BLACK DEATH
No one was exempt as it swept in off the shores and into the countryside laying its burden of death and pestilence. Europe had prospered readily for about 300 years prior to the beginning of the 1300's but a series of natural disasters occurred. Poor harvests and famine were common and as the prosperous years came to a close, economies were in recession at the onset of the Black Death. Europe, on a whole, would take a step backward. There have been plagues throughout recorded history, but none were of the magnitude nor had the far reaching effects that the Black Plague had. Its namesake came from symptomatic hemorrhages that turned black. Though most people associate the Black Death with the middle ages, forms of the Bubonic Plague have been known in China as early as 224 BC. The Black Death Embarked on a journey as an epidemic in the Gobi Desert in the 1320's. By 1400, China's population of 125 million had been reduced to 90 million. Southwest Asia and Europe followed suite with strikingly similar losses in their population base. In 1347, the Kipchaks who were nomads from the Euro-Asian Steppe, were thought to deliberately infect a European city with the disease. The Kipchaks had laid siege to a Genoese trading post in Crimea.
Hoping t weaken the defenders, they used a catapult to lob infected corpses into the compound. Trading vessels from Crimea subsequently brought cargo infested with the disease burdened rodents and crew west. Starting in Sicily in 1347, it began a four year reign of terror traveling as far as Greenland. During this four year it is believed Europe lost one third of its population. The Catholic Church was injured both physically and emotionally. In Avignon, that had been the home of the Papacy for nearly a century lost greater than half its monks. Consequently, religious purity for the dying was hard to come by. This was not only a result of the priests trying to fulfill their duties and becoming infected, but also by those who sought to stay away. When recognizing what was happening around him, Pope Clement VI realized that nothing would be gained from his death and sought refuge in his chambers spending days sitting between two roaring fires on either side of him. One note of consolation to the medical field, was all this was done on the advice of the Papal physician. He survived as well as most of the upper class did by simply having the means to do so. People recognized the loss of the cleric alongside the peasant, lady of the court, and child. It didn't distinguish evil from good, but took the lives of all. Overall there was a negative e
Some common words found in the essay are:
Starting Sicily, Clement VI, English Parliament, Catholic Church, , Crimea Hoping, Wrath God, Euro-Asian Steppe, Death Europe, Asia Europe, black death, lower class,
Approximate Word count = 910
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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