The Black Death

Question 1

What Latin word does the plague come from?

Answer 1

Pestis

Question 2

What was the first known endemic?

Answer 2

The Justinian Plague in the 6th Century. It spread through Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire

Question 3

Where did the Plague first come from?

Answer 3

It started as an epidemic in China in 1334 and was brought westward by Mongols

Question 4

Had there been any other major epidemics before the mid 14th Century?

Answer 4

No

Question 5

Between what years was there a major pandemic?

Answer 5

There was a major pandemic between 1361-1362 and there were recurrent outbreaks until the 17th Century

Question 6

When was there an epidemic in Marseilles?

Answer 6

Between 1721-1722

Question 7

What was the bacteria responsible for causing the Black Death?

Answer 7

Yersinia Pestis. It was discovered at the end of the 19th Century by Alexandre Yersin (1894)

Question 8

What are some of the names that the Black Death is known by?

Answer 8

Great Pestilence, Great Plague, Great mortality

Question 9

What were the two forms of the Plague?

Answer 9

The Bubonic Plague and the Pneumonic Plague

Question 10

Information about the Bubonic Plague

Answer 10

It was transmitted by rodent flea bites and generally caused death within two weeks. There was a high mortality rate with 20-40% chance of remission. Symptoms of it included fever, swelling of the lymph node as and buboes

Question 11

Information about the Pneumonic Plague

Answer 11

This was 100% lethal and was spread through the air. It could also pass from human to human. It is the most virulent and least common form of the plague. Symptoms included fever, coughing, chest pain, blood, shock, coma and death within 2-3 days

Question 12

Why were the infectious origins of the Plague not very well understood in the Middle Ages?

Answer 12

They had different beliefs about how the disease spread due to the GrecoIslamic tradition of late medieval western medicine which was based on the interrelationships between the four elements (earth, fire, air and water), the four qualities (hot, cold, moist, dry), the four humours of the body (blood, phlegm, black and yellow bile) and the planetary and zodiac movement

Question 13

What were some of the believed causes of the plague?

Answer 13

Bad air due to the unbalanced humours in the body

Celestial movements

Question 14

How did they understand the “contagious” factor?

Answer 14

They believed that when a sick person looks into the eyes of a healthy person, the poisonous nature of the eye passes from one to another

Question 15

What were some of the ways they believed they could prevent the Plague?

Answer 15

Prayer and penance
Flight, ventilation an fumigation
Avoiding sexual intercourse
No exercise
No bad emotions

Question 16

How did they try to treat the Plague?

Answer 16

Concoctions with gold and herbs
Diets avoiding liquids and spices
Bloodletting

Question 17

What were the demographic and economic impacts?

Answer 17

There was a high fatality rate and decimation of population (however it is now believed that it was not a third of Europe which was decimated)
In Florence, according to Boccacio, there were 100 000 victims however this was only 20-30% of the population
About 30-50% of the population in Europe died between 1347 and 1352
Dense populations had a higher death rate
Agricultural and trade collapse, massive inflation

Question 18

Social impacts of the Plague

Answer 18

Overpopulation prior to the pandemic was solved
Declined of serfdom (in Western Europe)
Revolts against the “Nouveaux Riches” and aristocrat accumulating lands
Increase in urban tensions with the governing oligarchies questioned (Revolt of the ciompi in Florence 1378)

Question 19

What did many people believe was the cause of the plague?

Answer 19

Many believed that it was God’s punishment for the sins of the people (examples included seven plagues of Egypt and the Muslim conquest of Spain in 711)
The Church was overtaken due to a confidence crisis, clergy punished too?

Question 20

What were some of the scapegoats that people searched for?

Answer 20

Lepers, Jews, non-infected people, shepherds, merchants

Question 21

When was the Movement of the Flagellants?

Answer 21

It occurred between 1348 and 1349

Question 22

What was the movement of the Flagellants?

Answer 22

It was a radical form of ascetism and begun as a private lifestyle due to the reactions of many. It soon became collective and public

Question 23

What did the movement of the Flagellants do?

Answer 23

They went form town to town whipping themselves as a demonstration of their devotion to piety and call for God’s mercy. There were 33 day processions traveling from town to town

Question 24

When did it first appear?

Answer 24

It first appeared in 1259 in Perugia and reappeared with the pandemic of the Plague

Question 25

Was it popular?

Answer 25

It was very popular during he plague with all social classes involved

Question 26

What did the Church think of the Flagellant Movement?

Answer 26

At first it was tolerated however soon it was denounced due too it being perceived as too extreme

Question 27

What was the outcome of the Black Death?

Answer 27

The Black Death caused an acceleration of the development of modern states
There was a reinforcement of political structures and administrations as a reaction to stop the spread of the disease

Question 28

What was the “Dance of Death” (Danse Macabre)

Answer 28

This acted as an allegory of the universality of death

Death was personified as dancing people of all social conditions to the grave