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Medieval medical practice in europe
Medieval medical practice in europe
Medieval medical practice in europe
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In the years 1331 to 1350 all of Europe broke out in an epidemic, called the Black Death. This terrible sickness murdered about one third of all the people in Europe, it spread, and killed quickly. People’s lives were changed drastically; they were scared to go outside in fear of catching the gross disease. The Black Death spread rapidly through Europe having significant impacts on society.
The Black Death started in China in 1331; it was then carried across the Asian caravan to southern Russia on merchant ships. In 1347, ships brought it to Italy. It then steadily spread throughout the rest of Europe. The bacteria,Yersinia Pestis, that caused the disease was carried in the stomach of a flea that lived on black rats or other small rodents. The Black Death is formally known as the Bubonic Plague, although there was three more variations of the Black Death, the Bubonic was the most prominent during these times. The living conditions of this time made it perfect breeding grounds for the rats, the streets were narrow, and filled with garbage, mud and human excrement. There was also a shortage in housing, causing six to eight people sleeping in one bed; this was a true fact for aristocratic families too. Personal hygiene was a problem too, water was contaminated so few people bathed, these conditions led to people being sick many having diarrhea which lowered people’s resistance to the disease.
People of this time always had body lice and fleas. After bitten by an infected flea, nearly all victims died within three days. The early symptoms were growths the size of nuts that could grow to the size of an apple on the legs, groin, armpit, and neck. The lumps started out being red then progressed into a dark purple or a black. There wer...
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Works Cited
• Snell, Mellissa. (2012). Black Death Causes and Symptoms. Retrieved January 9, 2012, from http://historymedren.about.com/od/theblackdeath/a/death_defined.htm.
• historylearningsite.co.uk. (2011). The Black Death of 1348-1350. Retrieved January 9, 2012, From http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/black_death_of_1348_to_1350.htm
• Alchin, L.K. (2006). Black Death. Retrieved January 11, 2012. from http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/black-death.htm
Eyewitness to History. (2001). Black Death 1348. Retrieved January 11, 2012 from http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/plague.htm
• Lucy Boyd. (2011). A List of Symptoms of Black Death. Retrieved January 11, 2012 from http://www.livestrong.com/article/73849-list-symptoms-black-death/
Smith, Corralee. (2011). Environmental and Social Change In 14th and 15th Century Europe. History 10 class handout.
The Black Death struck Europe in a time of great despair. "Although a `Great Famine' struck northern Europe between 1315 and 1322, nothing prepared Europeans for the horrendous onslaught of the Black Death" (Aberth, 2). The famine had caused a massive hunger shortage from which Europe had yet to recove...
The years 1348 through 1350 had been an extremely gruesome and miserable time in our world’s history. During this time period, one of the most devastating pandemics in history had struck half the world with an intensifying and deadly blow. It had been responsible for over 75 million deaths and 20 million of these deaths were from Europe alone. Out of the countries that were hit hardest in Europe from mortality rates and economic downturns, England was one of them. This grave disease that marked the end of the middle ages and the start of the modern age is known as the Black Plague.
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.
At this time however, cold weather and rains wiped out many crops creating a shortage of food for humans. Rats also went through this shortage in food. This made them “crowd in cities, providing an optimal environment for disease”(Karin Lehnardt in 41 Catastrophic Facts about the Black Death). Before the black death spread through Europe, sanitation wasn’t very good. Living conditions were bad so when the black death came to Europe, it spread more rapidly because people were not clean and healthy. Another reason the plague spread so fast was because the dead “bodies were piled up inside and outside city walls where they lay until mass graves could be dug”(Karin Lehnardt in 41 Catastrophic Facts about the Black Death). This made the air very polluted and contributed the spread of the epidemic. In total, the black death killed about thirty million people. This was about one-third the population of Europe. Some towns were completely wiped out. Because of this, medieval people thought everyone would eventually die, although we now know that some populations did survive. Also, because people were not being saved by the church, their beliefs were questioned. Less people dedicated their lives to the church because of this. Both the poor and the rich died but more than one-half the people dead were poor. This was also a result of poor sanitation and living conditions. The Black Death initiated in China in the early 1340’s
In 1347, Europe began to perceive what the Plague had in store. Terrible outcomes arose when the citizens caught the Plague from fleas. The transfer of fleas to humans caused the outbreak of the Black Death. Infections that rodents caught were passed on to fleas, which would find a host to bite, spreading the terrible disease (“Plague the Black Death” n.pag.). When Genoese ships arrived back to Europe from China, with dead sailors and...
