The Black Death

1
The Black Death

• 1347-1350

2
(No Transcript)
3
(No Transcript)
4

• The Black Death
• Genoese Ships bring bubonic plague to Southern
  Europe in 1347
• 1. The bacillus lives in fleas that infest
  black rats
• 2. May have come from E. Asia via the Crimea

5
(No Transcript)
6
B. Pathology and care 1. Bubonic form
transmitted via fleas - pneumonic form
transmitted via infected people a.
Unsanitary and overcrowded cities were
ideal breeding ground for black rats
that carried fleas 2. No one in Medieval society
including the church could provide a
rational explanation for the plague leading
to a frenzy of fear and ingnorance.
7

• In many places Jews are blamed.
• Thousands of Jews are murdered in
• Western Europe, thousands more flee
  east.

8
(No Transcript)
9
(No Transcript)
10
(No Transcript)
11
(No Transcript)
12

• 3. The disease killed millions (25 million?) and
  recurred as late as 1721(France)
• a. It spread north to Scandinavia and east to
  central Europe
• b.Type - O blood may have made many in Hungary
  immune
• c. An inoculation was not developed until 1947

13
(No Transcript)
14
C. Social Cultural Consequences

• 1. Plague hit poor the hardest, but all classes
  suffered - the clergy was particularly affected
• 2. Labor shortages meant that wages went up and
  social mobility increased, as did per capita
  wealth, and the demand for slaves increased.

15

• 3. The psychological consequences of the plague
  were enormous pessimism, gross sensuality,
  religious fervor (as typified by flagellantism).
• a. Society became divided and fearfull
• b. Artists and writers became obsessed with death
• c. Faith in the Church as the repository of all
  knowledge is irreparably damaged.

16
(No Transcript)
17
(No Transcript)
18
(No Transcript)
19
(No Transcript)