¶ … bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death, has wrought devastation and death across Asia and Europe. In the 1300s, it decimated Europe's population. Despite the carnage, the aftermath of the disease helped usher in a rebirth of European society. The symptoms of the bubonic plague appeared within days of infection. The infected individual would suffer fever, headache, general feeling of weakness, aches in the upper leg and groin, and fatigue (Perlin & Cohen 2002). The most evident sign of the bubonic plague is the painful swelling of the lymph glands called "buboes." The "Black Death" is believed to have originated in China; it spread to Europe through the Silk Road. Trading ships and caravans were infested with rats that contained infected fleas (Sanders et al. 2005). This helped spread the disease quickly and over a large area. The devastation of the Bubonic Plague created great social and economic unrest. The plague killed an estimated 30%-50% percent of the European population (Perlin & Cohen 2002). Before the plague, Europe had been overpopulated;...
Due to the fact that there was a shortage of laborers, landlords competed for peasants with higher wages and unprecedented freedoms (Sanders et al. 2005). Ultimately, this gave peasants more control over their lives and more power in society. This economic freedom and the effect the Black Death had on European's spirituality helped usher in the Renaissance.Bubonic Plague The Black Death is remembered through time because of the harm it inflicted on the world and because of the horrible pains that were associated with the malady. The disease killed hundreds of millions of people and made it possible for society as a whole to acknowledge its limitations in the face of serious maladies. The Bubonic Plague is one of the most common form of plague and along
Black Death and Religion in Western Europe The Black Death is perhaps considered as the most devastating pandemic that has happened to humanity in the previous to the present century. The disease was transmitted from Asia into and through Europe. The disease set feet in Europe by the sea in October of 1347 when trading ships belonging to Genoese set their dock at the Silician Port of Messina when it
As a result of the death in the church, written language suffered greatly. Carvings, previously mostly of religious scenes or icons, began to reflect the death of the time. Coffin lids were carved with representations of the deceased within. Sculptures reflected the rotting disease, and the consumption of the dead by insects. Paintings reflected the death through depictions of people socializing with skeletons. Previous to the plague, art was
This suffering was not exclusive to the lower classes with all social groups being affected. Outbreaks of bubonic plague were a regular feature of the Medieval Period though never as severe. Those who survived the plague were compelled to adjust to a new social and economic reality. Such a multitude of people had perished that a severe shortage of labor ensued which improved wages and living conditions for urban
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
..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
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