Medieval Outlook on the Bubonic Plague

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The Medieval Outlook on the Bubonic Plague

The Black Death was a major factor in the history of Europe as well as the history of the world. Rivaling the effects of an immense bioterrorist attack, the Black Death was responsible for the taking of over 25 million lives. Creating economic, societal, and medical changes, the Black Death forced Europe to essentially recreate its entire groundwork. At the time of the Black Death, medicine remained very archaic,

and European society scrambled to find a cure to this mysterious disease. This study ponders the effects of medieval methods of treatment on this once ravaging disease.

The Middle Ages was a dark time for the people of Europe. As the Black Death reigned during the mid-14nth century, dead bodies littered the streets, social order was abandoned, and human pretenses were forgotten. This deadly disease resulted in a complete alteration in the foundations of Europe itself. Unique practices, myths, and beliefs manifested themselves in the people?causing them to doubt the very church and government which had once captured their undoubting faith. Despite the scrambling of both doctors and church officials, there seemed no end to the enormous death tolls. The plague, feared and dreaded by all, changed the behavior of an entire continent and resulted, ultimately, in the death of a third of its population.

European society did not understand the disease?partly because the plague itself changed form?and thus strove to find a cure. Two main types of plague predominated in the time of the Black Death?the bubonic and the pneumonic. Both types of diseases are caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis but vary in methods of transmission . Although the bubonic plague is not contagious and can o...

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...sease. The medieval outlook on the plague, mingled with feelings of hysteria and greed, was a fearful one.

Bibliography

1.Historical Blood Beliefs. Medical Blood. July 20, 2005:

ttp:\www2.kenyon.edu/Depts?WMNS/Project/Wmns36/bloodli/medframe.htm

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2.Jarret C. et al Transmisson of Yersinia Pestis from an infectious biofilm in the flea vector. Journal of Infectious Disease (2004) v 190 I4 p783

3.Stevenson, J. (2004, Sept.). Impact of Infectious Diseases on Development of Human Societies. MBI. July 18, 2005:

http://cas/muohio.edu/`stevenjr/mbi111/impact111.html.

4.The Black Death. The History of Bubonic Plague. December 2, 2003: http://dpalm.med.uth.tmc.edu/courses/BT2003/BTstudents2003_files%5CPlague2003.htm

5. Persecution of Jews. Europe in the Late Middle Ages: Ages.http://history.boisestate.edu/hy309/Plague/17.html

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