In the year 1348 AD, an enemy quite unexpected and very uncontrollable came to the shores of Italy. It struck viscously and quickly, by the time this enemy had left more than half of the population of Italy was dead. This is enemy as we now know was The Plague. Although many are of unsure of the exact time that the plague arrived in Italy, the rough estimate is late in 1348. The plague started in 1334, in Asia and killed about 90% of the population in Hopei, a province of China. It was carried along trade routes and began to work its was West, striking India, Syria and Mesopotamia (Gottfried p.1-3).

In 1346, the plague came to Kaffa, a Genoese cathedral city and a port central to the successful Genoese trade industry located on the Crimean Peninsula of the Black Sea. The Tartar forces of Kipchak Khan Janibeg, backed by the Venetian forces, competitors of the Genoese, had laid siege to Kaffa in hopes of removing the Genoese from one of the cornerstones of Europe's defense against Eastern attack and Genoa's dominance of East-West trade. Kaffa was helpless, barely able to sustain even the crudest living conditions. Finding its chief means of supply cut o

A group of individuals known as flagellants emerged whose aim was to dispel fear of the clergy. The flaggelants placed blame on Gods wrath, and insisted that it was the sins of men and women that compelled God to punish them. The efforts of the flaggelants began in Perugia and Central Italy in 1260, and their message soon spread north to other parts of Europe. Groups of these religious fanatics traveled from town to town trying to persuade villagers to join their cause. Each flagellant carried a scourge, a wooden stick with three or four leather pieces attached to one end. A sharp iron spike about an inch in length adorned the end of each leather whip. The flagellants would congregate in the center of a town or village and form a circle. Each participant would stripe from the waist up and would then begin to whip himself/herself with his scourge. The pace and severity of the beatings increased with time. The ritual occurred at least once a day for three days in a row before the flagellants would move on to the next village, hoping to convert a few more individuals. The flagellants' "cure" failed to ease the minds of many people. In many instances, cases of the Plague rose in towns through which the flagellants had passed. Because the actions taken by the flagellants became too radical, in 1349, Pope Clement VI declared them to be heretical, and efforts were made to surprises the spread of their message.

In a final note, some of the death toll numbers go as stated:

The Plague itself was presented in four interrelated forms. The bubonic variant (the most common) derives from the swellings or buboes that appeared on a victim's neck, armpit or groin. These tumors could range in size from that of an egg to that of an apple. Although some survived the painful ordeal, the manifestation of these legions usually signaled the victim had a life expectancy of up to a week. Infected fleas that attached themselves to rats and then to humans usually spread this bubonic type of the plague.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 5238
Approximate Pages = 21 (250 words per page double spaced)