have happened
During the time of The Black Death many things have happened. First of all the Black Plague was one of the largest epidemics in history. There were the death of millions, around million people died (Document D) . There were also one of the many pointless genocides of the Jewish people, and the start of what some people today refer to as the plague doctor. But what people don’t know, are the different points of view according to the different religions. The followers of the Muslim and the Christian religions had many differences. The Christians were executing random people, the Muslims didn’t take extreme measures like the Christians,  for example the Christians were executing random people, while the Muslims were letting them live for the rest of the time they had      ( Documents A, B, C, E) First thing’s first, you should know that the plague had stricken Europe in (Document D) The Christians went through drastic measures to try to protect themselves from the plague, from abandoning their families, to mass murders, to the horrific plague doctors. One of the many measures taken, was specifically an action taken by the Germans. They had executed at least thousands of Jews, because they had thought that they were the ones bearing the plague. The Christian followers were abandoning their families, even the ones who didn't have the bubonic plague. Their priests were trying to bless the dying and the dead, but they were usually too late, for there were too many people he was supposed to bless. (Document D) The Christians had groups of people called Flagellants. Flagellants were people that would go from town to town, and whip themselves in a circle of people. They would cry out to “God” to forgive them for their sins, and that they wish to not become a carrier of the plague. In Document M, Jean de Venette had stated that “ For 33 days, they marched through many towns doing penance and affording a great spectacle to the wondering people. They flogged their shoulders and arms, scourged with iron points so zealously as to draw blood.” But even though they requested for “God’s” mercy, they never got it, and they ended up getting the plague anyways. ( Documents M and O) Next, the plague hit the Middle East in ( Documents A, B ) The Muslims thought that the plague was an act of God. (Document E) They considered it a blessing, even though people were dying left and right. Unlike the Christians, the Muslims hadn’t been killing random people because they had the plague, mostly because people were dying quickly from the plague. But in the end, they couldn’t take it anymore, so the Muslims started praying against the Black Death with the Christians and the Jews. Even though, the Muslims might not have been praying against the plague, but they might have been praying for strength to beat the plague.  ( Document P) Now, the Christians and the Muslims responded very differently. The Christians were horrified by the plague from the start, while the Muslims had accepted it as a blessing from God. While the Christians were slaughtering innocent people, the Muslims were just letting them die with reason. Even though they had responded very differently, they both had similar death rates, and experienced it at times that were close to each other. In the end, they all got together, the Christians, the Muslims, and the Jews, and then they prayed to their Gods, for ways to beat the plague, even if the Christians were praying for an end. (Document P)

17. In 1346 European traders began to hear reports about earthquakes, floods, locusts, famine, and plague in faraway China. They knew very little then that the plague they were hearing about would follow the same trade routes to the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe that they themselves used. (doc. 1) In five short years, the plague killed between 25 and 45% of the populations it encountered. (doc 2) So how different were the Christian and Muslim responses? In 1348 Christianity and Islam came face to face with the Black Death. (doc. 3A) In truth, Muslims and Christians responded in many different ways. Their ideas for what caused the Black Death were somewhat different from each other also. Even the way they thought they could cure the disease was almost entirely different. With evidence and accounts of people that exist from the Bubonic Plague, one may come to a conclusion that Christians were actually much more out of control than Muslims were during this time of need. Responses that Christians made were much different from Muslims during the Bubonic Plague. William Dene described Christians as being in such chaos that “The labourers and skilled workmen were imbued with such a spirit of rebellion that neither king, law nor justice would curb them.” (doc. 6) What Dene is basically describing is that because of the Black Death Christians were in such moral disarray that they were starting to become completely out of control. Dene also stated in is writing that “The people for the greater part ever became more depraved, more prone to every vice and more inclined than before to evil and wickedness, not thinking of death nor of the past plague nor of their own salvation.” (doc. 6) Christians were throwing away their religion and were slipping into a life of wickedness and evil. Ibn Battuta describes in that “(As a result of the plague) the

18. Synthesis
Epidemiologists who study the cause and effects of large spread epidemics and pandemics often attribute it to a mutation in a micro-organism often from animal to human. Densely populated societies and increased interaction amongst them often contribute to their spread. War, famine and plague are what economist Thomas Malthus argued contributed to population control. With new forms of medicine, disease control groups like the W.H.O and the C.D.C are dealing with new outbreaks like Ebola, Swine flu and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and old ones like measles, diphtheria and mumps due to new anti-vaccine campaigns.