The medieval times are synonymous with knighthood, castles, and the plague. The Black Death as it became known wiped out whole townships and landscapes. The figures of those who became victim to the sickness vary and are highly localized. Some towns lost 80% to 90% of their population, while others mourned over 30%, some towns and cities remained untouched by the disease while others literary died out or were completely abandoned. Generally, the statistics name one third to a half of Europe’s population as the death toll . Today, few realize that the cause of the mass exodus not only appeared before the Middle Ages, but also that it was a prevalent disease in Europe and Asia. The common understanding is that the pestilence first arrived in 1348 in Messina, Sicily on a ship which came originally from an Asian harbor using the established trading routes . The dead and infected sailors then passed on the sickness through contact with the susceptible inhabitants, and rats leaving the ship spread the disease further by hosting the carrier of the virus, the flea.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
- The medieval times are synonymous With knighthood, castles, and the plague.
- The 'Plague' remains an elusive disease.
- The Black Death has been described by eyewitnesses.
- The impact on the individual was many-fold and diverse as there were people;
- unbeknownst to many, the plague had far reaching political and historical implications which were imperative for the geo-political landscape of Europe and Asia2S.
- From 527 until 565 Justinian was the emperor of the Byzantium Empire With its capital at Constantinople, today's Istanbul, Turkey.
- We want to keep in mind that the plague did not ever completely disappear as a global player, but researchers today assume that the plague had to be re-imported into Europe forthe next strike to become possible.
- Bibliography
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte
This paper explores the Black Death, a devastating plague that swept through Europe and Asia in the Middle Ages. It examines the historical context, the disease's origins and spread, and its lasting impact on society, politics, and culture.
- The origins and spread of the plague
- The impact of the plague on society and culture
- The role of the plague in shaping European history
- The ongoing mystery surrounding the Black Death
- The importance of understanding the Black Death in the context of global health and history
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel
- The medieval times are synonymous With knighthood, castles, and the plague. The Black Death as it became known wiped out whole townships and landscapes. The figures of those Who became victim to the sickness vary and are highly localized. Some towns lost 80% to 90% of their population, while others mourned over 30%, some towns and cities remained untouched by the disease while others literary died out or were completely abandoned. Generally, the statistics name one third to a half of Europe's population as the death tolll. Today, few realize that the cause of the mass exodus not only appeared before the Middle Ages, but also that it was a prevalent disease in Europe and Asia. The common understanding is that the pestilence first arrived in 1348 in Messina, Sicily on a ship which came originally from an Asian harbor using the established trading routes3. The dead and infected sailors then passed on the sickness through contact With the susceptible inhabitants, and rats leaving the ship spread the disease further by hosting the carrier of the Virus, the flea.
- The 'Plague' remains an elusive disease. Swiss-born Dr. Yersin went in 1894 to Hong-Kong, at the time a British colony, to treat victims of the bubonic plague. There he was able to isolate the pathogen that causes the bubonic plague which is named in his honor: Yersinia pestis . Dr. Simond, a French researcher, was first sent to Bombay in 1897, and in 1898, to Karachi, today's Pakistan. Hinduism was practiced throughout Pakistan which s was very much divided into the system of the caste. The caste system binds individuals through birth to a certain level of society. The levels in society were also descriptive of the professions of the assigned group members. The bubonic plague flourished in the caste of the rat catchers. The researcher cut open the enormously swollen lymph knots ofthe deceased which as he discovered were filled With some kind of puss as had Dr. Yersin earlier. under the microscope he could determine the thick puss was entirely made out of the virus Y. pestis. He soon discovered that the deceased persons all had fleabites. Dr. Simond concluded in a rudimentary medical experiment that leas of rats must be carriers. For that, he caught a healthy rat and an obviously infected rat. He then caged the animals above each other; the inflected one underneath died shortly thereafter; the healthy one didn't exhibit any signs of disease until a few days after the death of the first rat. After exhibiting signs of the