1 / 40

The Great Pestilence: Causes, coping with, and consequences of the Black Death in Europe

The Great Pestilence: Causes, coping with, and consequences of the Black Death in Europe. David X. Swenson PhD LP 2009. Woman & Death c. 1517 by Hans Baldung Grien. Objectives. To present systemic factors in the origin, management and consequences of the Black Death

ivrit
Télécharger la présentation

The Great Pestilence: Causes, coping with, and consequences of the Black Death in Europe

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The Great Pestilence: Causes, coping with, and consequences of the Black Death in Europe David X. Swenson PhD LP 2009 Woman & Death c. 1517 by Hans BaldungGrien

  2. Objectives • To present systemic factors in the origin, management and consequences of the Black Death • To demonstrate systems mapping through analysis of the Black Death in Europe • To identify systemic factors that may parallel current conditions for other epidemic diseases

  3. Overview • Starting in Mongolia and spreading through China and Middle East, the bubonic plague arrived in Southern Europe in 1347 • The plague rapid spread throughout Europe over the next three years, killing from 30-50% of the entire population • The plague was recurrent from the 14th to 17th centuries, and still occasionally emerges in the modern world • The impact of the plague on social, political, economic, technological, and other change drivers significantly influenced Western civilization • Many of the dynamics of the Medieval plague find parallels in the modern world

  4. In the 1320s drying climate forced plague infested sheep herds south with expanding Mongol Horde

  5. Plague YouTube

  6. Spread of the plague Climate change and competitive pressure for economic expansion New East-West trade routes Rapid spread of disease Rapid & efficient water routes & vessels Rapid transit of infested cargoes & infected crews from port to port Large, bulky, grain cargoes that conceal rats

  7. Impact of Climate: The Little Ice Age 1300-1850 • May have been due to decreased sunspots (1% decrease in solar radiation), decrease in carbon dioxide, or volcanic activity • Cooler temperatures, longer winters, shorter and wetter summers, shorter growing season (by 20% in northern lat.); Change was -2 to -3 F degrees • From May to August in 1315 rain fell eroding soil; it fell for most of 5 years • Poor germination, failed harvests, rotting crops, livestock died, eating next year’s seed; Price of grain >5-fold • Delayed & frozen-in shipping • Famine of 1315-1317 killed >1.5 million; with repeated famines life expectancy decreased from 48 to 38 • Glaciers engulfed Mt. villages; abandoned land and villages • More firewood needed, deforestation begins (Stradivarius wood?)

  8. Climate influencing art 'WinterLandscape with Skaters Near a Castle' by Adriaen Van de Venne. Snow dominates many villagescapes by Flemish painter Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564-1638), who lived in the middle of the Little Ice Age. Hunters in the Snow by the Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525–1569).

  9. Agriculture, land distribution, and manorial system • 12 century political stability, new crops, 3-field planting, horse harness, windmill power • Population increase (e.g., 25 to 75 million 950-1250), 1-5%/year • Peasants worked land held by lords, paying in food • Patrilineal land inheritance to eldest son; other go to urban areas • Assarting– clearing marginal wastelands and marshes to accommodate growing population • Heavy reliance on cereal crops exhausted land with lower yield

  10. Land was broken into successively smaller sections

  11. Rural Life • Proximity of humans & livestock • Poor sanitation & hygiene • Opportunity for pest habitation • Proximity of rats

  12. Urban Life • Population congestion • Poor sanitation & hygiene • High trade route interaction

  13. fleas can disgorge up to 24,000 bacilli in each bite.

  14. Less manure fertilizer Figure 1. Preconditions for the plague • Poor production • lower wheat yield • poor crops • no grape culture • grain not ripen • lower seed yield • Climate change: • longer winters • wetter seasons • flooding • shorter growing • colder climate Animal famine Susceptibility to Disease Poor nutrition • Poor sanitation • reed mats • no bathing • garbage & waste • proximity to animals & rats • Innovations • new crops • 3-field crop rotation • heavy plow • shared ox teams • horse harness • wind/water mill • horseshoe • Land limitations • limited availability • use of poor land • erosion • cleared forests • drained fens Plague Population congestion Increased land use • Social pressures • rich-poor gap • low wages • restrictive guilds • revolts Increased birth rate & population • Settlement pattern • assarting • reclamation • inheritance Migration to towns& cities Marry earlier to get land

