The Black Plague in Europe - Essay Example

The black plague, comprised of the outbreaks of bubonic and pneumonic plagues, deva d the population of Europe between the s of 1348 and 1350. In just these two short years, 50 percent of the European population had died of this disease. 1 Carried by fleas, the bubonic infection took two days to one week to manifest, and, once it did, the victim displayed lymph node swelling in the armpit, groin and neck. This was accompanied by high fever, bleeding, headaches, delirium, vomiting, stupor and loss of motor control. Death would come three to six days after the onset of symptoms.2 The bubonic plague was not universally fatal, as 10 to 40 percent of its victims recovered. 3 Not so the pneumonic plague, which attacked the respiratory system and killed virtually 100 percent of its victims within 2 or 3 days.4 A more rare form, the septicemic, also killed virtually 100 percent of its victims, killing them within hours.5 A large number of people died during these two years, and that death rate cut across population and socioeconomic boundaries. It spread by human contact with remarkable speed - "whenever those suffering from it mixed with people who were still unaffected, it would rush upon these with the speed of a fire racing through dry or oily substances that happened to be placed within its reach....it also seemed to transfer the sickness to anyone touching the clothes or other objects which had been handled or used by victims."6 With the speed and ease of transmission that was shown by this pestilence, the disease was an equal opportunity killer. One of the striking aspects of the plague was its effect as a kind of leveler between the peasant and ruling classes. Because the plague swept across socioeconomic boundaries, taking both consumers and producers, peasants commanded more of a wage while manorial incomes went down. This is in evidenced in the fact that labor laws were put into place to try to halt the trend of paying serfs more, stating that Lords who payed higher wages and the serfs who accepted them would be punished, as sign that "the new market forces created by the Black Death were so irresistible that only more draconian measures could halt them.”7 The economic necessities that the Black Death imposed include such progressive ideas as "emancipation higher wages and living standards, greater land-holdings, and the labor-saving devices that became available."8 Giovanni Boccaccio, a literary figure, described the servants who remained as greedy, stating that they were "in short supply despite the attraction of high wages out of all proportion to the services they performed."9 Priests also were affected economically, and were accused of greed, as they abandoned their parishes ostensibly to seek a higher salary.10 Moreover, the rich and poor alike were afflicted in that both classes were victims of abandonment. This is because, as the disease spread, people ended up dying alone, as nobody wanted to be around the sick. Parents even abandoned their own children. Giovanni Boccaccio stated that this trend towards making pariahs out of the sick and dying changed funerals, even for the relatively prominent - where they were once elaborate affairs, and cause for relatives and neighbors to assemble at the home of the deceased person, after the plague ravaged the land, funerals were sparsely attended and the body was so hastily buried that priests no longer went into lengthy rites.11 As for the peasants, they dropped dead in the streets, and the dead who died in their homes would be placed outside the front door and picked up by on-going funeral biers.12 And, for all the classes, there was not mourning, the dead were treated with indifference, and "no more respected was accorded to dead people than would nowadays be shown toward dead goats."13 However, this was not the case with Muslims, who continued to gather and pray communally, and still held funerals, even when the plague was at its height.14 Doctors were savaged by the medieval chroniclers, who accused them of "cowardice, impotence, and, above all, greed."15 One of the reasons why doctors earned such harsh treatment during the plague was because they sold snake oil to the dying minions, knowing full well that their cures were impotent against the ravages of the disease.16 In other words, they were like the price gaugers of today, using a great tragedy to line their own pocketbooks. This would explain the label of being greedy. The cowardice label was earned because doctors refused to visit the sick. That said, although physicians were generally unable to treat victims of the plague, they still were very useful during the outbreak, as they advised quarantine and sanitation methods, two methods that proved useful in containing the disease.17 The priests were also indicted as cowards, as they failed to provide proper sacraments to the dying or otherwise minister to them. Simon Islip, the Archbishop of Canterbury, criticized the "surviving priests, who are unmindful of the fact that divine intervention spared them from the recent pestilence...now have no regard for the care of souls."18Although they were accused of greed in seeking a higher salary, they actually saw declining income due to the dropoff of parishioners, the contributions from whom the priests owed their salary.19 The learned seemed to blame astrological forces for the plague. For instance, the Medical Faculty of the University of Paris indicated that the plague was the result of a "major conjunction of three higher planets in Aquarius."20 The Faculty also blamed the air for spreading the plague, and seasons that "did not observe their regularity.”21 Alfonso De Cordoba, who described himself as a "master of the liberal and medical arts," blamed a lunar eclipse and a "powerful conjunction of the unlucky planets."22 Gui De Chauliac made reference to the conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars on March 24, 1345, as