Preview

The Bubonic Plague In Europe

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1263 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Bubonic Plague In Europe
Bubonic Plague in Europe: Causes and Effects

In the 14th century Europe was a country torn by war, famine, and scandal in the church. Furthermore, malnutrition, poverty, disease, growing inflation and other economic crises made Europe ripe for a tragedy in the likes of the Bubonic Plague. The Bubonic Plague was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history. It ravaged Europe between 1347 and 1350 before it continued on to Russia, leaving 30-95 percent of the entire population dead. The Bubonic Plague killed indiscriminately. No one was spared. The young and the old, the rich and the poor. All social classes were affected, though the lower classes were most vulnerable because they lived in unhealthy conditions. It was worse among
…show more content…
The plague can be contracted by insect bites such as the fleas or airborne, such as the cough of an infected individual. In both cases, victims rarely lasted more than three to four days between the beginning of the infection and death. Some of the first symptoms of the Bubonic Plague were vomiting, dizziness, headaches, shivering, tongue turns white, and intolerance to light. Some of the later symptoms are pains in the joints, breaking blood vessels, internal bleeding, and your skin turns black as a result of dried blood from internal bleeding. This is what gave the plague its nickname "The Black Death." One-third to one-half of the entire European population succumbed to this ghastly death. While the Bubonic Plague left intense devastation on Europe it also had profound influences on Europe and its people, both negative and …show more content…
For centuries, the practice of alchemy was used as medicine by many doctors. This practice began slowly to wane when people became aware that it seldom had any effect on the spread of the disease. Also many alchemists’ potions and cures just worsened the condition of the sick. Other diagnoses for Black Death revolved around astrology and superstition which also did nothing to cure the disease. This awareness led to positive changes in the field of medicine. It set the stage for more modern medicine with an emphasis on clinical medicine based on physical science. This pandemic spurred changes in public health and hospital

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    The bubonic plague was the worst disease you can get in the Elizabethan era (1558-1603),The bubonic plague had different names like “the blue sickness”, ”black Plague” or “black death”, the bubonic plague had symptoms like, Situated in the groin, armpit or neck about the size of an egg, tender and warm to the touch, Sudden onset of fever and chills, headache, fatigue or malaise, fever and chills, extreme weakness, abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, bleeding from your mouth, nose or rectum, or under your skin, shock, blackening and death of tissue in your extremities, most commonly your fingers, toes and nose, and death, people that had the plague would die within three to five days, the black plague was something you could not hide from,…

    • 340 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    An important topic is being discussed and it concerns the Black Death in England. “The Black Death is the name given to a deadly plague (often called bubonic plague, but is more likely to be pneumonic plague) which was rampant during the Fourteenth Century. It was believed to have arrived from Asia in late 1348 and caused more than one epidemic in that century – though its impact on English society from 1348 to 1350 was terrible. No amount of medical knowledge could help England when the plague struck. It also had a major impact on England’s social structure which lead to the Peasants Revolt of 1381.” (History Learning). “The first outbreak of the plague swept across England in 1348 to 1349. It seems to have travelled across the south in bubonic…

    • 926 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Black Plauge Paper

    • 888 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In 1348, the Bubonic Plague swept through western Europe’s hemisphere taking out thirty to fifty percent of the total population. The Black Death set the stage for more modern medicine and spurred changes in public health and hospital management. The plague sent physicians scrambling to develop treatments and find causes. The Black Death also helped shift medicine toward greater emphasis on practice than there had been before. Lastly, it helped blend old and new practices of medicine in the Middle Ages. The Bubonic plague was a disease that not only held society, economy and medicine back in the Middle ages by causing lack of doctors and scientist; but it also pushed forward and opened pandoras box to research and treatment for disease.…

    • 888 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bubonic Plague Dbq Essay

    • 601 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The black plague affect everyone in the city or place that it was spreading in. People were dying everyday from this disease. Millions of people died because of the bacteria on the fleas that were carried on the back of black rats.The bubonic plague originally came from china and then was spread to europe. According to epidemics of the past: Bubonic plague, “The bubonic plague, better known as the “The Black Death,” has existed for thousands of years. The first recorded case of the plague was in China in 224 B.C.E. But the most significant outbreak was in Europe in the mid-fourteenth century. Over a five-year period from 1347 to 1352, 25 million people died” (1). This textual evidence proves that the bubonic plague, known as the black plague made europe at the time extremely dark because it had killed around 25 million people. People would come around with wheelbarrows and just take the bodies and catapult them to their enemies. People would also throw their trash and their waste out their windows, which was making people really sick. This textual evidence helps support the claim of The black plague in the time period between 400 ad and 1400 ad made europe at the time dark because a quarter of 100 million people died in the…

    • 601 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Also it could be contracted from breathing in airborne droplets from people who already had the infection in their lungs. The first symptoms of the bubonic plague often appear within several days: headache and a general feeling of weakness, followed by aches and chills in the upper leg and groin, a white coating on the tongue, rapid pulse, slurred speech, confusion, fatigue, apathy and staggering gait. A blackish pustule usually would form at the point of the fleabite. By the third day, the lymph node begins to swell. Because the bite is commonly in the leg, the lymph nodes in the leg swell, which is how the disease got its name. The swelling then becomes tender, and perhaps as large as an egg. The heart begins to flutter rapidly as it tries to pump blood through swollen, suffocating tissues. Subcutaneous hemorrhaging occurs, causing purplish blotches on the skin. The victim's nervous system began to collapse, causing dreadful pain and bizarre neurological disorders. By the fourth day, wild anxiety and terror overtake the sufferer and then the sense of resignation, as the skin blackens and the rictus of death settles on the body.…

