Black Death

• Short Term Effects

  • Bad death rate in monasteries.
  • Monks stayed together and cared for each other.
  • Church lost a great number of experienced clergy.
• Long Term Effects

  • Black death never really subsided.
  • Never died out in England.
  • Further outbreaks in 1361-2, 1379-83, 1389-93 and into the 15th century.
  • First outbreak in 1348.
• Causes

  • Miasma
  • Impure air caused by the disease.
  • Sent by God as punishment.
  • Unusual positioning of the planets.
  • Europe blamed Jewish population but they had been expelled from England in the 13th century.
• Prevention

  • Pray to God.
  • Fast.
  • Go on Pilgrimage.
  • Quarantine Laws.
  • Apothecaries sold remedies and herbs - had uncertain results.
  • Flagellants (monks from Flanders) chanting and whipping themselves.
  • Strong smelling herbs which were believed to have cleansing properties.
  • Stopped visiting family who'd caught the disease.
  • Carry fragrant herbs to stop breathing the miasma.
  • Doing joyful things, believed becoming sad made you ill.
  • Edward III ordered cleaning of the streets.
  • Lighting a fire.
  • Flagellation.
  • Avoid bathing.
• Treatment

  • Confess your sins
  • Went to confession/ prayed.
  • Lanced buboes (burst them), occasionally some survived.
  • Apothecaries sold herbal remedies.
  • Physicians tried bleeding and purging.
  • Physician often prescribed theriaca which was supposed to work for a lot of ailments.