medieval britain -> the black death

aspect

explanation

septicaemic

the victim starts to bleed freely and extremities start to rot

bubonic

painful blisters (buboes) on glands, intense fever and death in a few days

pneumonic

affects the lungs, cough up blood, may be dead within two days

response

explanation/cause

people were asked to pray in their homes

believed the black death was a punishment from god → praying for god’s forgiveness so he would not punish them and he would save them

special church services

would attend to try to earn gods forgiveness so god would have mercy on them

kings ordered large processions of priests

priests trying to stop the punishment from god and get him to forgive and have mercy

flagellants

groups who walked through Europe whipping people → helping the people to repent and earn gods forgiveness (however were really spreading the black death further)

burned rosemary to make nice smelling oils

believed miasma (bad smelling air) caused the plague so would try to counteract it with nice smells and herbs

rich people moved to the countryside

trying to escape miasma and the city because they didn’t really know what caused it

some people would shut themselves away

fear due to not knowing what caused it and trying to avoid it

land owners got rid of tenants

reduce the risk of being infected - avoidance and fear of the disease because they still didn’t know the cause

trying to balance the four humours

believed the disease was caused by an imbalance of the four humours (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, black bile) → would drain their blood to try and balance the humours

the believed this because it was an ancient greek belief

facts/figures

explanation

the disease arrived in 1348

french or italian sailors arrived with the disease in Dorset in 1348

people dying rapidly

in 18 months almost half of England’s population was dead

more priests died than any others

priests were most likely to be at the bedside of the infected so many priests kept dying

Norwich

5000 people died in Norwich and 2/3rds of market stalls were empty

took 400 years to recover

so many people died that it took 400 years for the population of Britain to return to what it was

plague pits

so many people were dying that there was no time for proper burials so they were simply thrown in plague pits