  15. Bubonic Plague • appears 2-6 days after infection • swollen lymph glands (“buboes”) • Blood vessels break, causing internal bleeding; Dried blood under the skin turns black, hence the name, "Black Death“ • fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, extreme exhaustion, nausea & vomiting • death 4-6 days, up to 75% mortality • spread slow, person-to-person

  16. Septicemic (direct blood infection or as complication) • fever, chills, extreme exhaustion, abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, bleeding from orifices, bruising, organ bleeding, shock, kidney shutdown, blackening (gangrene) of tissues– • Sudden, severe, & nearly 100% fatal-- death in 1-3 days

  17. Pneumonic Plague • sudden onset, high fever, chills, cough, breathing difficulty, chest pain • highly infectious frothy & bloody sputum fills lungs • most rapidly developing and fatal form of plague; 90-95% mortality; respiratory failure within 2 days • spreads rapidly from person-to-person

  18. The most famous treatise on the causes of the plague, the Paris Consilium, was written by forty-nine medical masters at the University of Paris in October 1348 at the request of King Philip VI of France. It stated that the ultimate cause of the plague would never be known - that the truth was beyond human grasp. It did, however, give several possibilities…

  19. Proposed causes of the Black Death • Planetary conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter & Mars causing disturbance in the atmosphere • Will of God (Islamic acceptance) • Work of the devil • Moral contamination • Earthquake releasing noxious fumes • Hot weather, exercise, or bathing opening body pores to infection • Lust with old women • Overeating • Hot moist temperament (humors) • Miasma (corruption of the air) by manure, garbage, corpses

  20. Medieval understanding of illness The Humours

  21. Shave and a haircut: Medieval healthcare • Cautery • Blistering • Purging • Bleeding • Leeching • Cupping • Poultices • Potions • Prayer

  22. “A little bit o’ sugar makes the medicine go down…” Apothecaries sold magical and herbal ingredients and poultices for a variety of ills– none of which worked with the plague

  23. Efforts at prevention & treatment • Self flagellation, processions, pilgrimages • Piety, prayer • Flee from low lying areas (marshes, coastal areas) • Flee to “safe” areas (cool, dry, mountain) • Sit between fires (Pope) • Inhale pleasant smells from burning aromatic woods and herbs • Avoid washing, exercise, and heat • Plague outfits • Amulets of tin, mercury, lead • Eat spices (myrrh, saffron, pepper) • Special diets (figs, filberts, onions, garlic) • Laxatives • Diuretics • Phlebotomy (bleeding) • Cautery (burning) • Avoid too much sleep or sleeping on back • Compounds of vipers, scorpions, & toads • Eradication of 70,000 dogs and cats in London • Spiders spin webs to absorb noxious miasmas • Wash & drink goat urine • Smoke tobacco (anti-plague pipes sold) • Bells and cannon shot to disrupt vapors • Rub perfumes over house walls • Blister thighs with burning herbs & rub in butter Garb for protection against plague • Entrails of young pigeon or puppy on forehead • Dried toad over bubo to absorb poison • Warm bread in infected person’s mouth to absorb lethal vapors • Pigs near dying person so smell will heal • Drink red wine to quench stench • Birds fly around sickroom to keep vapors in motion • Inhale stench in front of latrine

  24. Boccaccio’s Decameron: “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may die” “…ate lunch with their friends, and ate dinner with their ancestors in paradise.” Boccaccio 1348 Black Death in Florence

  25. You can’t beat it: Piety, Processions, and Flagellation • If the plague was divine anger, Christians could assuage the anger by public penitence • Traveled from town to town, led by a master, and scourging themselves • Promoted persecution of Jews • Pope Clement VI condemned the sect • The movement was recurrent with the plagues • The more often spread the disease as they traveled

  26. Looking for Scapegoats • Jewish sanitation and dietary laws provided some protection • Prosecution of Jews, Muslims, heretics, homosexuals, witches, vagrants, lepers, prostitutes, poor foreigners, refugees, etc • Wore special clothing & badges • Restricted to village sections, property confiscated • Beaten, banished, or burned • 1349 12,000 Jews had been tortured, burned/killed in Bavaria • 12,000 in Toledo, Spain • 6,000 in Maintz, Germany • 3,000 in Erfurt, 2,000 in Strausberg, 400 in Worms • Near Tours a huge trench was dug and 160 Jews burned in one day • By 1351 60 major and 150 smaller Jewish communities were exterminated

