THE BLACK
DEATH
References:
A History of the Modern World
by Palmer and Colton
A History of Western Society
by McKay, Hill, and Buckler
The Western Perspective
by Cannistraro and Reich
Western Civilization
by Spielvogel
THE BLACK DEATH
from A History of Western Society

Spread
– In October 1347, the plague came to
Messina on Genoese ships docking at
the island of Sicily.
– By January 1348, the plague had
reached Venice and Genoa.
– By mid-1348, Italy, Spain, and France
were infected and the plague had
reached Germany and England.
THE BLACK DEATH
from A History of Western Society
– By the end of 1349, the plague had
swept across most of Ireland, Scotland,
the Low Countries, and Denmark.
– By the end of 1350, almost all of
Europe was infected.
THE BLACK DEATH
from A History of Western Society

Pathology and Care
– The bacillus that causes the plague is
the Pasteurella pestis.
– Lived in the bloodstream of an animal
or, ideally, in the stomach of a flea.
– The flea resided in the hair of a
rodent, preferably the black rat.
THE BLACK DEATH
from A History of Western Society

Black rats
– Often traveled by ship.
– Could survive on cargoes of grain
– Reached the cities of Europe following
voyages probably from the Crimea
THE BLACK DEATH
from A History of Western Society & from Western Civilization

The plague took three forms
– Bubonic: the flea was the vector, or
transmitter.
– Pneumonic: the plague was passed
from person to person.
– Septicemic: very rare, but very lethal;
passed by insects; death usually
occurred within one day.
THE BLACK DEATH
from A History of Western Society
•
City life aided the spread of disease.
• Filthy, narrow, crowded streets
• Sewage
• Garbage
• Dead animals
•
Possibly for financial reasons, houses’
upper stories were built to project over
the lower stories, eliminating light and
air.
THE BLACK DEATH
from A History of Western Society & A History of the Modern World
•
Extreme overcrowding was common.
• Houses were crowded within the city
walls.
• Family members normally slept in one
room, sometimes in one bed.
•
Housing construction was frequently poor
and rats had no trouble entering.
THE BLACK DEATH
from A History of Western Society

Personal hygiene
– How often did the average resident use
the public bathhouse?
– How does poor personal hygiene
combine with minor illnesses to
weaken resistance to serious disease?
THE BLACK DEATH
from A History of Western Society
– If body lice is a common occurrence,
will one notice a particular bite from a
particular flea?
THE BLACK DEATH
from A History of Western Society

Symptoms
– a growth the size of a nut or an apple in
the armpit, in the groin, or on the neck
– This was the boil, or buba, that gave
the disease its name.
– If the boil was lanced and thoroughly
drained, the victim might recover.
THE BLACK DEATH
from A History of Western Society
– Secondary stage: black spots caused
by bleeding under the skin.
– Finally, the victim began to cough
violently and spit blood.
– Death followed in two or three days.
THE
BLACK
DEATH
from
The Western Perspective
THE BLACK DEATH
from A History of Western Society

Contemporary explanations
– Some "vicious property in the air”
– The Jews
THE BLACK DEATH
from Western Civilization

Anti-Semitism
– The most common example of antiSemitism was the accusation that Jews
caused the Black Death by poisoning
wells
– Jews were persecuted in Spain and
especially in Germany
THE BLACK DEATH
from Western Civilization

Anti-Semitism: One example
– The plague killed about 16,000 in the
city of Strasbourg in the Holy Roman
Empire beginning in the summer of
1649.
– The Jews were blamed for the plague
due to a combination of fear and greed.
THE BLACK DEATH
from Western Civilization

Anti-Semitism: An excerpt from “The
Cremation of the Strasbourg Jews” by
Jacob von Konigshofen:
– “On Saturday . . . they burnt the Jews
on a wooden platform in their
cemetery.
– “There were about two thousand people
of them.
THE BLACK DEATH
from Western Civilization

Anti-Semitism: An excerpt from “The
Cremation of the Strasbourg Jews” by
Jacob von Konigshofen:
– “Those who wanted to baptise
themselves were spared.
– “[About 1,000 accepted baptism.]
– “Many small children were taken out of
the fire and baptized against the will of
their fathers and mothers.
THE BLACK DEATH
from Western Civilization

Anti-Semitism: An excerpt from “The
Cremation of the Strasbourg Jews” by
Jacob von Konigshofen:
– “And everything that was owed to the
Jews was canceled, and the Jews had to
surrender all pledges and notes that
they had taken for debts.
– “The council, however, took the cash
that the Jews possessed and divided it
among the working-men
proportionately.
THE BLACK DEATH
from Western Civilization

