Transcript The Black Death

The Black Death
Summary of Causes and Effects
of the Disease
Timing of the Black Death
• The eruption of the Bubonic and
Pneumonic Plagues could not have come
at a worse time in European History
– The Economy was at the limits of expansion
• All available land was in use for agriculture
• Mongol and Ottoman invaders were putting
pressure on the frontiers and disrupting trade route
• Many areas of Europe were slipping in economic
recession
Timing Continued
• Weather was also a factor
– Climate changes caused by the little Ice Age
led to:
• Colder and wetter weather that decreased the crop
yield
– This when population was increasing
– Famine became commonplace in Europe
The Famine of 1315-1317
 By 1300 Europeans were farming almost all
the land they could cultivate.
 A population crisis developed.
 Climate changes in Europe produced three
years of crop failures between 1315-17
because of excessive rain.
 As many as 15% of the peasants in some
English villages died.
 One consequence of
starvation & poverty
was susceptibility to
disease.
Timing continued
• The condition of the church, the main social
support system of the time was poor.
– The Schism and the lack of a unified authority
damaged the churches ability to react to problems
– The clergy was scandalized by improper behavior and
excessive luxury
– Reformers in many area were calling for change and
the church was preoccupied with the issue of what it
called Heresy
– The Ottomans had taken control of the Holy land and
all attempt to regain it ended in failure
Timing continued
• The One Hundred Years War had put a
drain on the finances of England and
France
– The Kings could not pay their armies
– Un-paid mercenary soldiers began to wonder
the countryside in search of plunder and
terrorized the people
Timing continued
• The cumulative effect of the Wars, Economic
instability and weather weakened the Primary
institutions of European life so completely that
the Plague, when it arrived, had an even more
intense impact on society.
• In fact the Plague was the culminating event of
what was to be the perfect storm of disaster and
catalyst of change throughout Europe.
The Fear Factor
• Imagine that you and your friends had
been out together last Friday night at the
football game.
– Today just four days later you find out that all
of your friends had be killed by a mysterious
and unexplained malady
– This evening you go home to find that many
of your neighbors have developed the
symptoms and some have already died
• How would you react to such a situation?
Reactions to Fear
• Fear caused the living to adopt a cruel policy
toward the sick– They entirely avoided them and everything that
belonged to them.
• THE SICK WERE LEFT TO FEND FOR THEMSELVES
– The rules of social behavior were forgotten and people looked
for care from any who would help regardless of social rank or
perceived impropriety (men caring for women)
• FAMILIES DESERTED THEIR SICK RELATIVES
– Mothers even refused to care for their own children
• RELIGIOUS OFFICIALS REFUSSED TO GIVE LAST
RIGHTS OR CONDUCT BURIAL SERVICES
• What would you have done?
Where did it come from
• In Oct 1347 twelve Genoese trade ship
pulled into the harbor of Messina in Sicily.
– The sailors on these ships were all dying
• The ships were coming from the region of
the Black Sea where they had loaded a
cargo of goods for trade and without their
knowledge had also taken on the seeds of
their own destruction {fleas infected with
Plague carried aboard by rats}
Rapid Spread of the Plague
• By the Winter of 1348 the plague had spread
into France through the port of Marseilles, and
into North Africa by way of the city of Tunis.
• The plague then traveled along the inland trade
route arriving in Spain and Northern France by
Spring.
• By Summer it was found in Florence, Rome,
Paris, and London.
• By Mid-year 1350 the Plague had march its way
completely across Europe
Rapid Spread of the Plague
• The overcrowded and unsanitary conditions
found in the cities of Europe proved to be fertile
breading grounds for the Plague
– Waste was dumped in the street
• Great for the Rats
– Large extended families lived in close proximity
– Houses were built of Waffle and Daw
– People slept on straw or hay
• A perfect habitats for the fleas
Social Breakdown
• The authorities, and the human and divine laws
that rule society almost disappeared.
– They died or shut themselves up with their families
– Many of the leaders moved away from the cities and
retreated to country homes were they limited contact
with the outside world
– So many people died that the bodies had to be
treated like waste, poured into trenches, no tears, no
prayers. A complete failure of the churches duty to
care for the souls of the faithful.
The Culprits
Symptoms
• Large black swellings about the size of an
egg on the groin or in the armpit, which
oozed blood and pus.
• Extreme pain
• Heavy cough and sweating
• Every body fluid produced a foul smell
• Death within 4 to 5 days
The Symptoms
Bulbous
Septicemic Form:
almost 100%
mortality rate.
The Disease Cycle
Flea drinks rat blood
that carries the
bacteria.
