The Black Plague

             During the sixth century, an overwhelming epidemic struck Constantinople and spread westward through what is modern day Greece, Italy, France, and Spain. This epidemic, later known as The Black Death killed thousands of people throughout the 1340's and 1350's (Herlihy 20). "Plague" is the disease that still exists today that spread through Europe in the mid fourteenth century. This epidemic spread very quickly from ship, to the city, and to the countryside. Even a rumor of this murderous disease would create a panic amongst citizens (Shrewsbury 74). The Black Death, also known as the Black Plague followed trade routes both by land and sea carried by infected humans as well as rats, and their fleas (Shrewsbury 83). The rats themselves were found in the unsanitary conditions in most medieval cities. The rats themselves were not to blame, they were just as defenseless against the plague as humans (Shrewsbury 83). Later on, it was discovered that a sign of the onset of a disease was when the rat population was destroyed by an epizootic (the animal equivalent of an epidemic) (Shrewsbury 84). What was not known at the time was that when the fleas did not live on the rats, they attacked humans as well as other animals. Fleas could be found on human, in clothing, and baggage. This accounted for the unexplained sudden appearance of the plague in homes, towns, and countries that had previously escaped an epidemic (Shrewsbury 86). Many people traveled trade routes for purpose of trade as well as journey, and education (Herlihy 46). Usually, I did not take long for victims with the disease to carry it from a city to the countryside. This was what allowed the Black Death to spread away from major cities and more into the isolated areas of the country (Herlihy 49-50).
             There are many myths as to how the Black Death spread, but one of the more famous philosophies in southern France was that the Jews were to blame ...

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The Black Plague. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 11:47, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/9863.html