The Black Death (1347 – 1353)
The first Black Death pandemic first appeared in the mid 14th century and was thought to be caused by the bacterium ‘Yersinia Pestis,’ in the family Yesiniaceae, order Enterobacterales. The bacterium was not found during the Black Death pandemic but discovered by a Swiss French physician Alexandre Yersin in 1894 during the Hong Kong plague epidemic. Yersin concluded that transmission involved rats and its ectoparasites (Xenopsylla cheopis). Before Yersin’s discovery, the theory of miasma was commonly used to describe the rapid spread and infection of Black Death. Miasma was the idea that diseases were caused by “bad air” from decomposing organic matter. But as we now know, the Black Death was transmitted by animals bitten by infected fleas, droplet inhalation from an infected person, close contact with infected animals, and – though rare – the consumption of contaminated raw meat, not the theory of miasma.
Yersinia Pestis caused mainly 3 variations of the plague: bubonic, septicaemic, pneumonic.
Bubonic plague had the symptoms like:
The development of buboes, painfully swollen lymph nodes in the groin, armpits or neck that would ooze pus or blood, skin sores, and black spots or livid patches on the skin.
Septicaemic plague was due to bacteria multiplying rapidly in the blood stream. Symptoms were:
Internal bleeding into skin or other organs, tissue death/gangrene, where tissues would turn black and die due to lack of blood circulation, and abdominal pain and symptoms of shock.
Pneumonic plague was due to direct human transmission through inhalation of droplets in the air. Symptoms were:
Severe respiratory problems with shortness of breath and chest pain and coughing which would often produce bloody or watery mucus. Some more common symptoms that are uncategorised are skin ulceration, pustules, spots, petechiae (small, pinpoint red, brown or purple spots on the skin or mucus membranes), bruising and gangrene.
The Black death was first brought into Europe by the Tartar armies in 1346, during the Siege of Caffa in Crimea. Caffa was established by Genoa in 1266 by an agreement with the Khan of the Golden Horde. It was an important main port for the Genoese merchant ships and had a wide reach which contributed largely to the spread of the plague, but relations between the Italian traders and their Mongol hosts was tense and in 1307, Totquai (Khan of the Golden Horde) arrested the Italian residents of Sarai – a nearby city - and besieged Caffa. After the siege was lifted, relations between Italians and the Golden Horde were even worse and can be considered to have contributed to the second siege in 1343, by Mongols under Janibeg who succeeded Totquai’s own successor Ozbeg in 1340. The siege lasted until February 1344 and was lifted due to an Italian Relief force that killed 15,000 Mongol troops and destroyed their siege machines. After the unsuccessful Tartar sieges, the dead bodies that had died to the plague were catapulted across the wall into Caffa. The plague spread from Sicily in 1347 and to Eastern Europe in 1350.
For the 14th century Black Death plague, there have been an estimated 25-50 million deaths. Since the cause of infection was incorrect, there was little doctors could do due to the problem with their flawed knowledge. Remedies given during the 14th century was inhalation of aromatic vapours from flowers and herbs, but once the more trustworthy doctors died to the plague, most remedies had little to no effect and quack doctors became more common and sought out. Many people though that the Black Death was a punishment from God or due to the behaviour of the planet. JMVH states that; “Often families were wiped out and villages were abandoned. Crops could not be harvested, travelling and trade become restricted and food and manufactured food became little. Shortage of labour and the plague broke down the normal divisions between upper and lower class and led to the emergence of the middle class.” The government and king, however, had limited recorded response. In April 1349, Edward III ordered the mayor of London to clean the streets, playing in to the idea of miasma, and later the king ordered the bishops to organise paradises of priests in England’s cities. Historians can see that the idea of the Black Death being caused by religious regions was popular, like the idea of a punishment of God, mostly due to the less advanced medicine and lack of understanding of diseases and bacteria.
The 2nd Black Death or the 2nd plague pandemic is the most recent pandemic recorded. There are many records about it, like Samuel Pepsys in his 1665 diaries and Daniel Deforce in his 1722 Journals who said, “people were incarcerated in their homes, doors painted with a cross.” The peak of the pandemic was reached in 1665, when an estimated 7,000 people were dying per day in London alone, resulting in a fifth of London’s population dying in 1665-66. One notable record of the plague pandemic would be the nursery rhyme; ‘Ring a Ring o’ Rosies,’ a song which is presumed to have been taught to young children to warn them about the start of the diseases, showing the impact on the future generations of children during the plague.
Comments