Bacteria
multiply in
flea’s gut.
Human is infected!
Flea bites human and
regurgitates blood
into human wound.
Flea’s gut clogged
with bacteria.
Attempts to Stop the Plague
A Doctor’s
Robe
“Leeching”
Lancing a Buboe
Attempts to Stop the Plague
Flagellanti:
Self-inflicted “penance” for our sins!
Attempts to Stop the Plague
Pograms against the Jews
“Jew” hat
“Golden Circle”
obligatory badge
Jewish Persecution
• As always the Jews were given the blame
for the problems of Europe.
– They were accused on poisoning the water
supply and practicing witchcraft
• Jews were massacred, especially in the
cities along the Rhine River valley
• Jews were driven out of their homes
• In Strassbourg 200 Jews were burned to
death by an angry mob
• The attacks on the Jews arose out of
popular anger and fear
– The church did not instigate these attacks
Mortality Rate
35% - 70%
25,000,000 dead !!!
A Little Macabre Ditty
“A sickly season,” the merchant said,
“The town I left was filled with dead,
and everywhere these queer red flies
crawled upon the corpses’ eyes,
eating them away.”
“Fair make you sick,” the merchant said,
“They crawled upon the wine and bread.
Pale priests with oil and books,
bulging eyes and crazy looks,
dropping like the flies.”
A Little Macabre Ditty (2)
“I had to laugh,” the merchant said,
“The doctors purged, and dosed, and bled;
“And proved through solemn disputation
“The cause lay in some constellation.
“Then they began to die.”
“First they sneezed,” the merchant said,
“And then they turned the brightest red,
Begged for water, then fell back.
With bulging eyes and face turned black,
they waited for the flies.”
A Little Macabre Ditty (3)
“I came away,” the merchant said,
“You can’t do business with the dead.
“So I’ve come here to ply my trade.
“You’ll find this to be a fine brocade…”
And then he sneezed……….!
What were the
political,
economic,
and social effects
of the Black Death??
Economic Disruption
• Cities were hit the hardest and business was disrupted
as debtors died and creditors found they had no way to
collect payment
– Not only had the debtor died but most likely his entire family
• Building projects came to a complete stop or were
abandoned
– Craftsmen died and could not be replaced
• Labor shortages led to higher wages and less people
meant that there was extra food and goods to sell and
prices fell
– The standard of living for those who survived increased
Economic
• The effects on the rural areas were also severe
– Entire villages died out and many farms were left
abandoned when the owners died
• Whole families died without an heir, homes
stood empty
• There was a shortage of labor and landlords
stopped freeing their serfs
– This led to peasant revolts
• The Jacquerie in 1358
• The Peasants revolt in England during 1381
• The High mortality rate had seriously disrupted
economic and social relationships
The Jacquerie, 1358
• In the confusion and
unrest following the
French disaster at
Poitiers, this rural
movement began.
• It was a response to the
longstanding economic
and political grievances
in the countryside
worsened by warfare.
• The rebels were
defeated by aristocratic
armies.
Trouble in England
• Peasant Revolt in 1381 was put
down by King Richard II
[r. 1377-1399].
• After charges of tyranny, Richard II
was forced to abdicate in 1300.
• Parliament elected Henry IV
[r. 1399-1413], the first ruler from
the House of Lancaster.
– Henry avoided war taxes.
– He was careful not to alienate
the nobility.
• Therefore, a truce was signed
ending French and British hostilities
[for the time being, at least].
Political Effects
• The plague had no permanent effect on politics
but it did kill many nobles
– Parliaments were disrupted by adjournments due to
the arrival of the plague in the capital cities
– The Hundred Years War was suspended in 1348
because so many soldiers had died, but it was
restarted again
– On a local level the plague did have a greater effect
• City councils were decimated
• Many nobles and their families died
• The legal system closed down and wills and business
transactions actions could not be completed
Cultural Effects
• The Education community suffered,
schools and university’s were closed or
abandoned
– 16 of the 40 professors at Cambridge died
• The Church suffered the loss of many
priest and no one was left to take the
confession or conduct rituals of the church
Medieval Art & the Plague
Bring out your dead!
Medieval Art & the Plague
An obsession
with death.
Medieval Art & the Plague
Randomness of Death by Plague
Effect on Art
• The tone of despair shows through the art
of the period. People become obsessed
with death and death imagery
– Tomb sculpture is
• Highly decorated and elaborate sarcophaguses
went form portraying Lords and ladies in the bloom
of life, to depictions decomposed bodies being
eaten by worms, draped in rags
The Danse Macabre
Painting took on a brutal
aspect as well. In the Dance
of Death {left} skeletons
mingle with living men in
scenes of daily life. This
interaction of the living and the
dead is played out in paintings
of the harvest, hunters in the
forest, etc.
