The infamous plague, known as the Black Death, was a deadly disease which managed to spread throughout Europe and the Middle East in the 14th century. Although both the Europeans and the Empires of Islam experienced the Black Death, each region had different responses and reasons for the causes of the disease. Empires of Islam viewed the plague as a blessing from God while Europeans believed it was a punishment from Him. As a result of the Black Death, Europeans rebelled whereas Empires of Islam respected authority. Europeans used other religions as an explanation for the start of the Black Death while Islamic empires did not blame other religions, but rather had other explanations that caused the disease. The Black Death was God’s blessing from Muslims’ point of view, but from the perspective of Europeans, the plague was said to be a punishment from Him. Empires of Islam saw this deadly illness as a gift from God. Muhammad al-Manbiji, an Islamic scholar, believed praying to extinguish the plague was unnecessary due to the belief it was a gift from God (Document 4). Although Muslims were aware the Black Death was a deadly plague which greatly decreased the population (Documents 2, 3), they responded peacefully. Rather than looking at the plague as life-threatening, Muslims viewed the disease as a blessing sent from God. Europeans viewed the Black Death as a punishment for the sins of all Christians. Gabriele de Mussis, a Christian Piacenzan chronicler, implied that the plague appeared due to the sins of Christians (Document 4). Christians blamed themselves and believed they were deserving of the plague. This made Europeans seem like they were the ones responsible for the entire plague itself. The Empires of Islam and the Europea... ... middle of paper ... ...ble ways to prevent getting the disease. As the seriousness of the Black Death progressed, Europeans became angry, blaming Jews for causing the illness, and acted upon it by burning them. The empires of Islam tried to figure out the causes and ways to prevent the plague from spreading. Both Europeans and Islamic empires experienced the Black Death. However, regions affected by the disease reacted in various ways and differed in reasons for the cause of the disease. Muslims were peaceful, accepted the Black Death as a blessing from God, and were proactive in suggesting causes of the disease. In contrast, Europeans blamed and burned Jews for the plague, rebelled against authority, and saw the illness as a punishment for sins. Even though Christians and Muslims believe in the same God, the responses and actions of both regions toward the Black Death differed immensely.
Sweeping through Western Europe during the fourteenth century, the Bubonic Plague wiped out nearly one third of the population and did not regard: status, age or even gender. All of this occurred as a result of a single fleabite. Bubonic Plague also known as Black Death started in Asia and traveled to Europe by ships. The Plague was thought to be spread by the dominating empire during this time, the Mongolian Empire, along the Silk Road. The Bubonic Plague was an infectious disease spread by fleas living on rats, which can be easily, be attached to traveler to be later spread to a city or region. Many factors like depopulation, decreasing trade, and huge shifts in migrations occurred during the Bubonic Plague. During Bubonic Plague there were also many different beliefs and concerns, which include fear, exploitation, religious and supernatural superstition, and a change of response from the fifteenth to eighteen century.
... burn them, destroying Jewish communities along with them (Document 7). The Pope justified it by saying that since the Plague was afflicted on people associated with Jews, it must be their fault (Document 8). But in Islam, they stated that there was no evidence showing that the Black Death was caused by other communities, and that they are not held responsible (Document 10).
The Black Death, also known as the Black Plague and Bubonic Plague, was a catastrophic plague that started out in Asia and began to spread into Europe. In the span of three years, the Black Death killed about one third of all the people in Europe. The plague started out in the Gobi Dessert in Mongolia during the 1320’s. From the desert the plague began to spread outwards in all directions. China was among the first to suffer from the plague in the early 1330s before the plague hit Europe.
Both religions were terrified of the disease, but the Muslims were more accepting of it. Muslims did not blame anybody for the plague, they just accepted it as a type of holy penance and moved on. Christians, on the other hand, blamed the Jews. Many Jews in Europe were forced to convert to Christianity because of the deadly discrimination they were receiving, therefore, leading them to “convert or die”. Even some Jews that converted also died by the hands of Christians. One might think that this discrimination against the Jews during this time was like a miniature holocaust. In Document seven of the D.B.Q., the poem “Burning of the Jews” written in 1348 by Johannes Nohl is a perfect example of what happened to a lot of Jews when they crossed paths with angry
This affected more than just Europe, it really hurt countries in the Middle East and China. The Black Death was spread by the Mongols and passed into Europe through black rats and fleas. Ships were known to arrive in Europe with many dead bodies and only rats living. Symptoms of the Black Death included puss filled abscesses that ended up turning your whole body black. It is believed that after receiving symptoms of the deadly disease people would only survive a few days. It was feared that the entire population would be wiped out by this devastating plague. People of this age believed the plague had meaning and was related to God, there were different perceptions of why the Bubonic plague happened, although some believed God caused it, others strongly believed that it was not possible for God to commit an act that would cause so many issues to the world and its society. The population that survived the Black Death were traumatized by the events and also affected negatively economically. An effect of the plague was a shortage of labor which caused a shortage of supply and increase in demand of workers and laborers. The whole of Europe had changed because of this event and things such as revolts. Protests, and up rise started to occur in cities all over Europe. The Black Death changed the attitudes and thinking of the people of Europe
The Black Death did not differentiate one religion from another, so the plague spread throughout Europe and the Middle East like wildfire not stopping until it reached the Pacific ocean. Christians and the Muslims were both terrified by the plague not being able to see it, know where it is coming from, why it is happening, or how to rid yourself of it, this was a scary thought. The death rate of the plague was around thirty two percent as it was stated in document two. Maybe the cause of this was the beliefs about the causes and prevention of it. One similar cause was the winds carrying contaminated air, two prevention that were similar was drinking an Armenian clay tablet and building fires to fumigate. Christians and Muslims at one point in time rebelled against the king. Then all of the religions assembled together for a night of prayer in the Great mosque as talked about in document nine.
