The Black Death Flashcards
Causes of The Black Death? The facts.
The disease originally came from China and was spread to Europe by merchants.
In 1894 doctors discovered that the bubonic plague was caused by germs carried by fleas that lived on the bodies of black rats.
When the rats died, the fleas looked for a new home - a person.
Causes of The Black Death? The facts.
Medieval people did not wash very often and so they were very dirty and tended to have fleas.
Rats moved from place to place infecting people and other rats as they went.
They travelled on wagons and hay bales that were transported all over the country, spreading the Black Death.
How many people died in the Black Death era?
Between 1348 and 1349 the plague killed about 2,500,000 people - nearly a third of the population.
Towns were overcrowded and there was dirt and rubbish everywhere, a rats paradise.
The causes. The rumours.
Some believed the Black Death was sent by god to punish people for their sins.
Some people thought it started in the East when frogs, lizards, snakes, scorpions fell from the sky, followed by thunder, lightening and fire.
Some people whipped themselves, singing to God for forgiveness. These people were called flagellants.
Which of these causes are rumour and which are fact?
Over eating Bad smelling wind from south east Foreigners poisoning the water Talking to sailors The lining up of the planets Dirty streets
Over eating Bad smelling wind from south east Foreigners poisoning the water Talking to sailors The lining up of the planets Dirty streets
Symptoms
- Boils called buboes grew in groin and armpits, The were the size of a tennis ball.
- High fever, shiver and sweat, vomiting, bringing up blood.
- Black spots appeared on arms and thighs and then bleeding under the skin.
- The disease attached the nervous system, pain and victim would have spasms.
- The buboes burst, poisonous black and yellow pus oozed out. 6. The victim died.
Cures. The people’s beliefs.
Drying toads,fessing them onto the boils, the toad would absorb the pus.
Purifying the air with sweet herbs.
Drinking 10 year old treacle.
The consequences.
Churches were derelict. Crops were rotting. Animals left to run wild. Towns and streets deserted. The smell of dead bodies. Survivors stole from shops and houses. Labourers demanded higher wages. Taxes increased. Prices fell. Population fell.
What does feudalism mean?
The dominant social system in medieval Europe. Land for military services or labour, etc.
Kings
Nobles
Knights
Peasants
What are flagellants?
Religious belief where people whipped themselves for forgiveness.
