Introduction
A sudden itch on your arm reveals
a red, rosy ring. Your heart beats quickly because it’s a symptom of the most
deadly disease of the Fourteenth Century—the Black Death. The Bubonic Plague
killed “1.5 million people out of an estimated 4.0 million people” in Medieval
England, and it’s about to claim it’s next victim—you (“The Black Death of 1348
to 1350”). There’s no way to avoid the horrific symptoms that will follow:
lumps in the armpits or groin, decaying black spots on
parts of the body, chills, fever, excruciating pain,
and within three days death (Boccaccio 1). Where did you contract the
disease—from breathing fowl air of friends who were infected, from close
contact with farm animals, or from immoral, sinful thoughts? For hundreds of
years, researchers and scientists have debated causes of the Black Death. Many
continue to believe the plague was caused by fleas from rats, but new evidence
suggests the disease might be airborne (1). Regardless of cause, today’s population
is at risk for an epidemic similar to the Black Death.
History
The origins of the
Black Death can be traced back to the Gobi Desert of Mongolia in the 1320s
(Gregg). It spread out in all directions, specifically eastward to China (1). Frequent
ship trade during the Middle Ages meant European traders sailed the Black Sea
region regularly. Historical documents show a group of sailors from Genoa docked
at the port in Sicily in October of 1347 where they were fresh from a voyage to
China (1). Chinese goods loaded by sailors on board the ships were covered with
bacterium yersinia pestis, an infectious bacteria found on rats (1). Suddenly,
the Black Death had arrived in Europe!
From Sicily,
the plague spread at an alarming rate. This caused panic in the Italian
population as the plague spread farther and farther north (Hirst). Wherever
trade routes existed, the plague followed. The Black Death reached France
shortly after it swept through Italy (1). England felt its effects in September
of 1348 (1). By the end of 1348, Germany, France, England, Italy, and “the low
countries were engulfed” with the plague (1). Norway was infected in 1349, and
Eastern European countries began to fall victim during the early 1350s (1).
Russia was infected during 1351 (1). By the end of the Black Death’s run in
Europe, one third of all people in the infected areas had died (1).
The people of
Europe did not know that the Black Death was the result of a microscopic,
rod-shaped bacillus bacterium (Herlihy). Rodents, especially common rats, are
very susceptible to infection from the bacteria. These rats are also host to
parasitic fleas, which live off of the blood of other animals. The flea is not
affected by the bacterium, yet still carries it in the blood extracted from the
rat host in its digestive tract (1). The flea's ability to carry the disease
without death makes it a perfect host of transfer from organism to organism (1).
When these rats inhabit urban areas or boats in order to live off of stored
food supplies, they bring the fleas with them. Fleas leave the bodies of rats,
which die shortly from the disease, and move on to a new host—humans. Once an
infected flea bites a human, infected blood from the rat is introduced to the
healthy blood of the human, and the bacteria spreads (1). Death occurs in less
than a week for humans.
There are several possible causes of the plague.
First, the plague was caused by the bubonic infection (Matterer). The underlying
argument is that the disease was caused by a pathogen that is responsible for
an epidemic in China in 1865 (1). The bacterium that caused the disease is
identified
transmission of this bacterium was through
fleas (1). These fleas had their mid-guts
obstructed by
replications of Yersinia pestis
after feeding on the infected host (Moneckea, Moneckeb and
Moneckec 2009, 583-87).
after feeding on the infected host (Moneckea, Moneckeb and
Moneckec 2009, 583-87).
The second cause is known as the “Malthusian crisis: the
deterioration of social and living conditions and the failure of agriculture” (Moneckea
et al). Lack of bathing, bad hygiene, poor nutrition, and social interactions all
played significant roles in the spread of the Black Death. This is because
there was a population
coupled with dire
living conditions that
resulted in famine
across Europe (584-7).
The third cause of the Bubonic Plague is human to human contact
(Rettner). The possibility that warm blooded individuals passed the disease
through infected blood, feces, or mucous, or the possibility that the disease
was airborne, is currently being debated and researched (1).
Regardless of its cause, the effect was the Black Death killed
one-third of the population in Europe during the Medieval Ages and caused
changes in societal structures (“History
of Western Civilization: The Black Death”).
Effects on Society
As far as social economics, the Black
Death had devastating results. First, the continent was on the brink of wars
and famines. The governments of most European nations did not have emergency
plans for the Black Death (Aberth 2001, 78-79). This was because scholars could
not explain how the disease spread or what caused the disease. Medieval Europe
was governed by monarchs. They put into place measures that: “outlawed exports
of foods, set price controls, and damned black market speculations” (Aberth
2001, 78-79). Rules were strict; even fishing was outlawed. Economic restrictions
sent Europe into a tailspin. Countries, like England and Scotland on the brink
of wars, were unable to buy grain from France. Travel by sea was too risky due
to pirates. The plague couldn’t have hit at a worse time since Europe was in
the beginning stages of an economic recession (Aberth 2001, 78-79).
