THE BLACK PLAGUE.   Term Paper ID:30844 Click to get this paper

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Paper Abstract: The history, effects and consequences of the mid-14th Century plague pandemic. The Black Death in Italy and other European countries. Rapid spread of the disease due to environmental conditions. Devastation to Medieval Society. Modern plagues such as AIDS and pneumonic plague. Genetics as a key to understand the Black Plague. Paper Introduction: The Black Plague History, Effect & Consequences History, Effects & Consequences In general, the plague pandemic of 1347-1350 was one of the worst disasters to ever affect the human race. The tragic events of those years events of those years are said to have marked the opening of a period of almost four centuries in which Europe and the Middle East were struck by repeated outbreaks of the same disease. By the end of 1348, the plague had covered all of Italy and most of France, crossing the Alps from Italy into Switzerland as well. England was then affected, as were Germany, Scandinavia, and parts of Russia. Increased trade during the period was largely responsible for transmission of the plague, “entering port cities and then moving inland as goods and infected humans were dis Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. However, Travis (1999) argues thatcontrary to popular thinking, the gene that causes bubonic plague isrelatively young in historical terms, perhaps only 1,5 to 2 ,5 yearsold (343). (1983). (1965). While our contemporary scientific, public health and technologicaladvances make us much more equipped to deal with pandemics than ourMedieval counterparts, so, too, these disciplines and others have helpedshed light on plagues from past eras like the Black Plague. A distinct decline in learning, due in part tothe deaths of intellectuals and scholars, continued for a substantialperiod of time after the disease abated. As one scientist explains,when volcanoes erupt they cause powerful explosions that release sulfurdioxide gas into the air. Dragomanni). As Boccaccio (1965) described it, "It was common practice ofmost of the neighbors, moved no less by fear of contamination by theputrefying bodies than by charity towards the deceased, to drag corpses outof houses with their hands" (xxvii). (1844-1845). Governments that should, ideally, havelooked to the welfare of their citizens did not, with officials as likelyas any others of affluence to abandon the city as soon as possible.Conditions in many cities quickly deteriorated, making an already badsituation worse. Given that the wealth of the landedclasses depended upon their capacity to engage the peasantry in productivework, the lack of adequate workers impoverished many of the hereditarynobility, leaving them land-rich but cash poor. New York, NY: The Free Press.Marks, G. Franc G. The environmental climate of the period was ideal for the rapidspread of this kind of disease. Science News, 156(122), 343.Villani, G. This new class or merchants included a substantial number ofnobles and changed aristocracy. Thepre-plague period suffered from famine that erupted in social unrest thatwas dramatically exacerbated during the period when the pestilence movedthrough the city. Religious zealots blamed AIDSas God's revenge on the scourge of homosexuality, as the disease wasoriginally thought to be a "gay" disease since healthy, young homosexualswere its first victims. The plague, unlike other social phenomena of the era, made nodistinction between poor and rich or noble born and peasant. (1971). (Oct 28, 1992). New York, NY: The Modern Library.Gottfried, R. Y. Such researchfindings are important because if scientists can figure out how the Y.Pestis strain developed they may be able to explain how it acts as such adangerous microbe. The Black Plague History, Effect & ConsequencesHistory, Effects & Consequences In general, the plague pandemic of 1347-135 was one of the worstdisasters to ever affect the human race. In hisfictionalized account of the Black Death in The Decameron, GiovanniBoccaccio (1965) wrote that "It spread without stop from one place toanother...Neither knowledge nor human foresight prevailed against it,although the city was cleansed of much filth by chosen officer in chargeand sick persons were forbidden to enter it" (xxiii-xxiv). Medical science was totally unprepared to provide relief to the sickand dying or to halt the spread of infection. The poor sanitationconditions of Florence were also responsible for creating a prime breedingground for the plague and its transmission. As Boccaccio (1965) wrote, "Inthe midst of the affliction and misery that had befallen the city, even thereverend authority of divine and human law had almost crumbled and falleninto decay, for its ministers and executors...had either sickened and died,or had been left so entirely without assistants that they were unable toattend their duties" (xxv-xxvi). Most victims died withinthree days of the appearance of fatal signs such as swelling in the groinor armpit. (Ed. Travis argues that genetics is the key to understandingthe origins of the Black Plague that so severely devastated Medievalsociety. Current Science, 86(11), 12- 13. Other research and other disciplines have also shed light on thepossible causes of the Black Plague that struck during the Medieval era.According to researchers at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies,volcanic eruptions may be responsible for helping spread the bubonic plaguebecause of their impact on rodent populations. As reported in Current Science (2 1), When the northern jet stream moves south, it carries cold air from the North Pole with it and causes the climates of Europe and the Middle East to become cooler and more humid. Increased trade during the period waslargely responsible for transmission of the plague, "entering port citiesand then moving inland as goods and infected humans were disseminated"(Marks, 1971, 55). Garden City, NY: Doubleday.Pneumonic plague - Arizona, 1992. Take for example, the advisories and guidelines of healthofficials in Arizona with respect to the outbreak of