The Black Death and its aftermath - Essay Example

The Black Death and its Aftermath (Write here) (Write the of your college/school) if not the of your or /country. Black Death and the Aftermath The medieval plague was the most severe social phenomenon in Western history. The plague was an epidemic disease that constantly affected people and killed almost forty percent of Europe's population. The individuals' physical condition had no part in determining if he will be affected by the plague. The strong and the weak were both equally affected. Therefore, the results of the plague prompted various public outbursts which rose to new heights. In fact, the religious response, medical view and social response offered a direct explanation on the outbreak of the medieval plague1 (Shackelford lecture, 2006). The religious view argued that the "Black Death" was created by the Jews so that they could eliminate all the Christians from this world. They believed that the Jews had poisoned all the wells and springs. Therefore, they persecuted the Jews demanding them to confess their evil schemes. Many of the Jews confessed that they obtained this lethal poison from a foreign land but it was done without the knowledge of the Jewish community. Many communities had to pray hard for rain so that their people could have pure water to drink and cook. Some of the regions that were severely affected by this disease believed that God would want the Jews to be punished for this act. 1 So they began to burn the Jews for poisoning all the wells and springs. As a result of the torture, many Jews were adopted to the Christian faith through baptism in order to avoid undeserved punishment 2 (Horrox, 1994). The religious view also argued that the plague was a punishment from God. They believed that the human race deserved to be punished because of their disobedience to God. People lived lifestyles that were sinful, unrighteous and not pleasing to him. Because of this, God had to demonstrate his sovereign power by allowing humanity to suffer. People could be cured from this disease but in order to be healed they had to humble themselves and totally submit to His authority. In comparison, the practitioners from Egyptian and Mesopotamian nations had 'medicine' to make peace with the gods. They believed that performing certain rituals and incantations before the sick person would cause him to be delivered from the demon spirit, for they all believed that diseases were caused by demons 3 (Horrox, 1994; & Longrigg, 1998). The medical theory presented two main explanations on the plague. Firstly, they believed that the cause of 'Black Death' was associated with "miasma" which means "bad air". They said that when a person inhales 'bad air' it goes directly into their lungs before it gets transmitted into their blood stream. Therefore, it starts to affect the patient's body by generating various symptoms such as headaches, coughing up blood, and a rain increase in the pulse rate. 2 The disease also would spread quickly into the air when the afflicted patient exhaled. This medical theory supported the fact that the air was not the main cause of the plague; instead, the plague was a direct result of the pollution or bacteria in the air that which was the cause for the disease. So when a normal individual contracted the disease through an afflicted person, they were both required to immediately leave the town before they passed it on to more people4 (Horrox, 1994). The medical theory also claimed that the plague was caused by an imbalance in the individuals' diet. For instance, individuals with inadequate nourishment were more vulnerable to the plague than people with malnutrition. People who consume an adequate amount of water were less susceptible to the disease. This indicated that the socioeconomic status was a significant factor in determining the rate at which the disease spread. Therefore, people from low class families were mainly blamed for the elevation of 'Black Death'. The medical view tended to adopt the idea of naturalism that was first noticed in Hippocratic medicine. The Naturalistic approach tried to determine the causes of the plague based on what could be seen in the natural world. They could even claim that it was possible to contract the disease due to a lack of exercise. The naturalistic approach argued that the plague did not occur by chance but was only the result of natural causes 5 (Horrox, 1994; Shackelford Lecture, 2006).3 The social view on 'Black Death' created some long-term effects that impacted the society. For instance, the plague significantly reduced the population of the European society. This decline in population later led to a disruption in the economy and political circle for centuries. One of the main reasons for the economy being affected was because many people were advised to move out of their town before they became victims to the plague. The majority of the people that left these towns were mainly rich people because they had the money to do so. Most of these high class individuals that left town were also physicians. This meant that the afflicted individuals had now no physicians to treat them, since most of the practitioners were leaving town 6 (Hays, 1998). The religious view, medical theory, and social response were used to seek a solution to the disease, but they were unable to agree on one idea. Along with the plague, each of these views did a lot of damage and as a result of this society was deeply impacted and the people were the ones who suffered the most! 4 References Hayes, J. N. 1998. The Burdens of Disease: Epidemics and Human Response in Western History. New Brunswick, NJ. Horrox, Rosemary. 1994. The Black Death. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Longrigg, James. 1998. Greek Medicine from the Heroic to the Hellenistic Age: New York Routledge. Shackelford lecture, in class notes (25 October, 2006). Read More