Facts about the Middle Ages' Great Plague, which killed millions in Europe, especially how it affected England. The plauge was spread by rats before a cure was found. The plague still exists today.
The great number of deaths in Europe from the Black Plague often resulted in a lack of male heirs, thus leading to the legal ability of women to inherit land and property. This new idea, teamed with the increase of women's wages due to worker shortages, led to women being able to marry younger men who were not yet able to support a family. The idea of true love and companionship in marriage also grew with this trend and is expressed in both The Canterbury Tales and Leon Battista Alberti's On the Family. As a result, women slowly became the equals to males in a relationship, paving the way for gender equality outside of marriage.
The Black Death, also called the "plague" or the "pestilence", is caused by a bacteria called Yersinia Pestis. It caused a devastating pandemic resulting in the death of over one-third of Europe's population in its major wave of 1348-1349. Yersinia Pestis had two major strains: the first, the Bubonic form, was carried by fleas on rodents and caused swelling of the lymph nodes, with a fifty-percent mortality rate. The second, the pneumonic form, was airborne after the bacteria had mutated and caused fluids to build up in the lungs and other areas, causing suffocation and a seventy-percent mortality rate.
Explores the history of the Black Death, tracing it to 1331 central Asia. Examines the impact of the Black Death on Europe. Describes the personal devastation of the disease.
Discusses the history of the Plague in Renaissance England. Describes how it started, spread, and made its way through Europe. Explains the symptoms of the disease and provides statistical data on the death rate.
The Black Death, or Bubonic Plague, should indeed be considered merely a catalyst of a revolution already in progress in 14th century England. This idea of The Bubonic Plague as a catalyst supports the conclusion that The Black Death was indeed not the sole factor of the revolutionary socio-economic change that occurred in medieval England during the 14th century and could be proved with further research of events and conditions prior to the infamous plague.
During the late 1400s the Bubonic Plague, also known as the Black Death, took the lives of an estimated one-third of Europe's population, including the rich, the nobility, the clergy, and the poor. In the process, people began questioning the power of the Church, which could not provide any answers for the epidemic, and the Church began losing its influence in Europe. Europe's economy eventually saw positive effects from the epidemic, as the lower class began to sell their labor for pay and more modernized forms of government began to take shape.
Details the spread of the bubonic plague in 14th Century Europe, beginning with its first outbreak in Egypt. Describes characteristics of the disease.
Keywords: natural disaster, epidemic
The bubonic or pneumatic plague was awful sicknesses in which lymph nodes (in your armpits, groin, and neck) swelled up. These were called buboes, which is where the disease got its name. The people of the middle ages were helpless against the plague that was sweeping across Asia and Europe. The bubonic plague was transmitted by direct contact with an infected flea.
