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Causes And Effects Of The Black Death

There are various estimates of how many people died during the 1348-49 outbreak. Most historians believe between a third and half of the population were killed by the Black Death. The population of England at the time of the Black Death is estimated to have been around 6 million, so that means approximately 2 to 3 million people died.

Despite the scale of the fatalities, there is evidence that there was some sort of organised response from local government. Mass graves of victims have been found from the Middle Ages. The way the bodies are carefully laid in side by side suggests bodies were treated respectfully and in a dignified way.

A result of the high mortality rateclosemortality rateThe percentage of people who would normally die from a disease. So a disease with a mortality rate of 50% would mean an average of 50 people would die out of every 100 infected. Was a shortage of workers. This led to rapid wage rises as landowners had to compete for workers by paying more. In 1351 a law was introduced to force wages to go back to the levels they had been at before the Black Death. This was one of the causes of the Peasants' Revolt in 1381.

As no one knew exactly what caused the Black Death, they could do little to stop future outbreaks. There were further Black Death cases throughout the Middle Ages and beyond. There was another significant outbreak in 1665, particularly affecting London. This outbreak shows there had been no real increase in understanding about what was really causing the disease or how to prevent it.

It wasn't until the work of Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch in the 1800s that it was discovered germs are the cause of disease. The plague bacteria was finally discovered by Alexandre Yersin in 1894. The bacteria was named after him; 'Yersinia pestis.'

Nile Rats And Black Death: Mummy Reveals Bubonic Plague In Egypt 3,290 Years Ago

Researchers have uncovered the oldest confirmed case of the plague outside Eurasia in an ancient Egyptian mummy, suggesting that the deadly disease was present in North Africa thousands of years before the Black Death devastated Europe. The mummy, housed at the Museo Egizio in Turin, Italy, revealed traces of Yersinia pestis DNA, the bacterium responsible for the bubonic plague, indicating that the individual suffered horrific symptoms before dying, potentially from the disease, according to The Sun.

Radiocarbon dating places the mummy at the end of the Second Intermediate Period or the beginning of the New Kingdom, approximately 3,290 years ago. The discovery provides molecular evidence for the presence of plague in ancient Egypt, as researchers have confirmed that Yersinia pestis existed at least at one point in the region. The finding supports the theory that the bubonic plague circulated in North Africa long before it spread as a major pandemic in the Middle Ages.

Previously, experts had speculated about the presence of the plague in ancient Egypt. A 3,500-year-old medical text dubbed the Ebers Papyrus described a disease that "has produced a bubo, and the pus has petrified," suggesting symptoms similar to those of the plague, reported IFLScience. Additionally, over 20 years ago, fleas were discovered at an archaeological village in Amarna, where the workers who built Tutankhamun's tomb once resided. These findings hinted at possible outbreaks along the Nile River in historic times.

Some researchers believe the plague may have originated from fleas that lived on Nile rats, which then crossed over to black rats that traveled on ancient ships, consequently carrying the Black Death across the world, as noted by The New York Post. Yersinia pestis is usually transmitted by fleas hitching a ride on rodents, the main carriers of the bacterium. This mode of transmission could explain how the disease spread from North Africa to other parts of the globe.

Recent studies uncovered traces of Yersinia pestis DNA in prehistoric corpses, indicating that the pathogen existed and was in circulation thousands of years before the historic pandemic known as the Black Death. So far, all ancient examples of Yersinia pestis DNA have come from Europe and Asia, with some evidence of infection visible in 5,000-year-old skeletons in Russia. This discovery in Egypt represents a strong indication that the disease may have been a global phenomenon, according to The Sun.

The bubonic plague is infamous for causing rapid and widespread deaths across Europe during the 14th century. It was responsible for the death of millions of people, killing more than 20 million in Europe alone, as reported by Popular Science. When the microbes infect a human host, they ravage the lymphatic system, causing lymph nodes in the groin, underarm, and neck to balloon into swollen masses called buboes. Other symptoms include fever, vomiting, chills, seizures, vomiting blood, internal bleeding, and death.

The presence of Yersinia pestis DNA in the mummy indicates that the disease had progressed to advanced stages when the infected person died, implying the victim endured severe symptoms at the time of death. It is unclear if this was an isolated case or part of a widespread epidemic in the region.

This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq

Middle Ages

Overview: The Middle Ages, 1154 - 1485

Far from their dour reputation, the Middle Ages were a period of massive social change, burgeoning nationalism, international conflict, terrible natural disaster, climate change, rebellion, resistance and renaissance.

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