Anti-Semitism: An excerpt from “The
Cremation of the Strasbourg Jews” by
Jacob von Konigshofen:
– “The money was indeed the thing that
killed the Jews.
– “If they had been poor and if the feudal
lords had not been in debt to them, they
would not have been burnt. . .”
THE BLACK DEATH
partly from Western Civilization

Anti-Semitism
– Surviving Jews fled to Russia and
especially to Poland where they were
offered protection by the king.
– As a direct result of the Black Death,
Eastern Europe became home to large
numbers of Jews.
THE BLACK DEATH
from A History of Western Society

Ibu Abu Madyan
– The infectious nature of the disease
was recognized by some, but
apparently only certain Muslims
realized how to respond.
– Ibu Abu Madyan shut in his household
and allowed no one to enter or leave
until the plague had passed.
– Abu Madyan’s efforts succeeded.
THE BLACK DEATH
from A History of Western Society

Rats carrying the fleas were largely
confined to the cities.
– The countryside was relatively safe.
– City dwellers with money fled.
THE BLACK DEATH
from Western Civilization

“Still others . . . maintained that no
remedy against plagues was better than to
leave them miles behind. Men and
women without number . . . caring for
nobody but themselves, abandoned the
city, their houses and estates, their own
flesh and blood even, and their effects, in
search of a country place.”
»from The Decameron
by Giovanni Boccaccio
THE BLACK DEATH
from A History of Western Society

Contemporary Europe could neither
explain nor cure the disease.

The medical literature of the day
indicates that physicians could sometimes
ease the pain.
THE BLACK DEATH
from A History of Western Society & from Western Civilization

Care and treatment
– Priests and nuns often stayed with the
sick until they too caught the plague.
– Hospitals which existed in 14th and 15th
century European cities “could offer
only shelter, compassion, and care for
the dying.”
THE BLACK DEATH
from A History of Western Society

Professional medicine had no theory of
infection, but the basic concept was
understood – on some level – by those
who witnessed the spread of the disease.

European port cities, beginning with
Ragusa (modern Dubrovnik), quarantined
arriving ships to determine whether they
brought the plague.
THE BLACK DEATH

from Western Civilization
Mortality rates
– Italian cities: 50-60%
– Northern France:
• Farming villages: 30%
• Cities: 30-40%
– England: similar to France
– Germany: not as bad as England and
France
– Europe: 25-50% or approximately 1938 million people
A mass burial in Europe
from The Western Perspective
Mass burial of Plague Victims
from Western Civilization
THE BLACK DEATH
from A History of Western Society & from Western Civilization
 Recurrences
– 1361-1362
– 1369
– Every 5-6 to 10-12 years for the rest of
the fourteenth-century and the fifteenth
century
– Intermittently
– Last outbreak was 1721 in Marseilles
THE BLACK DEATH
from A History of Western Society

Economic and social consequences.
– The decline in population led to a labor
shortage
• Increased demand for labor
• Higher wages
• Increase in per capita wealth
– Increase in the slave trade
THE BLACK DEATH
from A History of Western Society & from Western Civilization

Psychological consequences.
– Heroism
– Cowardice
– Pessimism
– Debauchery
– Asceticism
THE BLACK DEATH
from Western Civilization
– “Others . . . held that plenty of drinking
and enjoyment, singing and free living
and the gratification of the appetite in
every possible way . . . was the best
preventative of such a malady . . . Day
and night they went from one tavern to
another drinking and carousing
unrestrainedly.”
»from The Decameron
by Giovanni Boccaccio
THE BLACK DEATH
from Western Civilization
 The
flagellants
– “men who did public penance and
scourged themselves with whips of
hard knotted leather with little iron
spikes. Some make themselves bleed
very badly . . . The object of this
penance was to put a stop to the
mortality.”
»A contemporary chronicler
“The Flagellants”
from Western Civilization
THE BLACK DEATH
from A History of Western Society

Death in the literature and art of the
fourteenth century
– One motif, the Dance of Death,
depicted a dancing skeleton leading
away a living person.
Dance of Death
THE BLACK DEATH
from A History of Western Society
– Survivors experienced a crisis of faith.
– All types of leaders and institutions had
failed them
• Religious and Moral
• Political and Social
• Medical
– This crisis contributed to the decline of
the Middle Ages.