Buboonic Plague

A detailed Summary of Buboonic Plague

No one - peasant or aristocrat - was safe from the disease [bubonic plague], and once it was contracted, a horrible and painful death was almost a certainty. The dead and the dying lay in the streets abandoned by frightened friends and relatives (482).

This certainly paints an accurate and horrifying picture of the fourteenth century during the plague. The bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death or The Plague, (Hindley 103) was one of the major scourges of the Middle Ages. It killed indiscriminately without remorse or thought of consequences. Because the plague was so widespread, theories about causes, blame and a variety of supposed cures abounded. Most of these were without basis or fact and relied on myths and rumors. Theories for the causes and blames came from ignorance and hate, two horrible things married by fear. Some of the cures were not much better than the plague itself.

The plague was transmitted to humans by fleas from infected rats that nested in people's roofs (Matthew 154). Fourteenth century man had no concept of how the disease was spread or how it could be stopped. The plague was transmitted to western Europe from China along trade routes (Matthew 154). Once the plague had reac

Cantor, Norman. The Civilization of the Middle Ages. New York HarperCollins Publishers, 1993.

Herlihy, David, ed. Medieval Culture and Society. New York Walker and Company, 1968.

The Black Death killed about a third of Europe's population. The reign of terror lasted for twenty years in the fourteenth century (Cantor 477). This horrible disease killed young and old, rich and poor. The plague knew no boundaries. Today we might think that the beliefs of the fourteenth century were barbaric and archaic, but it has only been in the last one hundred years that scientists and doctors have discovered the cause of the bubonic plague. Believing that the plague was caused by bad air, the planets positions or the Jews or that it could be cured with fire or herbs seemed logical to fourteenth century man although it may seem foolish to modern man.

Many supposed cures arose in response to the plague. Some believed that if they lived moderately, consumed the most delicate foods and wines, and abstained from sex, that their resistance to the plague would be higher (Herlihy 354). There were others that believed the exact opposite. They believed in "heavy drinking", and lots of "cheer" and "singing" (Herlihy 354) to keep them safe. Still others chose to live their lives at an even keel, not too moderate, not too heavy (Herlihy 354). In Rowlings' Everyday Life of Medieval travellers, she states that "Flight became increasingly one of the commonest means adopted to escape from this dreaded disease" (118). People also believed that if you burned fires, with "stinkpots" filled with various herbs and other natural ingredients, that it would "correct the infectious air" (Bartel 53). Perfumes made from roots a

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Category: Science