The Black Death.

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Imagine living in a time filled with nothing but fear. The thing you fear cannot be touched or seen but will put you to a slow miserable death. In the 1300s people were struck with a great plague, which has now been named “The Black Death”. The Black Death killed off populations with just one sweep. Historians call this the biggest tragedy of all time. The question is what caused this plague and how does something like this happen? Overtime historians have boiled it down to 2 and some may say 3 explanations, which are religion, science, and humans. With the help of a book The Black Death by Rosemary Horrox I was able to find explanations of them all. Who may know which is the correct reason for such a thing but what your think caused it is for you to decide. Religion, following gods word in hopes of making him happy in the end. In the 1300s people were very religious and had strong beliefs in god. When the plague hit you could not help but think that it was gods doing because all your religious beliefs pointed to it. If you sin you will be punished and in early English there was plenty of it. It is said that god puts people through a challenge because he is strengthening their sprit so if you lived in the early 1300s you would see this as god making you stronger. Once one finds his strong spirit all one must do is repent for their sins and they will be healed. Coming close to God through prayer soon became very important because everyone feared his wrath. It was said: “Who can tell if God will turn and forgive and will turn away from his fierce anger: and we shall not perish. And God saw their works, that they were turned from their evil way, and God had mercy on them” [Jonas 3.9-10]. To obtains god mercy you had to pray to show... ... middle of paper ... ...8 fos. 97v-98 Robert of Avesbury: E. M. Thompson (ed), Robertus de Avesbury de Gestis Mirabilibus Regis Edwardi Tertii, Rolls Series, 1889, pp. 407-8. Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS Digby 176 fos. 26-9. Karl Sudhoff, ‘Pestschriften aus den ersten 150 Jahren nach der Epidemie des ‘schwarzen Todes’ 1348: XI’, Archiv für Geschichte der Medizin XI, 1918-19, pp. 47-51. L-A-Joseph Michon (ed), Documents inédits sur la grande peste de 1348, thèse pour le doctorat en médecine, Paris, 1860, pp. 46-52. J. G. Meuschen (ed), Hermanni Gygantis, ordinis fratrum minorum, Flores Temporum seu Chronicon Universale ab Orbe condito ad annum Christi MCCCXLIX, Leiden, 1750, pp. 138-9 Based on a version of Psalm 94.2: ‘Let us come before his presence in confession’. The more usual version ends ‘with thanksgiving’. Horrox, Rosemary. The Black Death. Manchester University Press, 1994. Print.

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