..To speak to or go near the sick brought infection and a common death... To touch the clothes (which) the sick had touched or worn gave the disease to the person touching" (Williams, 167). This description is quite accurate, yet even well-educated and enlightened Boccaccio himself did not know how the plague was spread from one person to another. It is also true that the plague bacillus could be spread simply by touching a piece of clothing worn by a dying person, due to rat fleas which would jump from the clothing to the person holding it without ever being aware of it.
Thus, under these extraordinary circumstances, the Black Death, so named because of the black buboes which appear on the body, completely mystified the medical community and its doctors whom at the time had been trained on pseudo-science, ignorance and superstition. As a result, all those who managed to remain healthy came up with various ways to make sure they remained so. For instance, Boccaccio relates that some people completely separated themselves from society by isolating their families in small communities or houses far away from those dying or already dead.
But as the bodies piled up, it soon became impossible to steer clear of death, for it was everywhere and had infiltrated virtually every level of society, from peasants on up to the most wealthy and politically powerful citizens. On the other hand, as Boccaccio describes it, many thought "the sure cure for the plague was to drink and be merry, (to) satisfy every appetite they could. Many spent day and night going from tavern to tavern, drinking immoderately... because everyone felt doomed and had abandoned his property" ("The Black Death, 1348," Internet).
Obviously, the destruction and chaos created by the Black Death in Europe in the 14th century greatly impacted society to the extend that many social and political leaders, such as the nobles, church officials, princes, kings and...
Laborers began to demand a wage for their efforts, which led to the rise of a money-based economy as opposed to the earlier land-based economy (middle-ages.org). Europeans in the middle ages tended to be superstitious in their religious beliefs. As they searched for something or someone to blame for the wrath of the plague, all of their praying and blind faith did not protect them from being infected. Comets, earthquakes, astrological
When we look back at the rapid spread of the disease and the dramatic impact it had throughout Europe, we must remember that neither of these circumstances would have been possible without the existence of a well-established regional and intercontinental trade network. The disease quite literally used these routes to its own advantage, spreading quickly from one urban center to the next, killing tens of millions of people in
Regardless of age, the desire for freedom remained. It is known that older slaves sometimes aided younger slaves to escape. Some of the aged also escaped to freedom. In some instances masters did not pursue older slaves because of their lower economic value. However, this was not always the case, as some older escaped slaves were still valued, and were advertised in the newspapers. Some owners granted their older slaves
Death and Dying in "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" and "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" Death is a common theme in poetry and has been written about and personified throughout history. Among some of the most recognizable poems that deal with the subject are "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night," by Dylan Thomas (1951), and "Because I Could Not Stop for Death," by Emily Dickinson
A good example is the 1985 murder of convenience store clerk Cynthia Barlieb, whose murder was prosecuted by a district attorney bent on securing execution for Barlieb's killer (Pompeilo 2005). The original trial and all the subsequent appeals forced Barlieb's family, including four young daughters, to spend 17 years in the legal process - her oldest daughter was 8 years old when Cynthia was first shot, and 25 when
Capital Punishment Issues The inconsistency and discrimination issues related to capital punishment are that, first, it is unevenly applied to all persons and, second, it is more commonly supported by Whites than it is by African-Americans (Unnever, Cullen, 2007). The concept that criminal justice and capital punishment are a good fit for one another is not a concept that African-Americans tend to promote; yet the underlying cause of their lack of
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