The Black Death Plague
...to discuss Europe's history without mentioning the Plague of 1348, also known as the Black Death. The Black Death reached Italian shores in the spring of 1348. The presence of such a plague was enormously devastating making its mark in unprecedented numbers in recorded history. The population of some cities and villages in England and Italy fell by 70% 80%. Europe in 1420 counted barely 1/3 of the people it contained one hundred years prior.
The Black Death was caused by bacteria named Yersinia Pestis. This germ was transferred from rats to fleas and then to humans. This disease spread quickly due to the infestation of rats. Also, sanitary conditions were very poor which did not help the problem at all. When a human was infected, the bacteria moved from the bloodstream traveling to the lymph nodes. The plague occurred in three forms: Bubonic, Pneumonic and Septicemic. The bubonic plague spread by fleas and made lymph glands in ground and armpit swell. Pneumonic attacked the lungs, was most infectious and could be spread directly through coughing. Septicemic was the most rare and dangerous of the three. It was also spread by fleas, attacked the bloodstream and people were known to die within hours. Victims suffered with painful swelling of the lymph nodes and were subject to bodily aches, headaches, vomiting, and nausea. Plague victims underwent severe damage to skin leading to bleeding under the skin which transformed to dark blotches.
The name "Black Death" was never used in the Middle Ages. The first to use the term were Danish and Swedish chroniclers of the sixteenth century. In the 1340's, the Europeans called it "Big Death" or "Great Mortality". Historians believe it comes from the translation of the Latin words atra mors which means "terrible death" or "black death".
The consequences of this plague were tragic and included...
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