pneumonic plague inArizona: Persons suspected to have pneumonic plague should be placed in respiratory isolation and reported immediately to public health authorities so that rapid diagnosis, environmental assessments, and control measures (including flea control, rodent control, health education, and investigation contacts) can be initiated (Pneumonic, 1992, 2146). The gas mixes with water vapor and then spreadacross the atmosphere. These vapors block radiation from the sun and causenorthern jet streams to turn south. Pestis has long been considered the culprit behind the threemajor outbreaks of bubonic plague. While we can never hope toavoid them altogether, such knowledge helps prepare us for dealing thepandemics when they erupt in a better manner than possible in the Medievalera. Gottfried (1983) writes that like others in Italian cities affectedby the plague, the Florentines adopted an Epicurean attitude, "drinking,reveling, and spending money. Chronica di Giovanni Villani. The wealthy fled the city for the "cleaner" air andsurroundings of their rural properties; shops and factories closed, pricesfor scarce foods and basic commodities soared as the market system whichbrought goods into the city from the countryside began to experiencedifficulties. Simultaneously, these cities had also becometerribly overcrowded, unsanitary, and home to extremely poor groups.Peasants had never lived far above the subsistence level, and the people ofthe Middle Ages tended to place little value on human life. Boccaccio (1965) wrote that asthe plague continued, some Florentines turned to prayer, fasting, andmortification of the flesh in the hopes that an appeal to God would granttheir safety. Nevertheless, modern plagues still occur butofficials, health care experts and scientists are much better prepared todeal with them than their counterparts during the Black Plague of theMiddle Ages. The tragic events of those yearsevents of those years are said to have marked the opening of a period ofalmost four centuries in which Europe and the Middle East were struck byrepeated outbreaks of the same disease. While the AIDSpandemic erupted in modern times, there were significant impacts on aspectsof society that resemble the Black Plague. (Feb 9, 2 1). ReferencesBoccaccio, G. Doubts as to the truth of the Christianfaith that may have originated in part during the years of the plague couldwell be associated with the rise of secular humanism in the Renaissanceand, later on, the Protestant Reformation.New Developments The Black Plague and plague research in general have benefited frommodern technologies and scientific advances. Travis (1999) argues that Yersinia Pestis is a recent offshootof the less dangerous Yersinia pseudotuberculosis (343). A population explosion in the elevenththrough thirteenth centuries had created cities which were centers for art,culture, and commerce. Florence: University of Florence.Volcanoes bring Black Plague. Physicians routinely charged enormoussums for treatments that were pathetically useless, while priests wanderedthe streets ministering to the dead and dying until they, themselves, werestricken. England was then affected, as were Germany,Scandinavia, and parts of Russia. The Black Death. Animals, running wild in the streets, rooted in the cast-offclothing and among the corpses of the dead; it is probably, says Marks(1971), that these animals assisted in spreading the disease among theFlorentine population (57). Parents abandoned children, husbands leftwives, and sick relatives were forsaken" (47). All manner of indecentbehaviors which would, in normal times, have been severely chastised andnot tolerated, began to become commonplace. From genetic research togeological discoveries, researchers, health professionals, scientists andhistorians are gaining new insights into the origins and impact of theBlack Plague as well as modern plagues such as AIDS. Economic restructuring also took place in the years after theplague, which made possible the creation of a new class of entrepreneurialmerchants. Boccaccio also described the impact of the plague on Florence andits people. In his articlein Science News, J. JAMA, 268(16), 2146-2157.Travis, J. Giovanni Villani (1961) claimed that the Black Death (also known asthe Black Plague) had reached Florence in late 1346, killing a total ofaround 4, people, and then diminishing in the winter of 1348 (237). (Nov 27, 1999). The Decameron. Gottfried(1983) estimated that nearly 75 percent of the Florentine population waslost to the plague or died as a consequence of it (46). The wealth ofthe cities was of little benefit to the poor in a time of massive crisissuch as that of the plague years. It is likely as science progresses we will discover even more aboutplague events that occurred tens of centuries ago, as a means of hopefullyavoiding a similar impact on contemporary society. The Medieval Plague. By the end of 1348, the plague hadcovered all of Italy and most of France, crossing the Alps from Italy intoSwitzerland as well. Spiritually, the BlackPlague also had devastating consequences. Others became superstitious and turned to the black arts,numerology and astrology for signs of help. Genes reveal recent origin for the plague. Such conditions foster the growth of rodent populations (12).Therefore, as we progress in our knowledge of science and medicine, we areable to derive new insights and understanding into the causes and impact ofplagues that may still erupt in our own time. However, medical science and technology haveprovided insights into the nature, cause and impact of the disease to thepoint that such fears and prophetic pronouncements soon gave way to commonsense and advanced science. The already weakened inhabitants of Florence wererendered even more vulnerable to the plague. A group called the "Becchini"appeared, consisting of men of lower social rank, who carted off the dead;some of this group turned to murder, rape, and looting adding to theatmosphere of terror throughout already stricken cities. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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