Buenaobra, Carl Justin E.

September 18, 2022

‘Middle Ages’ Research Paper SCITECH ODGE3 (20221)

The Black Death

The term “Black Death” was coined during the thirteenth to the fourteenth century, a term that
expresses the intensity of devastation of a specific event that had a recorded death toll of around forty to
fifty percent of those that reside within the vast lands of Medieval, which totals to around an average
estimation of sixty-five million people (Gannet Media Corp, 2019; Haggo, 2017). According to the latter
authors, the “Bubonic Plague” contributed a large part to the epidemic, a disease coming from rodents
that gave out lymph nodes in areas prone to friction in the body, increasing in size with the time that
correlates with the level of pain. Despite such claims, Graham Twigg, an English epidemiologist,
hypothesized against the typical beliefs with his studies that resulted in anthrax as the cause of infection
(William, 1999).

With further claims Haggo (2017) stated that the Bubonic Plague is just one of three variants, if
people can survive a low-infection rate in rodents, then here comes the pulmonary or pneumonic plague
and septicemic plague, one with a high-infection rate through the air that targets the lungs, while another
targets the blood, creating three primary diseases that are hard to eradicate or even manage. At the same
time, such horror of events caused a downtrend in human life and development, and the event produced
multiple socio-political, spiritual, and economic shifts in the following years. Years followed that the church
diversified the focus of the distribution of responsibilities and power, the death of wealthy persons that
owned large estates became a stepping stone for new colleges and universities, and people shifted their
interest to science and practical reasoning than relying on the church. Public health offices gained a
substantial amount of power. The most famous contribution of the movement that is idealized up until the
current time would be the empowerment of workers, the revolution of peasants before that was sparked
when the higher-class individuals of the Medieval hierarchy system realized the importance of the
peasants through the utility of their lands when no one was working (Mark, 2020). The importance of
health and sanitation, general medicine, the economic model of supply and demand, religious dogmas
and spirituality, and our knowledge as a civilization will continuously be developed through time, and by
that time, the knowledge that we acquire as humans are also tested by nature.
 The Silk Road

Not known to many, a well-known king and conqueror are involved with the respected Silk Road.
The valiant conquest of Alexander the Great started to uncover and establish the Silk Road (Tucker,
2003). The era of "The Silk Road" had been promulgated from one-hundred-forty to eighty-seven years
before the common era. Records from the Han dynasty describe the fusion of academic gatherings into
an Imperial University that taught writings and heritage from across the globe and subsequently offered
aristocratic rulers. The draw-loom, which increased the number of fabrics produced in a given amount of
time, was introduced by the Great Silk Road. The exchanges thrived with the medium of exchanging gold
for silks. Jades, handicrafts, and ceramics all helped to boost trade. The manufacturing line had also been
divided based on categorizing various tasks. New cities were created, emphasizing governmental
structures and castigating business owners. Chinese medicine's historical practices have been
condensed into written documentation that practitioners can quickly become familiar with. Sophisticated
methods of diagnosis emphasize patients' pulses and insights, acknowledging those who cannot be
treated or engage in gluttony combined with conventional methods or acupuncture.

The practice of fortifying buildings was predominant in the cities, and administrative management
was in demand because the Huns always provided treats. A greater need for protection led to the
discovery of war-breed horses, supported by stirrups, which enabled the acquisition of enemy attire, and
the crossbow, which strengthened China's line of defenses (Welsh, 2011). As the importance of military
strength and a country's fortification of defense rise, the silk road created a system of trade that is
currently observed through export and import management. The limitations of natural sources based on a
place's environment can now be filled in through trade, increasing the varieties of supply, together with
the relationship of neighboring or exchanging places or organizations. While many might take into
account the literal use of the road as a route or place of trade, Han (2020) claimed that the trouble-free
travel of the Silk Road could not be compared to how good the reputation of the merchants was, with the
ethical belief and standard of honesty with no misleading in running a business, Silk Road merchants
abide by such rules. The influence of the Great Silk Road can be felt in our current world, from the
significant investments of government funds to military defenses, trading export, and import that dictates a
large chunk of a country's economy.
 References

Bersenev, A., Chikilevskaya, M., & Rusinov, I. (2020). Silk road rail corridors outlook and future
perspectives of development. Procedia Computer Science, 167, 1080–1087.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2020.03.407

DOUGLAS HAGGO AND REGINA HAGGO, SPECIAL TO,THE SPECTATOR. (1999, Oct 21). A
PLAGUE ON ALL YOUR HOUSES THE BLACK DEATH KILLED MORE THAN 50 MILLION PEOPLE IN
14TH CENTURY: [FINAL EDITION]. The Spectator Retrieved from https://lrc.benilde.edu.ph/user/login?
dest=?url=https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/plague-on-all-your-houses-black-death-killed-more/
docview/269964198/se-2

Eamon, W. (1999). Plagues, healers, and patients in early modern Europe. Renaissance Quarterly, 52(2),
474-486. Retrieved from https://lrc.benilde.edu.ph/user/login?dest=?url=https://www.proquest.com/
scholarly-journals/plagues-healers-patients-early-modern-europe/docview/222336551/se-2

Han, Y. (2020). Using big data technology to assist in analyzing the contemporary value of silk road
merchants’ view of justice and profit. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1648(4).
https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1648/4/042009

Mark, J. J. (2022, July 31). Effects of the black death on Europe. World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved
September 25, 2022, from https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1543/effects-of-the-black-death-on-europe/

Payne, R. E. (2018). The silk road and the iranian political economy in late antiquity: Iran, the silk road,
and the problem of aristocratic empire. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies.University of
London, 81(2), 227-250. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X18000459

Teczke, M., Kaliyeva, T., Sembiyeva, L., Zhagyparova, A., Zholamanova, M., & Zhussupova, A. (2022).
Silk roads routes. sustainable tourism after COVID-19. Journal of Environmental Management & Tourism,
13(4), 1192-1206. https://doi.org/10.14505/jemt.v13.4(60).24

The bubonic plague. (2016, Sep 02). The Spectrum Retrieved from https://lrc.benilde.edu.ph/user/login?
dest=?url=https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/bubonic-plague/docview/1816100227/se-2

Tucker, J., Tozer, A., & Tozer, A. (2003). The Silk Road: art and history, pp. 75-76. Philip Wilson.

Welsh, F. (2011). The history of the world: from the dawn of humanity to the modern age, p. 23. Quercus.