Also affected by the plague was the
agriculture economy. When the epidemic ended, peasants demanded higher wages
for their services. In England, “wages rose from 12% to 28% during the plague
period” (Hatcher 1977, 122). From 1340 to 1360, wages rose again by around
twenty percent (122). Another economic impact of the plague is that the supply
of gold and silver increased (122). This, in turn, caused inflation in prices,
which reduced the purchasing power of most
people in Europe (122). This made the life of peasant and wage laborers more
difficult than before the plague (122).
Another
economic effect of the plague related to agriculture was that most lords lost the
services of their peasants, who went to work at places that offered them
better jobs. This led to the neglect of around 60% of the land in England (Hatcher
1977, 122). The reduction of the labor force increased the bargaining powers of
peasants and wage earners (122). Lords and nobles “lost over 60%” of their workforce
(122). Lands that once were filled with workers were now untended (Benedictow 105).
Towns were largely altered by the plague. An estimated 1300 villages vanished
due to Black Death (105). This was because villages sat closely together, and
people shared animals, plus there was lack of hygiene, such as bathing, and
poor diets (Rowling). When animals bedded
with people, diseases spread, and whole families died as a result (Dunn).
The
commercial economy was also affected by the plague. It brought about a shortage
of labor in the cities. This led to a resurgence of the slave trade in Africa
and the Mediterranean (Benedictow 2004, 105). Female slaves entered domestic
services while male slaves worked in the countryside.
Examples of the Black Death
Symptoms
for those afflicted with Bubonic Plague were painful, and usually deadly. They
included: sudden onset of fever, headache, chills, weakness, one or more swollen, tender
and painful lymph nodes (called buboes) (“Plague: Symptoms”).
But, “what was it like for a victim of the
plague” (Snell)?
It started with a headache. Then chills and fever, which left the
victim exhausted and prostrate. Maybe he experienced nausea, vomiting, back
pain, soreness in his arms and legs. Perhaps bright light was too bright to
stand. Within a day or two, the swellings appeared. They were hard, painful,
burning lumps on his neck, under his arms, on his inner thighs. Soon they
turned black, split open, and began to ooze pus and blood. They may have grown
to the size of an orange…After
the lumps appeared, he would start to bleed internally. There would be blood in
his urine, blood in his stool, and blood puddling under his skin, resulting in
black boils and spots all over his body. Everything that came out of his body
smelled utterly revolting. He would suffer great pain before he breathed his
last. And he would die barely a week after he first contracted the disease.
(Snell)
 |
| Boccaccio 14th Century Poet |
Historical documents uncovered throughout
time provide horrific accounts of life during the plague. Examples are Chaucer’s
Canterbury Tales and Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year, which gave
vivid recollections of life during one of the worst epidemics in history. But,
it was Giovanni Boccaccio, who lived during the Black Death and penned The Decameron, Vol. I, that captured a harrowing
account of the disease and death:
The
symptoms were not the same as in the East, where a gush of blood from the nose
was the plain sign of inevitable death; but it began both in men and women with
certain swellings in the groin or under the armpit. They grew to the size of a
small apple or an egg, more or less, and were vulgarly called tumours. In a
short space of time these tumours spread from the two parts named all over the
body. Soon after this the symptoms changed and black or purple spots appeared
on the arms or thighs or any other part of the body, sometimes a few large
ones, sometimes many little ones. These spots were a certain sign of death,
just as the original tumour had been and still remained… (“The Black Death,
1348”)
 |
| Dance of Macabre or Death |
Boccaccio
descriptions of a person who suffered from the plague were descriptive and to
the point. The Fourteenth Century writer continued on to explain conditions of
middle class and lowly peasants, along with poor sanitary conditions, which led
to the spread of the Bubonic Plague:
Most
of them remained in their houses, either through poverty or in hopes of safety,
and fell sick by thousands. Since they received no care and attention, almost
all of them died. Many ended their lives in the streets both at night and during
the day; and many others who died in their houses were only known to be dead
because the neighbours smelled their decaying bodies. Dead bodies filled every
corner. Most of them were treated in the same manner by the survivors, who were
more concerned to get rid of their rotting bodies than moved by charity
towards the dead. (“The Black Death, 1348”)
For artists and writers, the Bubonic
Plague provided new materials filled with horrific images and words of death,
destruction, and suffering. One of these works was the famous childhood song
“Ring Around the Rosie”, which included the phrase “all fall down” due to death
from the plague. For victims of all ages, the plague typically resulted in
death.
Evidential Support
Over the past couple of years, debates have
surfaced over what caused the Medieval Ages epidemic of Bubonic Plague. Dr.
Barney Sloane, a historian, believes the disease was spread not by fleas and
rats but rather “it had to be person
to person due to the speed by which it spread…” (Bates). Sloane’s research
suggests that rats should have died from the plague similar to humans (1). Yet,
no mass graves of rat bones have been unearthed; therefore, it’s likely that
there was no Bubonic Plague (1). Also, the disease spread quickly through
Europe even during winter months when fleas and rats are dormant (1). Sloane
bases his findings on research from Dr. James Wood and a team of scientists
from Penn State University (1).
