Black Plague Dbq Essay

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Recommended: The immediate and long term effects of the black death

The black plague was an extremely deadly disease that originally struck Europe in the fifteenth century. However, outbreaks continued to occur until the eighteenth century. The plague was spread through rats that were infected by disease carrying fleas. Once infected, a person would typically die within days. It is estimated that over 25 million people, or about 1/3 of western Europe’s population died. People had very mixed opinions of the plague and the effects it had on the continent. Physicians are very reliable source of information about the plague, as they were up close and personal with it. They witnessed infected people hang toads, dead or alive, around their necks in hopes that their venom would remove the sickness (document 10). Doctors also observed people become crazy because of the plague. According to Johann Weyer, a German physician, family of the deceased had paid people who worked at Casale to smear ointment on the gates in order to spread the plague faster. The family members wanted to receive their inheritances faster (document 4). Certain people, including physicians such as M. Bertrand, believed that the plague was a punishment from God (document 16). …show more content…

Some people believed that the plague was a punishment as opposed to an ordinary sickness while others continued to trust in their faith (document 16). The latter appears to be the more common reaction. An Italian housewife stated that she fed her infected husband a piece that had touched Saint Domenica and it had cured him by breaking his fever (document 7). Father Dragoni and other priests tried their best to take care of the sick and treat them with compassion (document

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