Black Death (Class Notes)

May 22, 2012

  • Three major catastrophes in Medieval Europe
  • 4th century barbarian invasions- Europe recovers
  • 9th century Islamic invasions- Europe recovers with feudalism
  • 14th century Black Death
  • 1918 influenza killed more but a lower percentage of the population
  • How do you define the Middle Ages?
  • No exact date for the beginning and end
  • When did the Middle Ages begin?
  • End of Rome- 180 A.D. death of Marcus Aurelius?
  • Romulus Agustulus
  • When did the Middle Ages end?
  • Renaissance
  • Great Schism
  • 1492
  • Marco Polo 1215
  • 1348 Black Death
  • 1517 Martin Luther
  • 1789 French Revolution
  • 1860 end of serfdom in Russia
  • Break of Roman Empire in the west to the classical Renaissance in the 15th century
  • Historians have argued that 1000 years is too long of a period and it must be broken down into shorter periods (Early, High, & Late Middle Ages)
  • Early Middle Ages the 5th century through end of the 11th century
  • 5th, 6th, 7th Middle Ages Emerge
  • 8th, 9th, 10thDismal
  • 10th & 11thRecovery
  • High Middle Ages the 12th century to the mid-14th century
  • 12th & 13thMagnificence
  • Late Middle Ages mid-14th century through the 15th century
  • 14th & 15thChanging
  • 5th, 6th, and 7th centuries was a low point
  • Roman, Teutonic, and Christian elements -> emergence of the Middle Ages
  • Franks, Vandals, Burundians, Ostrogoth etc.
  • 8th, 9th, and 10th centuries were dismal, Germanic tribes coming from barbarians, the Carolingians have formed a relationship with the papacy and the crowning of Charlemagne
  • Dismal, series of setbacks, eclipse of civilization
  • Valiant light of Carolingians
  • 800 Charlemagne is crowned Holy Roman Emperor
  • Carolingian Renaissance- revival but the advance is halted by new barbarian invasions
  • Sons of Charlemagne go to civil war because they want equal inheritance
  • Invasions from every direction into Europe
  • Sarsens from South
  • Muslims(Islamic Lake Mediterranean)
  • Vikings from North (Scandinavia Adventurists)
  • Magyars, Buglers, Slavs from East
  • Europeans do what they can to survive
  • 11th and 12th centuries Europe makes a recovery
  • Institutionalizing of feudalism
  • Papacy and Church’s civilizing mission
  • The church and monasticism holds Europe together
  • New spirits Popes Leo, Gregory, Urban
  • Call for a Crusade
  • Christianizing the outer parts of Europe and with that they bring Greco-Roman law and civilization is preserved in the west
  • Christendom is formed and the church is an “agency of good” and promotes “brotherly love”
  • Embryonic Nation-States
  • Towards the 11th century classic concepts of government forming- nation-states begin to form (mix of secular and religious governments)
  • 12th and 13th centuries- lusty progressive time periods- much progress
  • Lusty, progressive flowering of Europe
  • Crusades open up trade with the east
  • Expansion of land and sea trade
  • Use of money, new products, industry
  • Printing press and movable type
  • Trade with China
  • Noodles and pasta
  • Magnetic compass
  • Gunpowder
  • Money is back
  • Industry and the growth of urban cities
  • Consolidation of the feudal monarchies
  • Representative governments (Great Council in England, the French Assembly General, election of the Holy Roman Emperor)
  • Close to democracy
  • Central and key role of Catholic Church
  • Church is a good institution- Dominicans and Franciscans to preach to the poor
  • Church is a popular institution: cathedrals, schools, libraries, a uniting force
  • Scholastic philosophy- arts, science, philosophy, architecture
  • Late Middle Ages- 13th and 14th century
  • Changing period