a cause of the plague.23 There was, above all else, a religious connotation that accompanied the plague. For instance, Giovanni Villani, a prosperous merchant, writing in 1348, stated that, when men and women, as well as animals turned into "the likeness of marble statues," this was a sign that the people need to convert to Christianity.24 Yet, Christian cities were also devastated by the plague, which the followers of Islam took as a sign that they could keep practicing their faith. Louis Sanctus, a papal musician, in 1348, referred to a rain of "frogs, serpents, lizards, scorpions, and many venomous beasts of that sort,"25 which is a clear Biblical reference. He also makes reference to "the will of God,"26when he describes how the plague had hit his maritime ports. Michele Da Piazza, a Franciscan friar in Catania in Sicily, stated that the plague was the result of "our Lords wrath which came down upon them for their misdeeds."27The Medical Faculty of the University of Paris, considered to be the authority of this time, ascribed the plague to astrological forces, then states that "one should humbly turn to God...God alone heals the sick."28 Francesco Petrarch, a literary giant, bemoaned that the plague seemed to be a payment for mankinds sins, yet it didnt seem fair, as previous generations of men sinned as much yet did not suffer the same fate.29 Giovanni Boccaccio, another literary figure, stated that it was useless to try to run from the plague, because God would find them and unleash His wrath, no matter where they happened to be.30 Gabriele De Mussis, a lawyer in Italy, saw the plague as the book of Revelations coming to pass, as god conveying "awesome judgment."31 Yet Islam did not see the plague as a sign of the apocalypse or proof of Gods retribution, nor did it blame the Jews, as some Christians did.32 They saw the plague as a form of martyrdom, therefore the plague was also seen as a kind of eternal reward.33 In keeping with this, there was a number of religious theories as to why the plague was spreading. As stated before, Giovanni Villani seemed to believe that the disease was the province of non-Christians and was a sign that non-Christians needed to convert. Abu Jafar Ahmad Ibn Khatima, a physicians and poet in Spain, believed that God was responsible for the plague, and that those who blamed infection were doing so because of "their ignorance of Islam."34 Others blamed the predictable scapegoat, the Jews. According to Gui De Chaulia, a "leading medical authority of his day," "In some places, they believed that the Jews had poisoned the world, and so they killed them."35 This led to thousands of Jews being executed as well-poisoners in 1351, most being burned at the stake.36 Other Jews were banished or tortured, and made the victim of lynch mobs. 37 Mathias of Neuenberg, a clerk of the bishop of Strasbourg, described the following scene: "the Jews...were conducted to their cemetery to be burnt in a specially prepared house. And two hundred of them were completely stripped of their clothes by the mob...the few who chose baptism were spared...all the rest were burnt, and many were killed as they leaped out of the fire."38 That said, much of the attacks on the Jews seemed to be economically motivated, as people broke into Jewish homes and burned the loan documents held there, thus absolving the people of their debts.39 There were some attempts to combat the disease. One was quarantine and cleaning up refuse, which are seen, even in modern times, to be sensible strategies.40 Another is the advice go guard ones food and drink, as these were thought to cause the spread of the infection.41 Cordoba recommended the use of "pestilential pills" to "preserve one from infected air."42 Dietary recommendations were also dispensed, as those by Gentile Da Foligno, who counseled against fish and some kinds of lettuce, while recommending "good meat," including "fowl, chicken and starling...lactating goats and calves, as well as young pork."43 Da Foligno also recommended purgatives, theriac, lit fires in home, garlic for some "rustic men," and the use of bitter herbs.44 Jacme DAgramont recommended a regimen of avoiding exercise, eating and drinking as little as possible, and purgative syrups.45 Abu Jafar Ahmad Ibn Khatima prescribed fresh air, rest, whole grain bread, plenty of sleep, avoidance of constipation, bloodletting, sexual intercourse, bathing, and creating joy.46 However, even Khatima recognized that these measures were only preventative, or curative only for early stages, and that, once the disease takes hold, there is not much hope, stating "You must realize that the treatment of the disease once it has progressed doesnt make much sense."47 Similarly, Gui De Chauliac prescribed purgatives and the cauterization of the buboes.48 As for non-medical methods, people took to be flagellated for their sins, as the plague was seen as Gods retribution, presumably, if one is cleansed of his sins, this would help him be spared.49 Conclusion It is evident that the black plague was a significant event in the history of the world. It took 50% of the European population, and did not discriminate on whom it killed. It was therefore a class leveler, and created an opportunity for higher wages and less of a stratification between the upper and lower classes. At the same time, it perplexed the people of the Middle Ages, to the point where any number of scapegoats were blamed for the spread of the plague. Nobody was immune to the disease, just as nobody was immune to criticism or scapegoating either. Doctors and priests were blamed for their hands-off approach to dying people; the Jews were blamed for the spread of the disease. Home remedies were tried, but, in modern times, we know that they were doomed to fail. For, without modern medicine, especially antibiotics, the black plague was destined to continue, unabated, until it apparently ran its course, devastating, yet re-making, Europe. Read More