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The lasting effects of the bubonic plague
The lasting effects of the bubonic plague
The black death and bubonic plague in the elizabethan london
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In 1665, in the Kingdom of England, there was a great disease going through the kingdom that killed over 100,000 people, it was passed throughout the population by tiny bugs that were everywhere and were nearly impossible to avoid. This epidemic is known as the Great Plague of London, 1665 and it is the strand of the Bubonic Plague that tore through London, killing about 15% of London’s population which was around 100,000 people. This Plague was one of the worst diseases to tear through Europe in the 1300’s - the 1600’s. It hit England especially hard because they were on an island and had to where to go and couldn't avoid the spreading of the disease.
It all started when rats were on ships that were going across Europe, but the rats were infested with fleas that were carrying the Bubonic Plague. The city of London was a very poor city that had a large amount of its population lived in shanty towns in very cramped quarters. Since a large number of the population lived in such poor housing that was dirty, it made the town a lot more suitable for rats to live there.
The Plague had been in Britain since the early 1300’s, but had slowed down a few years leading up to 1665 so not a lot of people were worried about it coming back. Even though the Bubonic Plague had been around for hundreds of years, not many doctors at that time had any idea of how to treat the plague. Although it is not entirely certain where the plague spread from, most believe that it came from the Netherlands just because of how close the Netherlands are to London, and that the Netherlands had been having major plague problems for many years. It is believed that the Dutch trading ships had brought the plague over during their constant trading with engla...
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...e streets and spread the plague further around London.
We know what happened during this time because of the eyewitness accounts of Samuel Pepys and William Boghurst, Samuel Pepys was a naval administrator and a member of parliament at the time of the plague, and wrote down everything he saw during the Great Plague in London in his Diary. William Boghurst wrote the “Loimographia” about his eyewitness views of being a doctor during the time of the plague and describes the symptoms of the plague and actually predicted when the plague crisis would die off in 1666. William said that poor hygiene and poor sewage disposal and poor nutrition among the citizens of London led to the plague problem in the city. His book criticized all of London’s ways and said they needed to be changed in order to prevent another plague problem that they had just gone through.
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.
The Bubonic Plague DBQ 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
One of the largest epidemic events in history, the Bubonic Plague had a devastating effect on European society. It is believed to have begun in China, and it reached European soil in 1347, when it struck Constantinople (Document 1). It was carried by infected fleas that spread the disease between humans and rats. A symptom of the plague was the development of large, dark swellings called “buboes” on the victim’s lymph nodes. By the time the plague left, Europe’s population had been reduced by almost half. The devastation as a result of the plague may seem shocking, but there were several important factors that contributed to its deadliness.
Kira L. S. Newman, “Shutt Up: Bubonic Plague and Quarantine in Early Modern England,” Journal of Social History, 3, (2012): 809-834
Many rats and rodents flocked to the littered streets, finding morsels of anything that would satisfy their hunger. This is where the transportation of the plague would come to play. As the rodents feasted on the waste, the plague-infested fleas would jump to the nearest passerby. “The most devastating to England was the bubonic plague. Also known as, “"The Black Death", because of the black spots it produced on the skin. A terrible killer was loose across Europe, and medieval medicine had nothing to combat it”(Rice). London was afflicted over a dozen times during the 1500’s (Miller and Orr)”. Winters were usually mild, allowing the rats and rodents, which carried fleas to stay active throughout the winter months.
Before the Black Plague, living in Britain was interesting and positive but, was not always pleasant. It was too crowded and dirty, Britain was disgusting and unsanitary for the citizens for a long period of time, even before the disease spread to Europe (Ibeji n.pag.). Thus, Britain being so dirty, it was easier for this disease to spread. The citizens of Europe had no clue what was coming to disease them. Many people were not ready for the cultural changes of the disease and were shocked the disease even reached their towns.
1. The contrast between Cottard and the other characters is that while everyone else is in constant fear of catching the plague and doing everything they can to fight the disease, Cottard is cheerful in the fact that the plague has put a stop to the police investigating his mysterious crime . Cottard probably also enjoys the camaraderie of everyone else finally being in the same position as he is.
In the 1300’s, England was struck with a plague called the Bubonic Plague, better known as the “Black Death.” Historians believe this disease arrived by ship at a seaport in modern day Ukraine (Byrne 1). Fleas living on the back of rats were the main cause of spreading. Because of the poor living conditions, rats were very common in towns, making it simple for fleas to bite the human, giving them the disease. Symptoms were easily spotted; the victim would have lumps on his or her groin and armpits, which would then turn to black spots on the arms and thighs (Trueman 1). Most who suffered form this epidemic did not live past three days (Trueman 1). Because the vermin spread this disease so rapidly, it would eventually affect most of Europe. The source of the Black Death was unknown at the time; therefore physicians could not stop the spread or treat the infected (Byrne 1). Many people thought that it was God’s punishment, so to appease Him, they publicly whipped themselves (Byrne 1). Before declining, the Black Death killed around forty percent of the European populations, which is about 25 million victims, making it one of the most widely known epidemics. Once the Bubonic Plague died out, it only had two...
The Bubonic Plague and the Great Fire of London Two disasters struck London during the 1660s with the first being an
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.
In 1348, people from all around the world suffered from one of the most deadliest and cruel diseases known as the Black Death. The plague killed so many people in Europe that some of the villages were abandoned and the population of some cities was decreased by half. Giovanni Boccaccio was an Italian writer and poet who eye-witnessed and described the horrors caused by the Black Death in his novels Decameron. In Boccaccio’s work, the sick people were left behind to survive on their own and even children were left behind by their parents because they were sick. Unfortunately, from all the people who died during the epidemic, the peasants were those who actually benefited from it. The Black Death end up with political,
Carmichael, Ann. "Plague." Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World. Ed. Jonathan Dewald. Vol. 4. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2004. 490-493. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.
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).
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.
The Bubonic Plague, otherwise known as the Black Death was a raging disease. Most people thought of it as the physical Grim Reaper of their town or community. The disease lasted about six years, 1347 to 1352. The Bubonic Plague was a travesty that has traveled throughout Europe and has raged and decimated both large and small towns, putting Europe through a lot.