  • Switch from deo-centric to homo-centric mentality
  • Change in government: National Monarchy
  • Expansion in North and South America and India
  • Renaissance, decline or development?
  • Revival/Rebirth in Italy but decline in northern Europe
  • Decline in Northern Europe
  • Black Death- never the same after the Black Death
  • All the good clergy went to help the people and died
  • The bad clergy hid in monasteries and survived
  • 15th century
  • War
  • Turning away from God (how could he allow the plague?)
  • People blame God when they don’t have an answer for something
  • New world and a rise in industry, rise in medicine
  • People survive but have to put the pieces back together
  • The Great Question of the Age: Analysis and Interpretation of the Transition
  • Emergence into the Modern World
  • Why study the Black Death?
  • To understand Medieval Civilization for its own sake because it is intrinsically fascinating
  • Understand the modern world by understanding its roots
  • Hope to the modern world
  • Saga of human spirit and creative herculean effort of humankind to overcome chaos, major problems and threats to medieval society provides an example of HOPE for present Modern World. “Did it before, can do it again.”
  • Medieval Research, study, bibliography, and historiography are the most difficult of all time in the field of history
  • Problems with Medieval Material
  • Quality of Sources
  • Scant (nonexistent), geographical, authenticity, destruction by pillage, fire, ravages of time, language variation (Classic Latin(not vernacular until 9th century), Church Latin, Degenerative Latin (soldiers at outposts, Legionnaires), Corrupted Latin with Teutonic inclusions (same words mean different things) of no universal meaning (no uniform Latin until 840 Strasbourg Oath of Charlemagne’s grandsons), transitional phases of Teutonic tongues)
  • Medieval Mind
  • Pseudo-Literary Humility, anonymity, attribution, Interpolation, Marginal glossing, Metaphorical, Symbolism, Allegorical, mystical Numerology. Medieval mind does not seek scientific proof of modern writers and scholars.
  • Deo-centric mind- put hope in the future (post life), married as soon as you hit puberty because you were practically middle-aged by then, anything you don’t understand was the work of God, anonymity, numbers and astrology, symbols and saint’s symbols- medieval mind did not seek scientific proof
  • Prejudice of People, Writers, Scholars after 1500
  • Renaissance: rejected Medieval as not Classical
  • Renaissance switched to homo-centric, went back to the Greek and Roman society, they rejected the Medieval as the Dark Ages
  • Reformation dismissed the Middle Ages too
  • Enlightenment- rejected the trinity, reason, and rejection of the Middle Ages
  • 19th Century Romantics- altered attitude towards the Middle Ages and embraced the art, architecture, literature, and national origins
  • 19th Century Scientific Historians- Ranke’s emphasis on objectivity and scientific inquiry = uncovering the truth of Middle Ages mind, spirit, and glory
  • Said to uncover the truth by going to the sources and objectivity
  • 20th Century Historians- were open to critical research and understanding of the Middle Ages
  • 21st century is the best yet (women’s feminists scholars began studying the middle ages- some of the women of the Middle Ages rivaled the men of that time)
  • Diversity in Topical Areas
  • Everything in the Middle Ages is so varied and many different aspects
  • For such a long period of time it’s great: most primary sources and later studies focus on spheres or aspects of the Middle Ages. This is easier and reflects regionalism, i.e. poetry of Aquitaine, Sagas of Rhine, etc…