Dr. Wood and
his colleagues studied documents and findings from the Medieval Ages to come up
with their results: “These records indicate that
the spread of the Black Death was more rapid than we formerly believed. This disease appears to
spread too rapidly among humans to be something that must first be established
in wild rodent populations, like bubonic plague” (Bates). However, the Penn
State University team’s research concludes that perhaps the Medieval Age
disease mutated from its original Bubonic Plague form into one that is spread
through human-to-human interaction (1).
Is the world at risk for another Black Death, or is the
possibility of such an epidemic absurd? Most historians continue to support the
theory that the Bubonic Plague become an epidemic through the spread of fleas
on rats from ships that were docked in Sicily and originated from China (Marks).
The disease spread quickly due to poor hygiene and living conditions. Yet,
there are new cases of Bubonic Plague yearly. In July, 2014, in Yumon, China, the death of native man who somehow contacted Bubonic Plague
prompted officials to seal off the city of 30,000 residents to the outside
world (Rettner). In 2015, cases of
Bubonic Plague were reported in Colorado (1). Fortunately, today, Bubonic
Plague is treated with antibiotics, and less than “5,000 cases of plague per
year worldwide” occur (1). However, the threat of another epidemic like the
Black Death almost become a reality with the recent Ebola virus outbreak.
Recently, mass graves of bones from people who died of Bubonic
Plague during the Medieval Ages were discovered (Rettner). Soon, medical
testing will reveal new, lifesaving information that will put an end to the
question of the disease’s origin, its causes, and how it spread so quickly
through European countries. Scientists’ goal, however, is to stop all epidemics
and to prevent future deaths from Bubonic Plague.
Absurdity
and the Plague
Albert Camus, an
anarchist and an atheist, believed that it was impossible for man to
“rationalize an irrational universe” (Kershaw). He stated religion was
“philosophically absurd”,
which resulted in his
philosophy of the absurd (1). To the people of the Medieval Ages, the Black
Death was absurd; it was irrational, and it struck randomly and resulted in
death. Some people rationalized it was possible the disease was a punishment
for their immoral, sinful ways of living. Although Camus would have been
saddened by the death of so many citizens, he would have been pleased to see
that people of the Fourteenth Century questioned their religious beliefs, along
with the fairness and justness of their almighty God.
Camus’ stressed that
government and society imposed too many laws and rules and restricted
individual freedom and rights, but could this have negative effects on an
epidemic such as the Black Plague? What if magistrates had not limited social
interactions and travel during the 14th Century, would even more people would
have contracted the plague and died? Without social and travel restrictions, civilization
might have been completely wiped out.
However, Camus would have
rejoiced at the peasants’ revolt for higher wages, which meant the lowest class
of people questioned the ruling party’s laws and rules imposed upon them. England’s
outcome was one Camus would have celebrated since it eliminated the feudal
system, restored jobs and wages, and resulted in an era known as Renaissance,
or rebirth.
Conclusion
The
Black Death killed “1.5 million people out of an estimated 4.0 million people”
in Medieval England (“The Black Death of 1348 to 1350”). No one was immune from
the disease. Scientific research will soon reveal
whether the plague was caused by fleas from rats or if it was airborne
and spread through human-to-human interaction.
In today’s time when people travel
worldwide by many modes of transportation, it is possible for society to be at
risk of another epidemic. Even though it may border on absurdity to fear an
epidemic, we must face the fact that diseases, such as the Bubonic Plague and
Ebola virus, remain present. This means our society is at risk of another
epidemic.
Works
Cited
Bates,
Claire. “Black Death backtrack: Don't blame the rats, the plague was
'spread by PEOPLE”'. Daily Mail, U.K. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2027347/Black-Death-backtrack-Dont-blame-rats-plague-spread-PEOPLE.html
(2011).
Dunn, John M.Life
During the Black Death Lucent
books inc. 2000.
Gregg,
C. T. Plague: An Ancient Disease in the Twentieth Century, revised
ed.; University of New Mexico Press: Albuquerque, 1985, 1978.
Herlihy,
D. The Black Death and the Transfor-mation of the West; Harvard
University Press: Cambridge, MA, 1997.
Hirst,
L. F. The Conquest of Plague: A Study in the Evolution of Epidemiology; Clarendon
Press: Oxford, U.K., 1953.
“History
of Western Civilization: The Black Death”. http://history.idbsu.edu/westciv/
plague/index.html.
Marks, Geoffrey J. The Medieval Plague; the Black
Death of the Middle Ages. Doubleday,
New York 1971.
Matterer,
J. L. The Pestilence Tyme. www.godecookery.com/plague/plague.htm.
“Plague: Symptoms”. Center for Disease
Control. http://www.cdc.gov/plague/symptoms/. (2012).
Rowling, Marjorie. Life in Medieval Times Perigee, New York 1979.
Snell,
Melissa. “Death Defined”. About Education. http://historymedren.about.com/od/theblackdeath/a/death_defined.htm (2014).
Rettner,
Rachael. “Chinese Officials Seal Off ‘Plague’ City, Puzzling US Experts”. Live
Science. 23 July 2014.
“The Black Death, 1348”.
EyeWitness. To History. www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2001).
