The Black Death Essay - 1812 Words

Middle Ages Most Notorious Killer: The Black Death This paper analyzes the documentary film Secrets of the dead-Mystery of the Black Death. This film discusses about the Black Death, a disease resulting from a combination of bubonic and pneumonic plague, which killed millions of Europeans during the Middle Ages. Researchers in this video clarify the origins of this pandemic/how it spread, the damage it caused on the whole European continent, the theory explaining how some people managed to escape the Black Death and the relationship between the disease and todays most dangerous virus: the HIV. The team of experts in this film is composed of historians, geneticists, a microbiologist, a virologist and even a†¦show more content†¦Different interpretations of the past This documentary clarified two aspects concerning the Black Death: the origins/spread of the plague, and what made it possible to survive the illness. First, one has to understand the Black Death started in the Middle Ages and it spread throughout the Europ ean continent. Around 1347, thirteen Genoese galleys entered the harbor of Messina, Sicily carrying the disease. Actually, the ships contained rats infected by flea that transmitted the tiny bubonic bacterium to the people on land. When the ships arrived at the harbor, it took only twelve months for the pandemic to kill a third of the population. Eventually, by January sixty percent of population in Marseilles die, and during spring seventy-five percent of people in Florence died. Around 1348, the plague approaches the shore of England, but was already installed in England before reaching the shore. People at that period lacked medical knowledge about these kinds of plagues, therefore when it first hit the Europe, they couldnt react on time to prevent it from damaging the population further. Some people did not even know that the Black Death exists, such as the tailor of Eyam, George Viccars, who received a bundle of cloth infected by fleas carrying the disease; consequently he cou ld not prevent it from spreading. Another reason was because of the tiny bubonic bacterium that penetrated into infected peoplesShow MoreRelatedThe Black Of Black Death939 Words   |  4 Pageshistory few events seem as cataclysmic as the Black Death. The Black Death was actually one of the most deadly pandemics in human history. This awful pandemics most devastating time in Europe was between 1348 and 1350. According to some estimates it wiped out at least two-thirds of Europe’s population. A Malmesbury monk from Wiltshire wrote that, â€Å"Over England as a whole a fifth og men, women and children were carried to the grave.† (James â€Å"Black Death: The lasting impact†) Many epidemiologists stillRead MoreThe Death Of The Black Death1148 Words   |  5 PagesThe Black Death, one of the greatest natural disaster to hit Europe thus causing the death of many people in the most horrific manner and cause the end of feudalism. This was a disaster that affected one third of the European continent and also one that no one was prepared to face. It killed more people than during a war and it impacted simple lives of people, their culture, religion and the economy as a whole. The origin of The Black Death has several explanations. Some people said The Black DeathRead MoreThe Death Of The Black Death905 Words   |  4 Pagesgrew were dying. On the wake of these seven distressing years of weather and famine was the greatest plague of all times, The Black Death. 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Yersinia Pestis is the virus responsible for the Black Death, a deadly disease that rapidly powered through Europe, killing nearly all of the people in its way. The Black Death had a lot of gruesome and scary symptoms that made bystanders sick just watching. Certain people were more likely to acquire the Black Death than others. Since peasants had worse living conditions than the nobility, they were far more likely to catch the PlagueRead MoreThe Black Death831 Words   |  4 PagesTHE BLACK DEATH! What Is The Black Death? The Black Death is a disease that went on for over 5 years. It also spread around a wide range of places! It killled and harmed thousands upon thousands of people and had no mercy. If you were to sadly catch the Black Death, you would DEFINITELY die and there was many cures and causes however none of the causes actually worked also all of causes were thought to be a punishment from God. 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