    • 1325 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Black Death is known as one of the most disastrous diseases in human history. It began in the 14th century and it lasted five years, spreading throughout England and Europe quickly. Although the most common name for this disease was “The Black Death”, it also had other names such as “The Bubonic Plague”, “The Great Mortality” and more commonly used in the Middle Ages, “The Great Pestilence”. It was a very contagious disease, killing millions of people in a short amount of time and since there was no cure, it was impossible to control. The disease was brought over in ships and spread so fast to England and the rest of Europe that many people were infected and died before they were even informed about it, symptoms of the Black Death were…

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Black Death is one of the most deadly epidemics in human history, and is taught in schools throughout the world. Though it is most known to have killed 50 million people in Europe it also ravaged Asia killing 25 million people. The Black Death is a type of plague called the Bubonic plague. Encyclopedia Britannica defines the Bubonic plague as, “an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Bubonic plague is the most commonly occurring type of plague and is characterized by the appearance of buboes—swollen, tender lymph nodes, typically found in the armpits and groin.” The Bubonic plague has surfaced nine times in human history: the Plague of Justinian (541-542), the Black Death (1346-1353), the Great Plague of Milan (1629-1631),…

    • 1230 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Bubonic Plague, also famously known as The Black Death, was the life-threatening disease that hit Europe in 1346 after originating in Central Asia. The disease spread when rats which carried rat fleas, would board along merchants ships, that being said it spread while Central Asia was trading with the Mediterranean and Europe. The Black Death cause over 100 million of deaths, which was one of the most devastating times in history due to the mass loss of population that the Bubonic Plague…

    • 84 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When talking about Europe’s history, it’s impossible not to mention the Black Death. This plague was one of the most devastating illnesses in human history. According to records, it was estimated to have killed over a third of Europe’s population. The consequences of this plague were tragic. They included social change, economic and religious effects, and depopulation. There were also three different types of the plague. The Bubonic plague, which was the disease’s most common form, the Septicemic plague, which spread through the bloodstream, and the Pneumonic plague, which was the most infectious type. If left untreated, the Bubonic plague would kill about 50% of those infected. The other two types were fatal.…

    • 703 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Black Death, or Black Plague, was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history. It began in south-western Asia and spread to Europe by the late 1340s, where it received its name Black Death. The total number of deaths worldwide from the pandemic are estimated at least 75 million people. The Black Death is estimated to have killed between a third and two-thirds of Europe's population.…

    • 677 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It all started as a mere headache, then grew into something greater rapidly. The plague came in three different forms. The first form was the bubonic variant, which was the most common, caused swelling lumps called buboes. They were also called tumors. Buboes could range in size from an egg to an apple. They appeared on the victim’s neck, armpit or groin area. People say that a gush of blood from the victim’s nose was often the sign of inevitable death. Soon after this the symptoms started to change, black and purple spots started showing up all over the body such as the arms or thighs. Sometimes they were very large, but they were usually small. These spots were often a sign of death and from this point on, there’s nothing to do to stop it. The second form is the pneumonic plague. It attacked the respiratory system and was spread by breathing the exhaled air of the victims. The third form is the septicemic version, which attacked the blood…

    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Plague: The Black Death

    • 267 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The black plague: The black plague also known as the black death started in the years 1346-1353 leading in the deaths of 75 to 200 million deaths, almost a third of the population. The black plague is also known as the black death because, of the dark patches on the skin caused by subcutaneous bleeding. The black plague was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history. A deadly epidemic known as the Sixth-Century Plague or Justinian's plague struck Constantinople and parts of southern Europe 800 years earlier. The Black Death returned several times throughout the rest of the century. (mid 14 century)…

    • 267 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Bubonic Plague (also known as: the Black Death, the Black Plague, the Great Pestilence, etc.) is a disease that devastated the medieval world with a 9 out of 10 mortality rate (Vyas). It is so resilient that cases of infection are still being recorded in America today –although in a much milder manner. The plague then rid Europe of almost one-third of its population, leaving lasting effects wherever it had touched (Bussema and Witowski). This pestilence has since changed how we take on such diseases, and modified our tactics on handling epidemics and other contagious diseases.…

    • 2140 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the middle of the fourteenth century the Black Death was made up of three diseases, some more deadly than the other. Bubonic plague was the most common and fifty to eighty percent of the victims died. The symptoms for the bubonic disease were chills, fevers, vomiting, and racing heart beats and the person would develop inflamed swelling which could be up to as large as an egg. The pneumonic plague was more deadly but less common and infected the respiratory system. The victims of the pneumonic plague were usually killed within hours. The last plague which got into your blood and killed you no matter what was the septicemic plague. All three of the plagues resulted in agonizing and horrible deaths. (DBQ:The Black Death,…

    • 715 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Bubonic Plague

    • 747 Words
    • 3 Pages

    There were three types of the Black Death. The most common type of the plague was the bubonic type(eye 1). The Bubonic Plague gets its name from the “swellings or buboes”(eye 1) on its victims. These buboes appeared on a person’s neck, armpits ,or groin(eye 1). These swellings were very large. Their size ranged from the size of an egg to the size of an apple(eye 1). When these buboes appeared, it normally meant the person had about a week to live(eye 1). The second type of the plague is the Pneumonic Plague. This type of the plague affected the victim’s respiratory system(eye 1). The way the Pneumonic Plague affected its victims was by the person inhaling an infected person’s exhaled air(eye 1). The Pneumonic Plague was much more contagious than the Bubonic Plague. The life expectancy for a person with Pneumonic Plague was only one to two days(eye 1). The third type of plague was the Septicemic Plague. This type of the plague attacked the victim’s bloodstream(eye 1). The Septicemic Plague was spread from bites of infected fleas(eye 1).All of the Black Death’s numerous forms were extremely…

    • 747 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays