1.3 Dealing with the Black Death, 1348-49

• When did the Black Death reach the shores of England? What was the Black Death? For those who caught the disease, how long were they expected to live?

  In 1348, a new disease reached the shores of England. It had spread from the far East along trade routes, arriving in Sicily in 1347, quickly spreading across the whole of Europe.

  
  

  The Black Death, as it eventually came to be known, was a new plague that was unfamiliar to the ordinary people of England, as well as English physicians.

  
  

  Those who caught it could expect to die within a matter of days.
• Now, what is the disease treated with? Back in the Middle Ages, what was the situation around treatments like?

  The disease still occurs every so often in modern times, but it is easily treated with antibiotics and patients usually make a full recovery, as long as it is caught in time. In the Middle Ages, treatments like this did not exist. People were completely unprepared, and they did not know how to prevent and treat the 'scourge' (a person or thing that causes great suffering).
• What was the Black Death? Where were the bacteria carried? How was the Black Death spread? What was the main symptom?

  The Black Death was an outbreak of the bubonic plague. The bacteria were carried in the digestive system of fleas who arrived in England on rats carried by the merchant ships. It was probably spread by flea bites, although some recent evidence suggests that it was also spread in the air. The main symptom was buboes, which was swelling in the armpit or the groin, filled with pus.
• How long did it take for the Black Death to kill you? At its height, how many people were buried per day in London? How much of England's population die?

  Once caught, it was unlikely that you would survive the disease. It usually killed its victims in three to five days. At its height in London,200 people were being buried every day. Contemporary accounts estimate that a third of the population of England died. Where the plague spread, it was common for more than half of a population of a town or a city to die.
• What were the symptoms of the Black Death?

  Symptoms of the Black Death include:

  · Chest pains and breathing troubles

  · Fever

  · Sneezing and coughing up blood

  · Boils and black buboes appearing in the groin and armpits
• What was the Black Death the specific name of (which outbreak of the bubonic plague)?

  The Black Death is the name given by Victorian historians to the particular outbreak of the plague in 1348. After this, the plague returned every 10-20 years, although it killed fewer people with each subsequent outbreak.

  
  

  People applied the same knowledge they had about the causes of disease and illness to the plague. New treatments appeared and advice on how to avoid catching the disease spread quickly.
• What were the causes of the Black Death?


  1. Religious and supernatural causes

  2. Natural causes

  3. Common beliefs
• 1. Religious and supernatural causes about the cause of the Black Death

  Many believed that the Black Death was the result of God deserting mankind- that is, the Black Death was a punishment for the sin in the world.

  
  

  In 1345, there was an unusual positioning of the planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, which astrologers interpreted as a sign that something wonderful or terrible was about to happen.
• 2. Natural causes about the cause of the Black Death

  The main natural cause attributed to the Black Death was impure air. Breathing in this miasma caused corruption to the body's humours. People believed that this impure air may have originated from poisonous fumes released by an earthquake or a volcano.
• 3. Common beliefs about the cause of the Black Death

  For the everyday people living in the cities and countryside, the spread of the Black Death was terrifying and they would have heard many conflicting ideas about what caused it.

  
  

  In Europe, many people blamed the Jewish population, but the Jews had been expelled from England in the 13th century, so this was not the case in England.
• What were the treatments of the Black Death?


  1. Supernatural

  2. Natural

  3. Common beliefs
• 1. Supernatural treatments of the Black Death


  The main recommendation to treat the Black Death was to confess your sins, and ask God for forgiveness through prayer. However, there was an air of inevitability about the disease: once caught, people believed it was clearly God's will; if it was his will that the patient should die, there was no cure that would work.
• 2. Natural treatments of the Black Death

  To begin with, physicians tried bleeding and purging- the same things they would usually do to correct a humoural imbalance. Unfortunately, that didn't work and, in fact, seemed to make people die more quickly.

  
  

  As well as this, physicians recommended strong-smelling herbs like aloe and myrrh, which were believed to have cleansing properties. They often prescribed theriaca, as it was believed to work for lots of ailments. Lighting a fire and boiling vinegar could also drive off the bad air. Physicians or surgeons sometimes lanced the buboes-occasionally, people whose buboes burst survived.
• 3. Common beliefs about the treatment of the Black Death

  Everyday people were willing to try anything to survive the Black Death. They held strong Christian beliefs, and so would have gone to confession and prayed, as well as seeking traditional cures like bleeding. However, it quickly became clear that neither priests nor physicians were capable of curing the disease.

  
  

  Apothecaries sold remedies and herbs were mixed in the home, based on old recipes, but they had uncertain and unpredictable results. Nobody came up with a cure that definitely worked in all cases.
• What meant that it was impossible to know how to cure the Black Death?

  The lack of medical knowledge about whatcausedthe disease meant it was impossible to know how tocureit.
• What were the ways of preventing the Black Death?


  1. Supernatural means

  2. Natural means

  3. Common beliefs

  4. Government action
• 1. Supernatural means of preventing the Black Death

  The main advice given by priests was for people to:

  · Pray to God and fast

  · Go on a pilgrimage and make offerings to God

  · Show God how sorry you are by self-flagellation (whipping yourself). Large groups of flagellants wandered the streets of London, chanting and whipping themselves.
• 2. Natural means of preventing the Black Death

  Escaping the plague was the best advice for prevention. Guy de Chauliac, who was the physician to the Pope, advised people to: 'Go quickly, go far, and return slowly.' It was essential to escape the foul air to stay healthy.

  
  

  If this kind of movement was impossible, people believed it was essential to carry a posy of flowers or fragrant herbs and hold it to your nose. This helped to avoid breathing in the miasma. Unlike the usual advice on preventing disease, people were advised to avoid bathing. It was believed that water would open the skin's pores to the corrupted air.
• 3. Common beliefs of preventing the Black Death

  One physician in Italy recommended doing joyful things, listening to cheerful music and avoiding anything sad as a protection against the disease. This is a clue as to just how desperate most physicians felt- they were willing to suggest anything to prevent their patients from catching the disease.

  
  

  Much like these physicians, people did not know how to prevent the disease. However, they did stop visiting family members who had caught the plague- the common belief of the need to avoid those with the disease was so great that even their house were avoided.
• 4. Government action to preventing the Black Death

  Local authorities attempted to take action to prevent the plague from spreading. New quarantine* laws were put in place to try to stop people from moving around too much. People new to an area had to stay away from everybody else for 40 days, to ensure they were not carrying the disease. Authorities also started to quarantine houses where the plague had broken out. They considered banning preaching and religious processions, to stop large crowds of people gathering.
• However, what was a disadvantage of government action?

  However, since the local government did not have a great deal of power at this time, they could not fully enforce these laws: rich people, for example, moved around quite freely and the Church continued to run as normal.
• Because of the belief in bad air causing disease, what did local authorities do as a method to drive out the miasma?


  Because of the belief in bad air causing disease, the local authorities also stopped cleaning the streets. They believed that the foul stench of the rubbish and rotting bodies would drive off the miasma causing the plague.