The Black Death is the name later given to the epidemic of plague that ravaged Europe between 1347 and 1351. The disaster affected all aspects of life. Depopulation and shortage of labor hastened changes already inherent in the rural economy; the substitution of wages for labor services was accelerated, and social stratification became less rigid. Psychological morbidity affected the arts; in religion, the lack of educated personnel among the clergy gravely reduced the intellectual vigor of the church.
The destruction and devastation caused by the 'Black Death' of the Middle Ages was a phenomenon left to wonder at in text books of historical Europe. An unstoppable plague swept the continent taking as much as eighty percent of the European population along with it (Forsyth).
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 Black Death was an infectious disease that spread through medieval Europe and Asia. In medieval times from the 5th to the 15 century, most cities did not have a board of health so the streets were filled with garbage, waste and sewage. People lived in close, cramped houses surrounded by dirt roads. There were no hospitals, the old and sickly were brought into wooden huts with no doctors or medicine or anything. When the Black Death hit it was a catastrophe. People had never seen anything like it. People went delirious and within 8 days they were dead. In some towns more than half the people were killed. It was estimated that anywhere between 30 and 60 percent of the population died. Over 75 million people were killed in all. There are many causes and lasting effects of the Black Death, one of the causes was the fleas. Some lasting effects were new inventions and it took Europe out of the middle ages.
The Bubonic Plague, or more commonly known as ‘The Black Death’ or ‘The Black Plague,’ was one of the most devastating and deadliest pandemics that humans have ever witnessed in the history of mankind. The disease spanned two continents in just a few years, marking every country between Western Europe all the way to China. During the reign of the plague, which is estimated to be the years between 1347-1352, it is estimated that “20 million people in Europe–almost one-third of the continent’s population” was killed off due to the plague. The Black Plague would change the course of European history since the plague knew no boundaries and inflicted its wrath upon the rich and the poor alike. As a result, not only did the plague have a devastating demographic impact which encountered a massive social disruption, but also, an economic and religious impact as well.
The Black Death plagues had disastrous consequences for Europe in the 14th century. After the initial outbreak in Europe, 1347, it continued for around five years and then mysteriously disappeared. However it broke out again in the 1360s and every few decades thereafter till around 1700. The European epidemic was an outbreak of the bubonic plague, which began in Asia and spread across trade routes. When it reached Europe, a path of destruction began to emerge. Medieval society was tossed into disarray, economies were fractured, the face of culture and religion changed forever. However the plagues devastation was not all chaotic, there were benefits too, such as modern labour movements, improvements in medicine and a new outlook on life. Therefore in order to analyse the impact the Black Death had on societies in the 14th century, this essay will consider the social, economic, cultural and religious factors in order to reach an overall conclusion.
The plague was spread by fleas, which were not effected by the disease. Fleas first infected the rats, which lived off garbage and sewage. The rats then spread the infection to the humans. Rats were a common sight in the cities, due to the poor sanitary conditions, so no one suspected them (www.tartans.com). In the winter the plague seemed to disappear, but only because fleas were dormant then. Each spring, the plague attacked again, killing new victims (www.byu.edu). The effects of the plague were devastating. After just five years, twenty-five million people were dead - one third of Europe's population. Once people were infected they infected others very rapidly. As a result, in order to avoid the disease, many fled to the countryside where the lower population density helped to decrease the speed at which the disease spread (www.tartans.com). From a person's time of infection to his or her death was less than one week (www.home.nycap.rr.com). The plague became known as "The Black Death" because of the discoloration of the skin and black enlarged lymph nodes that appeared on the second day of contracting the disease. The term "The Black Death" was not invented until after 1800. Contemporaries called it "the pestilence" (Cantor 7).
Some modern medicines are based on the herbs used in medieval times. In the 13th century, Kings were believed to be able to cure illness, particularly the skin disease scrofula, just by touching the ill person. 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 fleas which lived on rats. When the rats died, the fleas jumped onto humans and spread the disease.
The Black Death is now known to be spread by a flea. However, this flea was not the cause as it was the bacterium which lay in the stomach of the flea. This bacterium’s scientific name is Yersinia pestis. The main host of the flea is a rat, scientifically called Rattus rattus. Humans caught the disease because when the rats bred rapidly, it would lead to a population invasion. When the rat died, the flea would have to find another warm-blooded host to feed on, and next to them are humans. The flea bites the human and infects them. The unhygienic living conditions in the Middle Ages led to a faster spread of the disease, as a result creating a better environment for rats to live in. The lack of knowledge in the fourteenth century led to even worse remedies.
Aberth, John. 2005. The Black Death: The Grat Mortality of 1348-1350. Boston, New Yew York: Bedford/St. Martin's.