Black Death

Background Research
Source One:

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/black_death_of_1348_to_1350.htm

Notes:

❖ The Black Death started in 1348

❖ The Black Death was also known as ‘The Bubonic Plague’

❖ The Black Death had a major effect on England’s social structure which lead to the ‘Peasant’s Revolt’

❖ The Black Death was spread by flees on rats

❖ The Bubonic plague spread quickly because all the people walked in the streets, packed together and none of them knew anything about contagious diseases.

❖ Since people did not know much medical knowledge, people would do anything to them escape the disease.

❖ One of the more extreme was ‘flagellants’. Flagellants wanted to show their love of God by whipping themselves, hoping that God would forgive them their sins and that they would be spared the Black Death.

❖ Since the Black Death had such a major impact on the population, there were no-more people to plough the fields and harvest food, which meant that people began to starve.

❖ One of the consequences of the Black Death was inflation – the price of food went up, which meant that it was very hard for the poor to buy food.

❖ As the Black Death ended, the few that survived thought that they were somewhat special, which lead to the ‘Peasant’s Revolt’.

Source Two:

http://www.themiddleages.net/plague.html

Notes:

❖ In October of 1347, several Italian merchant ships returned from a trip to the Black Sea, when the ships docked in Sicily, many of those on board were already dying of plague. The disease then, spread very quickly as it was contagious.

❖ People called it ‘The Black Death’ because of the black spots that were produced on their skins.

❖ The disease began to disappear when winter arrived because of the flees, but as soon as spring came back the flees would once again spread their disease. After five years around 25 million people were dead, one third population of Europe.

❖ Smaller outbreaks of the disease continued, not for years but centuries, the disease did not fully disappear until the 1600s

Summary of Background Research:

❖ In conclusion, as you can see the Black Death had a major impact on the society at the time and also it had an impact on the feudal system. From the research I have found, the Black Death started in 1348 from several Italian merchant ships returning back from the Black Sea, carrying the disease from the docks of China. The Black Death got its name from the black spots that were produced on the skin, it was one of the symptoms of the Black Death. The Black Death was also known as the ‘Bubonic Plague’. Since people had very little medical knowledge back then, they would do anything to escape the horrid disease. One of the more extreme were ‘flagellants’, these people would walk on the streets whipping themselves, hoping that God would forgive them so they would spared the Black Death. The Black Death spread very quickly because people would walk in the streets, packed together, spreading the disease person to person.

❖ After five years around 25 million had died, which was one third of Europe’s population. One of the consequences of the Black Death was inflation – the price of food went up, which meant that it was very hard for the poor to buy food. As the Black Death ended, the few that survived thought that they were somewhat special, which lead to the ‘Peasant’s Revolt’. This lead to the society we live in now, the peasants had freedom and earned money to feed their families. In summary the Black Death was one of the important events of the Medieval Times and had a major impact on the society structure.