Transcript black death
The Black Death Great pestilence • Medieval people called the fourteenth century catastrophe either the "Great Pestilence," the "Great Death," or the "Great Plague." • Contemporary writers then referred to the event as the "Great Mortality"; the term "Black Death" was introduced for the first time in 1833. FYI: The Plague • Most Deadly Period: 13471351 • Revenge on Wickedness/End of World • 1/3-1/2 of European Population Killed • (312 Great Stadiums @ 80,000 people each) The Culprit • Fleas are bloodsucking parasites • Mouths form 2 functions: spitting into bite; sucking blood transmission Three forms 1. Bubonic Mortality Rate: 30-75% Bubonic Bubonic: symptoms • Headaches, painful aching joints, nausea and vomiting, and disorientation…large black boils • Of those who contracted the bubonic plague, 4 out of 5 died within eight days. Three Forms 2. Pneumonic Mortality Rate: 90-95% pneumonic: symptoms • Fever, cough and bloodtinged mucus. As the disease progressed, mucus became free flowing and bright red. Three Forms 3. Septicemic mortality rate: 100% fever, cough and blood-tinged sputum. As the disease progressed, sputum became free flow Septicemic: symptoms • High fevers and purple skin patches The path The victims… “…ate lunch with their friend and dinner with their ancestors in paradise." The victims… “It was dark before I could get home, and so land at Churchyard stairs, where to my great trouble I met a dead corps of the plague in the narrow ally just bringing down a little pair of stairs." -S. Pepys Can it be stopped? • Government medical workers • Fear of plague • How spread? Can it be stopped? • • • • • Prayer Death to Sinners Closed Villages Starvation Burning Nostradamus • Predicted Hitler • Saddam Hussein • Lost entire family • Dedicated to cure Economy • Skills worth more • Peasants & artisans higher wages • Serfs stop planting • Animals roaming The church • Suffered • Lost authority & prestige • Death of followers • No cures/no answers The church The church Dance of death Dance of death It’s the rats • Not until 1906 • Traded disease • Exists today (mortality: 5-15%) The Black Death