5-24-12

  • Black Death Defined
  • The Black Death was the first epidemic of the second plague pandemic, containing a combination of plague strains which devastated Europe from 1347-1351 killing 25-45% of the European population and causing or accelerating dramatic social, political, economic, religious, cultural, and demographic changes. The Black Death was the single most important natural phenomenon in European history.
  • Black Death Bibliography
  • Black Death: Selective Bibliographic Supplement
  • William Bowski’s Black Death: A Turning Point in History?, 1971 historiographical essay- Compared to nuclear threat
  • Eyewitness Accounts of Black Death
  • Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron
  • Chronicle of Agnolo di Tura del Grasso (the Fat)
  • Chronicle of Jean de Venette
  • Henry Knighton, The Impact of the Black Death, c. 1348-1350
  • Altman- Compared to AIDS
  • Bubonic Plague Background
  • Black Death- known as Justinian’s Plague 540-544
  • Came to Europe from East Africa, down the Nile to the Mediterranean Basin
  • 476 or 486 Roman Empire in the West has fallen
  • Justinian in the east makes an attempt to bring back the Roman Empire
  • Belisarius- general who worked to conquer much territory but he was spread too thin
  • Justinian’s problem was that he and his men caught plague
  • Empress Theodora- Nike Rebellions, promiscuous
  • Justinian’s plague was nearly worldwide in scope
  • Eastern and South Central Asia
  • Ireland, Denmark, all of Central Europe
  • Africa
  • Justinian’s Plague Spread
  • Autumn 541- Spring 542 (in 4 months) Justinian’s Plague killed 200,000 in Constantinople
  • 542-544 it swept through the Mediterranean world, up the Rhine, and into the Iberian peninsula
  • 1/5 -1/4 of the population south of the Alps (20-25%) were dead (significant plague)
  • North of the Alps the barbarians didn’t keep good records
  • Justinian’s plague’s legacy- established a repository of bacillus among European rodent fleas which ensured the future epidemics would occur
  • For the next 200 years cycles every 10-12 years- the repository of bacillus comes back
  • 558-561
  • Constantinople to Eastern Mediterranean
  • Then west to Italian port cities
  • Ravenna
  • Genoa
  • Southern France
  • 580-582 (same areas)
  • 586-591 started in Spain (probably accompanied by smallpox)
  • Spain
  • Then it went westward
  • Southern France
  • Italy
  • 599-600 starts in Italy (most lethal since Justinian’s plague) a moderate estimate is that it killed 15% in Italy and Southern France
  • Italy
  • Southern France
  • Not sure how far north it went because of a lack of records
  • After 600 successive outbreaks- less virulent it seems but still in 10 to 12 year cycles
  • 608
  • 618
  • 628
  • 640
  • 654
  • 684-686
  • 694-700
  • 718
  • 740-750
  • Localized epidemics
  • 746 Sicily and Calabria
  • 767 Naples and Southern Italy
  • Late 8th century the first plague pandemic finally ends in Europe
  • Fear, Stories, etc. would spread each time an outbreak took place but there was little medical knowledge (better as you got towards the Middle East) and record keeping
  • The determination that it was a pandemic is based on scientific evidence that it was from the same plague bacillus
  • From the late 8th century to the mid-14th century Europe was relatively free of all epidemics
  • With Black Death- people who survived once didn’t build an immunity protecting you from future outbreaks
  • Malthusian Crisis- nature’s way of checking the population because it couldn’t be supported (but there was plenty of land uncultivated- so probably not true)
  • Famine before outbreaks- connected to B.D. but probably because less food was grown so more needed to be imported
  • Late 8th-14th century no pandemics
  • But mold and plant diseases and other diseases

Medical Terminology

  • Epidemic- a contagious disease that spreads rapidly
  • Pandemic- widespread, universal
  • Etiology- causation of disease
  • Bubo- inflamed swelling of a lymphatic gland (armpit, groin)
  • Pneumonic- of, affecting, or pertaining to the lungs, pulmonary
  • Septicemic- a systematic disease caused by pathogenic organisms of their toxins in the blood stream
  • Enteric- of or within the intestines (enteritis)
  • Epizootic- attacking a large number of animals simultaneously or prevalent among a large group of animals

1347 Catastrophe

  • In 1347 the European people had old tales about old disasters at the time of the new outbreak
  • Not a very good time in history- memories of bubonic plague in the past but no direct experience with it (over the generations the stories get worse and worse)
  • They were especially susceptible- no evidence of immunity though- different strains
  • The susceptibility of the new plague from Asia was significant

