Middle Ages

Black Death (Bubonic Plague)

An illustration of the devastation caused by the Plague - Pieter Bruegel

The Black Death

In the early 1330s an outbreak of deadly bubonic plague occurred in China. The bubonic plague mainly affects rodents, but fleas can transmit the disease to people. Once people are infected, they infect others very rapidly. Plague causes fever and a painful swelling of the lymph glands (called buboes in Greek), which is how it gets its name. The plague was also known as "the Black Death" because of the black spots that formed on the skin of diseased people. The devastation of the plague brought great changes to Europe.

In 1347, Italian merchant ships returned from the Black Sea, one of the links along the trade route between Europe and China. The ships were dirty and infested with rats. Fleas living on the blood of infected rats transferred the disease to the sailors. Many of them were already dying of the plague when the ships returned to port, and within days of an infected ship's arrival, the disease began to spread from the port cities to the surrounding countryside. An eyewitness tells what happened:

"Realizing what a deadly disaster had come to them, the people quickly drove the Italians from their city. But the disease remained, and soon death was everywhere. Fathers abandoned their sick sons. Lawyers refused to come and make out wills for the dying. Friars and nuns were left to care for the sick, and monasteries and convents were soon deserted, as they were stricken, too. Bodies were left in empty houses, and there was no one to give them a Christian burial."

By the following August, the plague had spread as far north as England, where people called it "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. The plague reached Spain, France, England and Russia within three years. Although it is impossible to calculate exactly how many people died from the plague, evidence suggests that it claimed the lives of as many as 25 million Europeans, or roughly 1/3 of all Europeans.

The first sign of the plague was often an ache in the limbs. The lymph nodes would then swell. The lymph nodes are glands found in the neck, armpits, and groin. The swelling continued for three or four days until the lymph nodes burst.

The swiftness of the disease, the enormous pain and the grotesque appearance of its victims served to make the plague especially terrifying. Death from the plague was horrible, but swift. The Italian writer Boccaccio said victims often "ate lunch with their friends, and ate dinner with their ancestors in paradise."

Europeans were susceptible to disease because many people lived in crowded surroundings in an era when personal hygiene was not considered important. The Europeans often ate stale or diseased meat because refrigeration had not yet been invented. Fourteenth century medicine in Europe was primitive and unable to remedy an illness that modern technology might have cured. Bad medical advice also advanced the plague. People were advised to not bathe because open skin pores might let in the disease. The devastation of the plague led to advances in medicine. Cities began to build hospitals and enforce standards for sanitation.

Some Europeans believed the plague was a sign from God. Groups known as flagellants tried to atone for the sins of the world by inflicting punishments upon themselves. The flagellants also had a tendency to persecute Jews and even clergymen who spoke out against them. Eccentric and unusual people were often charged with witchcraft and sorcery. Pope Clement VI condemned the flagellants, but they continued to reappear in times of plague.

The Great Plague transformed European society. The Medieval feudal system never recovered from the results of the plague. So many people died that there were serious labor shortages all over Europe. This led workers to demand higher wages, but landlords refused those demands. By the end of the 1300s peasant revolts broke out in England, France, Belgium and Italy. Entire villages had been sickened, forcing the few remaining survivors to move to cities to find work. Labor shortages caused by the death toll led to increased wages. Feudal lands were often converted to grazing because grazing required less labor than farming. The need for a public response to the health crisis led to the development of more modern government in many places.

The Great Plague continued to affect cities from time to time for hundreds of years. It still exists and is common among rodents. Although we have a cure for the disease, occasionally people in isolated places still die from Bubonic Plague.

For a contemporary account of what happened, read this excerpt from Boccaccio's The Decameron.

***Last revised 06/11/19 By Mrs Brost***