During this time of the Black Death Christian and Muslim responses were quite different. The Muslims thought the plague was a blessing because it came from God. Muslims thought anything that came from God was a blessing it was a belief in their religion. While the Christians called out and cried to God asking what to do. Although the Christians and Muslims had similarities in the prevention and causes of the Black Death the two religions responses were very different.
Even with the grueling pain that the dark swells and the large tumors brought with them, to the Jews, this pain was the not the worst. The Black Plague was a killer disease from 1348-1351 that spread all throughout Europe. At this time, the Jews were despised in their communities because most of them took the occupation of money-lending. This job was considered unholy and the people of Europe looked down upon the Jews because of it. The Black Plague created a more hostile environment for the Jewry of Europe because of the newly founded flagellants, the Jewish ghettos, and the increased attacks on Jews.
No other epidemic reaches the level of the Black Death which took place from 1348 to 1350. The epidemic, better regarded as a pandemic, shook Europe, Asia, and North Africa; therefore it deems as the one of the most devastating events in world history. In The Black Death: The Great Mortality of 1348-1350, John Aberth, compiles primary sources in order to examine the origins and outcomes of this deadly disease. The author, a history professor and associate academic dean at Vermont’s Castleton State College, specializes in medieval history and the Black Death. He wrote the book in order to provide multiple perspectives of the plague’s impact. Primarily, pathogens started the whole phenomenon; however, geological, economic, and social conditions
The Bubonic Plague, known more commonly as the Black Death, was a fatal disease that ravaged Asia and Europe during the mid-14th century. Although the destruction the Plague brought upon Europe in terms of deaths was enormous, the Islamic world arguably suffered more due to the fact that plague epidemics continually returned to the Islamic world up until the 19th century. The recurrence of the disease caused Muslim populations to never recover from the losses suffered and a resulting demographic shift that arguably helped Europe to surpass the Islamic world's previous superiority in scholarship.
In Robert S. Gottfried’s book titled “The Black Death”, he analyzes the 14th century outbreak from an epidemiological perspective. The book is written as a historical account of one of the greatest epidemics on record. Gottfried is a well renowned Professor of History as well as the Director of Medieval Studies at Rutgers University. Another one of his books titled, "Epidemic Disease in Fifteenth Century England” focuses on the additional outbreaks that occurred in Europe after the Black Death plague. The Black Death also called the Great Pestilence the was the second of three pandemic plagues known and is considered one of the most damaging pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 25-50% of the Europe's population in the years 1348 to 1350. The origins of the plague began with east-west trade. In 1347 the Black Death entered Constantinople and spread throughout Byzantium and the Eastern Mediterranean, it is theorized that foreign rats migrating with the eastern trade carried the disease called Y. pestis to the west, fleas that were feeding on those rats then transmitted the infection to livestock and humans. The epidemic spread at an alarming rate and had devastating effects once contracted, at its peak the plague is said to have taken up to 1000 lives a day.
Christianity and Islam were different in The Black Death. in 1348 christianity and islam came face to face with The Black Death. Everybody responded to it differently. The cause of The Plague is still debating on today by historians. Most people believed it was caused by bacterial strains. Doctors weren't familiar with the bacteria and viruses. The strains lived in the stomach of fleas that live in the fur of rodents, most likely black rats. It wasn't the first time The Plague spread across part of the world but would be more deadly. When The Black Death hit Europe and the Middle East in the 14th century the big focus was religion's for most people especially christianity and Islam.
Both Western Europe and Latin America experienced epidemics that caused significant economic, social, and political effects. The black death that had struck Western Europe between 1348 and 1349, was endemic to Central Asia and was unforeseen as it was introduced to Western Europe through infected rats. Western Europe with its very unsanitary conditions only promoted the spread of the plague. In Latin America, the Europeans who conquered them brought over western diseases, such as the smallpox, that were foreign to the indigenous people’s immune systems. In Western Europe, the black death caused the church’s influence and authority to decrease because they couldn’t cure the sick, the persecution of the Jews, and the increase of prices of simple
During the 14th century most of Europe was struck by a devastating disease called the Black Death, or bubonic plague. This disease was carried by flees which lived on rats. When the rats died, the flees jumped onto humans and spread the disease. Even though the Black Death was controlled in Europe by 1351, it came back regularly over the next 150 years.
killed millions of people in both religions, but the view of the plague on both sides was very