  27. Plague victims blessed by priest Only 7 of 150 friars survived at Montpelier

  28. Mortality Rate • Overall, human death rates ranged from 30-75% • Over 5,000 sheep died in one pasture • Danzig 1427-- 80,000 deaths • Paris 1466-- 40,000   • Moscow 1570-- 200,000   • Lyons 1572-- 50,000   • Venice 1576-- 70,000   • London 1603-- 38,000   • Egypt 1603-- 1,000,000   • London 1625-- 35,417   • Naples 1656-- 300,000   • Amsterdam 1663-- 50,000   • London 1665-- 68,596 Historians have recorded the following incidents in Europe • 1300-1399 27 epidemics • 1400-1499 28 epidemics • 1500-1599 21 epidemics • 1600-1699 18 epidemics • 1700-1799 32 epidemics • 1800-1867 33 epidemics

  29. What actually worked… • Passports • Quarantine • Health Boards • Garbage removal • Urban sanitation • Health certificates • Washing hands and face • Fumigation & burning clothing & houses • Isolation of foul professions (fishmonger, leather worker, butchers) • Segregation of infected corpses • Death certificates & records Plague House at Jaffa

  30. 62,596

  31. Figure 2. Immediate Response to the Plague • Flight • abandoned families • flights to excesses (Decameron) • Flee to non-infected areas Rapid transmission to new areas Plague • Common but ineffective methods • avoid washing & exercise • plague costumes • amulets & potions • bleeding & cautery • eradication of dogs/cats • bells/cannons to disrupt “vapors” • special diets & spices • Religious Reaction • piety • flagellants • scapegoating • Effective methods • quarantine • garbage removal • fumigation • passports • health certificates • isolation of “foul professions (e.g., butchers, fishmongers)

  32. In the 1300’s, renowned Italian artists such as Giotto painted solid graceful figures, using tranquil pastel tones and a three-dimensional, balanced sense of light and space. A prime example is this panel in Padua’s Arena Chapel, entitled Anne and Joachim, the Virgin Mary’s parents, at the Gate.

  33. However, immediately after the Black Plague of 1348, figures in Italian art began taking on a more wooden, Byzantine quality, seemingly to wipe out the sensitive artistic advances in shape and light made in the 14th century. In the eyes of these artists, the Deity was no longer kind but rigid and uncompromising. Death was final, and no one’s prayers could intercede.

  34. Peter Bruegel (the elder) "Triumph of Death" (Black Plague)   (Flemish artist, 1562, oil on panel, in Museo del Prado, Madrid.  

  35. Religion • <> religiosity • > poor clergy • > young clergy • < church hierarchy • < latin, > vernacular • contribute to Protestant Reformation • women as intercessors Figure 3. Long Term Effects of the Plague PLAGUE Decreased population; smaller work force • Lower industrial production • Innovations • eye glasses • gun powder • mining expansion • Water pumps • Shaft shoring • Deep shafts • Salting/drying fish • At sea longer, more fishing, sail further • Cheaper land & resources • Higher wages • Women businesses/work • Landed peasants • Improved standard of living • More sophisticated tastes • Government • revolts • secular • lower taxes • end serfdom Sense of urgency • Medicine • hospitals • public health & sanitation • surgery • professional ethics • observation & hypotheses • Diversification • > demand for meat • Special fruits & grains • Fiber– textiles • Multiple livestock • Work patterns • extended work day • night work • emphasis on profits • wage disputes • Arts • more realism • daily themes • death themes Clocks & time consciousness

  36. H1N1 Flu Case Map

  37. Topics for discussion: Similarities past and present • Current use of biotoxins for terrorism • Population density of large metro cities • Increase in disease resistant bacteria • Genetically mutating disease strains (e.g., bird flu) • Risk of genetically modified crop monoculture to large scale damage • Climate change • Forest degradation • Remote forest incursions & exposure to new biothreats • Rapid global transportation • FEMAs overly complex, slow, and insufficient response • Increasing prominence of religious fundamentalism • Presence of racism & tendency to blame & overreact

More Related