The contrast is horrifying
because they depict the
merriest of human activities
while reminding us of the loss
of life.
This art was commissioned by churches,
Kings, and town councils to be displayed
In public places
It is a cruel form of art which
demonstrates the effect of The
Plague on Europe’s Psyche
Death Triumphant !:
A Major Artistic Theme
Vernacular Literature
• Dante :
The Divine Comedy
– Considered the central epic poem of Italian Literature
– It is an imaginative vision of a Christians afterlife
– It represents the culmination of the medieval world view as
it had developed in the church
• The poem is written in the first person and tells of Dante journey
through the realms of the Christian dead
• The Roman writer vigil is his guide through hell where the sign
over the entrance say “abandon all hope” and purgatory
– Hell is divided into nine circles which are again sub-divided by the
sin you committed
– Purgatory is divided into ten levels, you must be sinless to enter and
never look back. This signifies that you must make a clear change in
your ways.
• Dante’s ideal woman Beatrice guides him through heaven
– Heaven has nine crystal spheres. Dante says that his vision of heaven
is the one that his eyes can see. This means that the Christian soul
stops at the level applicable to it. The more spiritually developed a
soul the further it can go.
Vernacular Literature
• Boccaccio’s Decameron
– It is a structured narrative
– Begins with a description of the Black Death and then becomes
the story of seven women and three men who are fleeing
Florence by going to a country villa
– Over a period of ten days each of the people tell ten stories (100
in all)
– Topics covered range from stories about fame and fortune to
tales of love that end tragically.
• The book shows the common psychological outlook of
the plague period by showing how “The wheel of fortune”
can rise and fall with external influences.
• The book is a satire on the Roman Catholic Church, its
priest, and beliefs. This reflects the widespread
discontent with the church in the aftermath of the plague
Quote from Boccaccio’s “The
Decameron”
The victims ate lunch with their friends
and dinner with their ancestors.
Vernacular Literature
• Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
– Influenced by the Decameron
– Story of Pilgrims on way to visit the tomb of Saint
Thomas Becket
• The characters represent all classes of society
• The pilgrims agree to tell four stories each, the one with the
best story shall have his trip paid for by the others
– The stories all reflect the social position of the teller
– Some stories make fun of others in the group
• At the end no winner is chosen and not everyone has told a
story
– Chaucer apologized at the end of the book for any
statements that seemed inappropriate
Vernacular Literature
• Francois Villon Poet
– Was once a member in a band of wondering thieves
that harassed the countryside after the one hundred
years war
– He wrote about the underworld of the middle ages,
thieves, prostitutes and other dark images
• Villon was able to give voice and depth to those who
populated the lower levels of society and their spiritual
concerns.
– In 1456 he wrote “Le Lais” a humorous poem about
his last will and testament an the possessions he
leaves behind both real and imagined
Vernacular Literature
• Christine de Pisan
– The most gifted and prolific French writer of
the later middle ages
• She wrote books and poems about love, religion,
and morality
• She wrote a Biographic History of Charles V
• She also wrote about Joan of Arc
Problems of Race
• Issues of Race in Early Middle Ages
– As large numbers of people migrated from one part of Europe to
another, people of different ethnic or racial backgrounds lived
side by side
– Racism was not based on skin color or decent, but rather on
language, customs, and laws
– Early in the time period legal dualism existed and people were
allowed to keep their own laws and customs
• In Spain Mudejars (Muslims) received guarantees of separate but
equal judicial rights (legal protections)
– The great exception to this was England's treatment of the Irish
• The English practiced racial discrimination.
– The legal structure was English and the Irish were not given access to
the courts, Irish people could not make wills, and murder of an Irishman
was not a crime
Problems of Race
• In the later middle ages there was a change away from
legal pluralism toward legal homogeneity and an
emphasis on blood decent.
– Competition for church offices and the cultural divisions created
by language or strange traditions began to break down legal
pluralism
– Nationalism and the desire to have a the state having one
language and customs, made it harder for immigrants
• In Bohemia the Dalimil Chronicle (a survey of Bohemian history)
was filled with hostility toward Germans
• The Guilds in the town of Beeskow passed laws to forbade the
apprenticeships of people of Slavic background.
• In Ireland laws were passed by guilds limiting membership to the
English only
• Statute of Kilkenny declared that Irish and English could not
intermarry and that English was the state language