Scientific and Medical Etiology of the 14th Century Black Death

  • The plague was caused by the bacillus Yersinia Pestis
  • Y. Pestis can present itself in 3 and probably 4 forms
  • Bubonic(lymphatic system)
  • Pneumonic(pulmonary system)
  • Septicemic(infection of the blood directly)
  • Enteric(digestive system)
  • The Y. Pestis is a bacillus indigenous to certain areas of the world
  • Southern and Central Asia
  • Arabian Peninsula
  • East Africa
  • In those areas Y. Pestis bacillus lived in the stomach of a particular flea
  • In the Middle Ages they had no concept of microscopic space
  • The particular flea was the Xenopsylla cheopis
  • It lives in the fur of small mammals
  • Not just rats
  • But especially the Rattus rattus (commonly called the black rat)
  • Plague is an infection on the fleas of small mammals- how did it impact humans?
  • Normally it stays on the small mammals but sometimes there is a disruption in the natural circumstance
  • Nobody still knows why the disruption occurs
  • Probably changes in climate and geography cause the disruption and cause a rapid reproduction in the fleas stomach and cause problems
  • When the Y. pestis multiplies in rapid numbers it causes the flea to stop acting like a flea
  • It blocks the digestive system of the flea- the flea normally sucks blood but it can’t digest the food so it is starving
  • In response it bites its victims numerous times because it can’t feed as it normally does and as it does the liquid from the bite is injected into the victim- this is a blocked flea
  • The bloodstream of its rodent host then gets the plague bacillus
  • When sufficiently virulent and deadly, it becomesepizooticin the rodents- attacking a large number of animals simultaneously
  • When the plague is deposited into the rodent- it eventually dies and the flea looks for a new host- when the new host is a human- an epidemic is the result
  • Plague is comparatively slow to spread in its epizootic form- but when it moves into a specific area it becomes pandemic- widely universal
  • The pandemic comes in cycles- it is more cyclical than any other disease except for influenza
  • Plague is among the most lethal of all infections

Forms

  • Bubonic
  • In its most benevolent form- it kills 50%
  • Buboes or boils covering the lymphatic system are caused by plague
  • In order to spread from human to human the flea with Y. Pestis bacillus had to transfer from one human to the next
  • The plague is spread by the habits of the X. Cheopis which is only transmitted between 20-25° Celsius or 70-79° Fahrenheit and therefore is only transmitted in spring, late summer, and early autumn
  • Pneumonic
  • Almost 100% lethal
  • It is communicable through breath vapor
  • The bacillus attacks the pulmonary system
  • Pneumonic plague needs the bubonic plague to cause a reaction
  • Bubonic transmitted during the same temperature but then there needs to be a sudden drop in temperature that lasts
  • It is so lethal that it kills all its hosts and then self-destructs
  • Septicemic
  • Almost 100% lethal
  • Septicemic and Enteric are the most lethal
  • Causes an infection and is an attack of the blood system
  • Had to accompany bubonic
  • Enteric
  • Almost 100% lethal
  • Septicemic and Enteric are the most lethal
  • Attacks digestive tract
  • Had to accompany bubonic
  • In all forms it acts in specifically constraining manner
  • Nobody in history mentions dead rats
  • How long can it survive on dead rats
  • Where were the rats? Wouldn’t someone have mentioned them? How many rats were normal and how many dead were normal? We have little evidence.
  • Baby Cradle- cradles were hanging so that rats would not attack and take the babies in the 14th century
  • In the 10th and 11th century there weren’t cradles because everyone slept in one bed
  • Covering food became common to avoid having rats from getting the food
  • People in American History (cowboys) caught Black Death- fleas still have plague
  • Today it is unlikely for you to die from Black Death because we have antibiotics
  • Guy de Chauliac
  • Doctor to Pope Clement VI
  • Trying to cure his own plague but took detailed notes to help others in case he died
  • He notes 2 forms
  • Pneumonic- spitting of blood, very lethal, and death within 3 days
  • Bubonic- swelling of lymph nodes, buboes on the neck, armpit, and groin
  • The buboes easily broke down to form carbuncles (usually caused on the skin when you don’t bathe for days)
  • The term Black Death was not used until the 16th century
  • It may have referred to the dusky blue color of the dying
  • Maybe the word black was referring to it as negative
  • Guy de Chauliac said the only remedy is flight
  • It takes certain events to set off an epidemic- which took place in the mid-1300s (very unusual)

