Black Death…

What is black death?Black death is also known as bubonic plague.

It is a disease caused by a bacteria that lived in the bellies of fleas.

The fleas traveled in the fur of rats.

The rats carried the fleas to people.

The fleas then bit people and passed on the disease.

Symptoms:-egg-sized black swellings under the armpits and in the groin-purple bleeding under the skin-swellings burst - blood and pus-terrible odor-victims faces turned black-death within 5 days…

Date: 1347-1350-Bubonic plague came from Asia aboard ships.

-The rats on ships carried the disease into cities.

-City people suffered the most because they lived close together.

How many people died?-Cairo, Egypt –200,000 deaths

-Venice, Italy – 60% of the population died

-Paris, France – 50,000 deaths

-London, England – 35-40% of the population died

-China – 13,000,000 deaths

-Europe – 25,000,000 deaths

*1/3 of the population of Europe died from Black Death

Some other rather gross facts:

-So many people died they couldn’t keep up with burying everyone. Many bodies were thrown into mass graves.

-When ships docked at a port the people on board were not allowed to enter the city.

-In one instance, bodies of the dead were thrown over the walls of a city to infect an enemy town.

Some images drawn from the time of Black Death

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What was the long-term result of the plague?

-loss of sense of “community”

-”individualism” – live for yourself; don’t worry about your neighbor; live for pleasure

-major labor shortages

-peasants and other laborers demanded higher wages

-man was no longer God’s favored creature

-images of death replaced images of love and beauty in art

-the Church was criticized for not helping more