The Black Death – Universal History

No one knows for sure where the so-called Black Death originated. Popular legend blames its contagion on the Mongol armies, who brought the disease to Europe from Central Asia. It is said that during a siege of the Genoa-controlled city of Kaffa, the Mongols catapulted infected corpses over the city walls and that the citizens of the city, fleeing the plague, embarked in the direction of Italy. From there the plague spread across Europe at alarming speed, devastating rural and urban communities in its wake.

Whatever its origin, the main carrier of the plague was the black rat, widespread in Europe, which carried fleas infected with the bacillus. Yersinia pestis. The disease had two other highly contagious variants: pneumonic, which affected the respiratory system and was spread through the air, and septicemic, which infected the blood. Its transmission was facilitated by the generalized malnutrition of a population accustomed to pestilence and suffering economic hardships, a situation that the plague only aggravated. It is estimated that, between 1347 and 1350, the plague took the lives of between a third and a half of the European population, and during the following four centuries it reappeared in the form of punctual outbreaks.

Symptoms

Black plague doctor

The bubonic variant of the plague was the most widespread. This variant was characterized by large swollen glands or buboes, which could reach the size of an apple. These inflammations, extremely painful, used to be located in points prone to flea bites, especially in the throat, armpits and groin. At first they presented a reddish color that turned purple and finally black, hence the popular name by which this epidemic is known. The bubonic variant caused death in less than a week. The pneumonic mutation caused the patient to cough and sneeze, thanks to which the bacteria spread. For its part, the septicemic variant caused almost immediate death once the bacteria entered the bloodstream. The speed with which this plague killed its victims terrified the medieval population, whose faith in the Church and in the alchemy of healers rapidly waned.

The consequences of the Black Death

Engraving Dance Macabre by Hans Holbein The Younger

Although the plague decimated the population and increased its hardship, paradoxically it also brought about a fundamental change in the social climate of medieval Europe. The disappearance of so many peasants had beneficial repercussions for those who survived, who saw how the demand for their services increased. Some managed to prosper. Landowners were desperately looking for labor, which allowed peasants to change latifundia and demand higher wages. To curb the growing demands of serfs, many countries passed laws to limit their travel and sumptuary laws that specified what clothing different classes could wear and were intended to emphasize the inferiority of serfs. The number of taxpayers decreased and with it the collection of taxes with which the wars of the nobility were financed. There were peasant revolts throughout Western Europe and a certain animosity began to spread towards the wealthy classes and, especially, towards the Church.