Plague Origins and Spread 1300-1347

  • There are dozens of explanations and none are entirely satisfactory
  • The most convincing are a combination
  • Mongol domination of the Asian trade routes of the 13th and 14th centuries (Tatar Mongols)
  • Temujin united the Mongols on the 1100-1200s, Genghis Khan and his nomadic people were united in conquest of its neighbors (60,000 nomadic horsemen) until his death in 1227. Batu overran much of Russia by 1240. By Nicolo and Maffero Polo and Marco Polo’s journey to China, trade was opened with the east. He witnessed Zipangu (Japan), the South China Sea, coal, spices etc. CHINA WAS OPEN on the Silk Road (every 12 miles or so there was a horse station and place to stop and rest)]
  • Drier climactic conditions
  • Yunnan China was one of the hotspots for plague and it was attacked by the Mongols and they brought it back to the rodent population in Mongolia- (some scientists believe it was also native to the Gobi area) Almost all scientists agree that in the 1320s plague was enzootic in the east. 1320s and 1330s (1333 the worst) it was incredibly dry. The Steppe nomads were forced to migrate when their waterways dried up. The flocks and all of the little rodents had to move either east or west to survive. In 1334 it was a very wet year. Then there was drought again in 1335 and 1336. In 1337 there was an attack of locusts. Exactly how nobody knows, but the ecological balance between bacillus and rodent was disrupted. Early in the 1340s the plague epizootic ensued and then the plague pandemic of humans occurred. This is the first epidemic of the 1340s.
  • Traders along the Silk Road told of suffering (called swarta doden by Scandinavian historians) and massive deaths inSouth Asia atCathay,and in the Asian Steppes called Tartarybut for Europe proper, it was distant and people did not think it could possibly reach the Christian world. The plague reached theCrimearegion along the Black Seaby 1346, and everything changed.
  • Word of the death and devastation traveled quickly- gossip (as the story passes by word of mouth it gets bigger and bigger and exaggerated)
  • Traders, commercial reports (Gottfried 36-43) in 1339 certain areas were entirely wiped out
  • People immediately believed that God was punishing non-believers
  • Gabriel de Mussis- believed that it would never reach the western world
  • It reached the Crimea and Black Sea (Caffa (Feodosiya) and Tana- Italian trading settlement) in the Kirghiz steppes
  • The spreading into Europe:Caffa
  • A dispute between the Italian merchants and local Muslims in the streets broke out
  • The Mongols were called to help the Muslims and sieged Caffa- tried to strangle the Europeans out but while they were doing that, plague broke out in the Mongol army (probably from along the trade route)
  • The Khan ordered the loading of corpses of dead plague victims into the catapult and launched them into the city walls to spread the plague to the Europeans inside (this is not how the disease spreads- they would have needed fleas)
  • The Genoese traders realized that it was a no win situation for them with the spread of Black Death inside and fled back to Italy, bringing Black Death with them
  • 3 days after the ship arrived back in Italy- black death was spreading in Italy
  • Problem with the story: it would have spread by rodents or fleas not from the dead bodies- most likely the urban rodents of Caffa were infected by the rural rodents that infected the Muslim soldier
  • What seems to have happened is that plague traveled overland until it reached a port and then it spread as boats sailed over seas to Europe.