plague, this rat also died. He combined consequently that the fleas of the first rat had left the host after its demise and migrated over to the healthy rat and subsequently infected this animal, too. Dr. Simond's final analysis led him to determine that the fleas of rats carrying the virus must have transferred the pestilence virus through their bites . Although these fleas specifically feed on rats, fleas can cross over to other hosts in time of deprivation of a preferred host. Dr. Simond devised the extermination of the rats as a preventive measure against the deadly infectionE. With that, the world finally was able to put an old mystery to rest. Dr. Simond's results are to this day generally accepted, although in most recent decades, scholars have been questioning the overall application of the Y. pestis as the cause of the Black Death. Several issues cannot be explained by the discovery of Y. pestis. First, the carrier's host, the black rat (lat.: Rattus rattus) was native to India and by the time of the first devastating epidemic, the rat had not made it into western and northern Europe, although here also entire landscapes were left uninhabited by human population. Second, the lack of other victims in the animal kingdom, animals which were most likely to get in contact With the rats before humans did10, at times did and then again did not experience a mass exodus along With the human population. Third, the recorded symptoms of the bubonic plague in India were not congruent With those described in medical transcripts of the Middle Ages; the duration of the disease was longer than that of one to four day until death after infection, as well as the physical appearance of the patience did only remotely remind of the ravaging malady. Fourth, the plague did not spread With fury through town and cities in Asia, as a matter offact, it confined itself in a relative narrow geographical area in comparison, although travel through an improved road system and the railroads was faster than in the Middle Ages, but the virus on the contrary did spread even slower.
- The Black Death has been described by eyewitnesses. These eyewitness accounts are still available to the public today as medical transcription, official correspondence, and private writings. The horror and the fear are evident in those written accords. The epidemic and the social, political, and on an individual level emotional turmoil cannot be understood today. Nothing in Our lifetime and the recent history for that reason compares to this trauma which shaped the European conscience that we are still to this date almost morbidly fascinated With this time period12. Deducting from those manuscripts, we can now compile a complex picture of the overall impact. Starting from Messina, the frightened population fled the infestation and brought the disease into Catania. "The population of Catania was so godless and timid that no one among them would have intercourse or Speak to the fugitives, but each hastily fled their approach. And no one offered them shelter." writes the Franciscan friar Michael de Piazza. He mourns the loss of family bonds and the destructing of all Christian values. "Soon men hated each other so much that, if a son was attacked by the disease, his father would not tend him. [m] Ecclesiastics, lawyers and attorneys refused to enter the houses ofthe deceased."E The disease was easy to recognize as the burn boilß, botch or byle15 first appeared small 'as a lentil' but then grew into egg and apple sized black boils first in the armpit and groin area, then spread over the whole body. Vomiting of blood often was a precursor of the impending death, and death itself came With excruciating Pain and high fever. The dead were offen unrecognizably covered in black boils which were the result of the mortal spread of the Y. pestis which caused internal hemorrhaging. Early on, the fear that the air could carry 'God's wrath' was mentioned. Historical scholars put this claim aside as superstition and a lack of medical knowledge, but more recent the theory came up that Y. pestis became pneumonicLS, meaning that it could leave and enter a body through the lungs' breath, hence (in theory) developing into an airborne disease. "n. and one is half-choked by the horrible smoke of the plague powder, which is frequently burnt in many places." People experimented With different scents to escape airborne infection: Msome carrying sweete nose-gayes of flowers in their hands; others odoriferous herbs and other divers' kinds of spiceries, holding them to theirnoses" while trained doctors and caregivers were clueless how to save their clients lives or in how to prevent and contain the illness. The medical knowledge rested on a mixture of Greek, Roman, Pagan, Christian and local knowledge which had on the basis the four humors . Due to the fever, Doctors generally assumed the balance of the humors in the body were disrupted; the cure here was to let blood. This, of course, did only weaken the patient faster and the demise was foreseeable.
