Black Death (649 words) Essay Example For Students

Black Death (649 words) Essay Black DeathIn the 1340s, approximately one third to one half the population of Europewas wiped out by what was called The Black Death. The people of the timewere armed with little to no understanding of why and how the plague happenedand how to control it; and this allowed for the vast destruction that occurredin little more than three years time. The origin of the epidemic has, withlittle doubt, been identified as Lake Issyk-Koul in what is now a part ofRussian Central Asia. A flood, or some other natural disaster, drove variousrodents from their habitats around the lake; and with them they carried fleasinfected with the plague. A species of wild rodents normally isolated fromhumanity spread the plague to the more common black rat, which has been ridingon board ships since man first set sail. The plague then followed the traderoutes all over Europe. Ships arrived from Caffa at the port of Messina,Sicily. A few dying men clung to the oars; the rest lay dead on the decks Ships that carried the coveted goods of the fabled East now also carried death. The Pestilence had come to the shores of Europe (Wark). The accounts of theplague tell of the symptoms being ?tumors in the groin or the armpits and?black livid spots on the arm or thigh, typical symptoms of Bubonic plague. However, Bubonic plague normally takes several days to kill, and many accountstell of victims falling dead inside one day of contracting the disease. Thevariance in the cases of the Black Death are the workings of three strains ofthe plague: the plague proper; a pulmonary (air-borne) version, characterized bythe vomiting of blood; and a septicaemic variant, capable of killing in severalhours, before typical symptoms can even develop. The people the plaguethreatened knew neither the source of the disease, nor how to protect themselvesfrom it. It was said that the cause of the Pestilence or The Great Mortality 14th-century names for the contagion was a particularly sinister alignmentof the planets, or a foul wind created by recent earthquakes. Other theoriesexisted. ?Looks, according to one medieval physician, ?could kill (Wark). They believed their best recourse for avoiding the plague, was to runfrom it. When flight was not an option, they attempted to purify the air byburning aroma tic woods and powders. They remained inactive, almost vegetative,holed up in their homes; if one had to move, he ought to move slowly. Love,anger, and hot baths were to be avoided; and, based on the belief that bad droveout bad, potential victims would spend a half-hour daily crouched over a latrineto build up their resistance. Once one contracted the plague, death was only aquestion of time. Physicians stopped visiting the infirm out of fear and theobvious futility of their efforts. They claimed the plague must be punishmentfrom God, and therefore beyond their control. Priest still came to deliver thelast rights, and consequently, they died in droves. The effects of the plaguewent far beyond the obvious death toll, into the souls of men and women. ?Some people callously maintained that there was no better or more efficaciousremedy against a plague than to run away from it. Swayed by this argument, andsparing no thought for anyone but themselves, large numbers of men and womenabando ned their city, their homes, their relatives, their estates and theirbelongings, and headed for the countryside. They maintained that an infallibleway of warding off this appalling evil was to drink heavily, enjoy life to thefull, go around singing and merrymaking, gratify all of ones cravings wheneverthe opportunity offered, and shrug the whole thing off as one enormous joke.-Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron (Wark). Still, some people took adifferent view of the situation. Germany was the center for two phenomenaspawned by the plague the Flagellant movement, and a wave of anti-Semitism. TheFlagellants believed that by chastising themselves they could avert the wrath ofGod.