The Bubonic Plague or Black Plague
The Black (Bubonic) Plague in Europe
The Black Plague is a type of bubonic plague that traveled throughout Europe, and the Mediterranean Sea killing millions. The Black Plague (or Black Death) is a bacterial infection that causes swelling on numerous parts of the body. Also it causes odd sores in which human flesh is eaten away. If you are infected with this, you have 5 days to be treated before you die. This is carried mainly through a type of rat flea (Yersinia Pestis). The rat flea is of course found on rats but has also been found on marmots, prairie dogs, and other types of rodents. During the five years in which the black plague was at its peak it is estimated that over 25 million people were killed in Europe alone.
The Black plague probably originated in China. From there it traveled to the Middle East and throughout southern Russia. It is most likely that it then spread through trade routes along the west. The trade routes lead into Italy along the black sea. Merchants then probably took it Egypt to places like Alexandria. Then it went towards Libya and Damascus and Upper Egypt. Scientists figure that the people who actually brought the Black Death to Europe were either Genoese or Venetian sailors.
As the plague spread its destruction into a vaster area through Pisa, it went towards Florence and then onto Bologna and Rome. Later it traveled to:
Venice,
Germany,
Austria,
Genoa,
Barcelona,
Spain,
Marseilles,
Southern France,
Paris,
England.
However throughout all this chaos Milan, Italy was virtually unaffected by the disease. The lord of the city ordered that the city gates were to be closed and no outside travelers were allowed in. Especially no travelers from plague areas. Central Germany and a city in Poland also did a similar isolation technique that spared many lives.
The doctor’s who were alive during the plague thought a combination of things. First they believed that the human body lacked fluids, or humors, and assumed that it was god’s call for repentance. Second they believed that God was punishing them for there sins. Because of this a extremist group known as flagellants erupted. Flagellants were a group of people who beat themselves. As the...