- The impact on the individual was many-fold and diverse as there were people; however, families broke apart as parents ran fortheir Safety leaving infected children behind, babies were left to nurse on the deceased mother's breast and left to die, Close relatives boarded off houses of the infected family, or enclosed themselves in the Safety of their home. Neighbors, friends, relatives: hardly anybody stayed behind to care, and forthose Who did, the same agonizing death was almost certain. The 14 century memories are Pretty much in accord that the human body could withstand the plague for about three days and on the fourth day, death was to follow.20 While some retreated into the private life, others became promiscuous to live the short life to the fullest. In many cities, crime was on the rise. Plague ridden women refused to be treated outside their homes in hospitals, as rape and sexual attacks became common. Similarly, healthy individuals were forcefully brought into hospitals in orderto take over their possessions; the healthy person then would be most likely get infected and die on the plague. Movements such as the Flagellants2L became popular and sexual deviance became also a driving force of the lifestyle. Starvation through the lack of planting and harvesting causes cases of cannibalism22, devil worship23, and the purposeful passing on of the disease. Religious prejudges against Jews led to many of pogroms against members of the Jewish communities throughout Europe, especially in Germany, Switzerland, and France. This mayhem would last while the plague was raging through their midstU; afterwards for the survivors nothing was to be the same.
- unbeknownst to many, the plague had far reaching political and historical implications which were imperative for the geo-political landscape of Europe and Asia2S. Most notably are two time periods tied to the bubonic plague: 542-54327 A.D. (Plague of Justinian) and of course 1348-1350 A.D. (The Great Plague). From 527 until 565 Justinian was the emperor of the Byzantium Empire With its capital at Constantinople, today's Istanbul, Turkey. Justinian was full of great ambition which his reorganization of the Roman government proofed. He also instituted the Corpus Juris Civilis, in which he streamlined the laws (Codex), an encyclopedia (Digesta), and implemented the expected knowledge of the law profession With the Institutiones2E. His determination to greatnessu is still awe-inspiring through his buildings such as the Hagia Sophia. But most of all, he wanted to regain the vastness of the earlier Imperium Romanum, which had been split into half With Rome as the capital in the West and Constantinople in the East. His war campaigns were successful: he added parts of Italy, Spain and Northern Africa. In 541, a new disease struck his empire. lt raged through his capital killing 10,000 people a day at its height30. This had far-reaching consequences: Justinian had to abandon his quest for a united Roman Empire. This gave the Northwestern part of Europe the chance to become economically and politically an influential force. How different could Europe look today if Justinian's ambitions had become reality! The plague ventured from East to West and also caused here long term historical implications: a weaken Christian Hispania (today's Spain and Portugal) could no longer resist the Muslim conquest and was to remain under Islamic Rule until 1492. The Visigoths had made the Iberian Peninsula their new home after the Great Migration, and history often blamed the governmental structure of the Visigoths as fundamentally flawed and inviting for invasion. But With the devastation the plague drew With it, it is very plausible that the disease which should be known as the Plague of Justinian31 here also was a game changer. One can speculate that the plague was a final blow to the Roman Empire and the beginning to the Dark Ages.
Schlüsselwörter
Die Schlüsselwörter und Schwerpunktthemen des Textes umfassen die Pest, den Schwarzen Tod, die mittelalterliche Geschichte, die Auswirkungen der Pest auf die Gesellschaft, die Politik und die Kultur, die Geschichte der Pest, die Ursachen und die Verbreitung der Pest, die medizinischen Aspekte der Pest, die Geschichte der Pest in Europa und Asien, die Geschichte des Byzantinischen Reiches, die Geschichte des Justinianischen Reiches, die Geschichte der Visigothen, die Geschichte der Iberischen Halbinsel und die Geschichte der europäischen Geschichte. Der Text beleuchtet die historische Bedeutung der Pest und ihre langfristigen Auswirkungen auf die Welt.
- Citation du texte
- Claudia Cease (Auteur), 2012, Black Death and its implication on history, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/263604
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