How did Medieval Europe deal with the Black Death? Starter: Please fill in your tracker sheet using the result for the 12 mark question on why medicine was held back! Challenge: How were hospitals different from the NHS hospitals today?

What was the plague? In 1348, a deadly disease had spread throughout Europe and eventually reached Britain. 1/3 of the population of Europe were killed by the disease known as the Black Death. It was carried by fleas that lived on black rats, if a flea bit a human the disease entered the blood stream. (However recent research suggests that it may have been airborne, which supports miasmic theory) Modern historians believed that all three waves of the disease originated in China and travelled to Europe via merchant shipping. Responsible for the deaths of 1.5 million people between 1348 and 1350. In London, 60% of the population died in 1349. Key word: Miasma The belief that an unpleasant or unhealthy smell or vapour that spreads disease. Known as “miasmic theory”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hBOqGC1BLw

What impact did it have? The Black Death had a huge impact on society. Fields went unploughed as the men who usually did this were victims of the disease. Harvests would not have been brought in as the manpower did not exist. Animals would have been lost as the people in a village would not have been around to tend them. Therefore whole villages would have faced starvation. Towns and cities would have faced food shortages as the villages that surrounded them could not provide them with enough food. One consequence of the Black Death was inflation – the price of food went up creating more hardship for the poor. In some parts of England, food prices went up by four times.

The symptoms

(Source 2) Michele di Piazze, letter (October, 1347) The sailors brought in their bones a disease so violent that whoever spoke a word to them was infected and could in no way save himself from death... Those to whom the disease was transmitted by infection of the breath were stricken with pains all over the body and felt a terrible lassitude. There then appeared, on a thigh or an arm, a pustule like a lentil. From this the infection penentrated the body and violent bloody vomiting began. It lasted for a period of three days and there was no way of preventing its ending in death. (Source 6) Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameron (c. 1360) It first betrayed itself by the emergence of certain tumours in the groin or the armpits, some of which grew as large as a common apple, others as an egg... merely by speech or association with the sick was the disease communicated to the healthy... any that touched the clothes of the sick... seemed to catch the disease... Many died daily or nightly in the public streets. Of many others, who died at home, the departure was hardly observed by their neighbours, until the stench of the bodies carried the news. (Source 7) Edward IV's Plague Medicines (c. 1480) A medicine for the plague... Take an egg that is newly laid, and make a hole in either end, and blow out all that is within. And lay it to the fire and let it roast till it may be ground to powder, but do not burn it. Then take a quantity of good treacle, and mix it with chives and good ale. And then make the sick drink it for three evenings and three mornings. Source 3) Letter sent by a group of doctors from Oxford to the Lord Mayor of London (c. 1350) If an ulcer appears... near the ear or the throat, take blood from the arm on that side, that is, from the vein between the thumb and the first finger... But if you have an ulcer in the groin, then open a vein in the foot between the big toe and its neighbour... At all events, bloodletting should be carried out when the plague first strikes. (Source 4) Henry Knighton, Chronicle (c. 1398) The King of Tharsis, seeing so sudden and unheard of death among his subjects, set out with a large number of nobles towards the Pope... He proposed to be baptised a Christian, believing that God's vengeance had fallen upon his people by reason of their evil lack of faith. But, after twenty days' journey, hearing that the plague had created a great havoc among Christians... turned and went no farther on that way, but hastened home unto his own country.

Learning Task Target 3-4 Answer the following questions: What were the symptoms of the Black Death? Describe the different methods that were used to either prevent or cure the plague. Comment on the effectiveness of these methods. Why did people come up with different ideas on how to deal with the Black Death? Target 8-9 Identify the various ways they would treat the plague, for each explain why they thought this worked. E.g. “Doctors would wear protective clothing, as well as masks stuffed with herbs. This was because they believed in miasmic theory” Draw a cycle in your books to show how the various preventions for the plague would actually make the virus spread quicker. Target 5-7 Split your book page into two columns – prevention and treatment. Identify as many as possible in each column. Explain how people’s beliefs about the plague influenced how it was treated. Give examples.

At the start of the problem, humoral treatment like bleeding. Prevention At the start of the problem, humoral treatment like bleeding. Create a drink from burned egg and other herbs which encourages sickness. Drink the sickness. Lighting a fire and boiling vinegar to mask the smell. Pray to God for forgiveness, as he had sent it as punishment. Going on pilgrimage and making offerings to God Self-flaggelation (whipping) Escaping it – Guy de Chaulliac advised people to leave their homes to avoid it. Carry flowers and spices to mask smell. Don’t wash, as it would open up the pores and allow the miasma to enter. Quarantine laws – people new to the area had to stay away from everyone for 40 days to ensure they were healthy. Many were locked in their homes to die. Local authorities stopped cleaning the streets, they believed the foul stench of rubbish and bodies would drive off the miasma. In many ways, people’s beliefs about the causes did influence the way they treated it. Firstly the believed God had sent it as punishment, so praying, fasting and pilgrimage was a common method. Others believed it was spreading by bad smells, so plague doctors would have to wear masks to mask the miasma. This also explains why Local authorities stopped cleaning the streets, they believed the foul stench of rubbish and bodies would drive off the miasma.

Flagellants would whip themselves to punish themselves for God. Large crowds gathered to see them. The disease would spread quicker, infecting more people. Their backs would run red with blood, spraying onto walls and the crowds.

People would leave rubbish and bodies on streets, to create smells to stop the disease spreading. Smells would attract rats and make people feel ill. The disease would spread quicker, infecting more people. Fleas on the back of rats would spread and bite people.