The Black Death

I. Introduction
a. Describing what the Black Death did to a person’s body.
b. Quick fact
c. Thesis- The Black Death changed history forever. It has taught us how to
never have to go through this terrible thing again.

II. The Spread Across Europe

a. Topic Sentence - The Black Death spread like wildfire.
b. Through the Black Sea
c. Spread to Ireland due to the sick British moving there
d. Spread all throughout Europe in three years
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III. How the Black Death Worked

a. Topic Sentence - - The Black Death worked in mysterious ways
b. Rat fleas traveled on rodents
c. Nobody knew because fleas are small.
d. Unsanitary Conditions

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IV. How the Black Death Hurt People

a. Topic Sentence - - The black death would destroy families and even
communities
b. Parents abandoned children.
c. How it felt to be sick.
d. The Black Death hurt more than 1000 stabbings to the chest.

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V. How the Black Death changed history

a. Topic Sentence—the black death changed history dramatically
b. Hygiene
c. Changed peoples religious aspects
d. Medical Advancements

VI. Conclusion
a. Reworded thesis - - As you can see how terrible the Black Death was. Thanks
to scientists we will never have to go through this again.
b. Small but deadly
c. The person is now dead
 Sitting in your bed and rotting from the inside. Having large black abscesses

protruding from your body the size of an egg or a small apple ( www.middle-

ages.org.uk ). Those abscesses would be gushing with green-black blood that would

be enough smell to let your neighbors know that you were dying. This is what would

have happened if you were to live in mid- 14th century. This is the time when The

Black Death hit Europe. This was at the time when Europe began to prosper. After

three years, Europe dropped their high status. Europe was now one of the countries

of the world that was depending on other countries for help. In modern day Europe

people still remember the tragic disease that swept across that time when their

ancestors lived. The Black Death changed history forever. It has taught us how to

never have to go through this terrible thing again.

The Black Death first hit Europe in 1347. According to Giovanni Boccaccio, an

Italian writer, “Ate lunch with friends and ate dinner with ancestors in paradise”

(www.themiddleages.net ). This clearly shows how fast the Black Death occurred

and how fast it spread throughout all of Europe. The Black Death killed people very

fast. Once a person had the disease it would be within two to four days when people

would die from the sickness. In some of the most serious cases the illness would

take over in just a couple of hours. This is what Boccaccio meant when he said such

things about how people ”Ate lunch with friends and dinner with ancestors in

paradise.” Once the Black Death hit Europe it spread like wildfire. The Black Death

spread to Europe by sailors traveling through the Black Sea. They were coming back

from a trip from Asia. By the time the sailors got back most of them were sick and

on the verge of death. Many others were already dead. ( www.themiddleages.net )

 People would never think that the problem would be so serious, and by 1350

nearly 25 million people were dead! That was one third of Europe’s population at

the time. In 1348-1349 the plague spread all the way to Ireland. The plague spread

to Ireland because many of the sick British were moving there. Soon the plague was

all throughout Ireland. This led to people moving from the country to the city. More

people got infected with the plague and died. Even worse the plague spread all

across Europe in three years. (www.bbc.co.uk ). Some places were impacted greatly.

Some of these major places included such places as: Moscow, Scandinavia, Central

Italy, Sicily, Venice, Paris, London, Austria, Germany, England, and Marseille

(www.howstuffworks.com ). These were some of the biggest cities in Europe at the

time. Most of these places would be overcrowded and would have unsanitary

conditions. The plague got even worse when there would be nobody that was able to

pick up the dead rotting people. The toxins that lay inside the dead were being

released and causing even more illness. ( www.bbc.co.uk )

As you can see the Black Death spread through Europe very fast. People would

die two to four days after exposure to this deadly disease. According to Giovanni

Boccaccio” Parents would abandon sick children, and children would not want to be

near their sick parents.” The Black Death would cause people to turn their backs on

both their friends and their family.

The Black Death worked in mysterious ways. Since this happened in 1347

people had not even invented microscopes. If they had the microscope the people

would have been better able to understand how The Black Death worked, hence

they would have been able to slow or even stop it.

 The Black Death was a problem that was caused by a tiny flea called the rat flea.

This flea is called the rat flea because this particular flea likes to travel on rats. You

may be asking, How does this relate to the Black Death? What happened is back in

the 14th century people did not know about cleanliness. Many tiny little rats would

roam the street looking for food . As you know rats are usually around when places

are dirty. These tiny fleas would hitch rides on the rats and when the rats would

hang around these dirty and overcrowded cities the fleas would jump on these

people and bite these people. Then after the fleas were full they would then jump to

another person and infect that person as well (www.howstuffworks.com). The

fleas came from Asia. More specifically, people thought the flea came from the Gobi

desert. The Gobi Desert is a Desert located in Northeastern China. It is amazing that

something so small could kill 25 million people. (www.middle-ages.org.uk )

To make matters even worse, the Black Death caused people to turn against the

church and revolt on Christianity. People would walk around in this suit called the

“Doctors Suit” and would put perfumes in the nose of the masks and would put eye

coverings over the eye socket. They did this to protect their eyes from what they

thought was evil. They did not want the evil to go into their eyes. They used the

perfumes to block out the smell of the rotting bodies. Many people would have a

robe and a scythe to hurt anything that tried to hurt them. The robe would be a

great thing to protect them except the flea would more likely crawl up the robe and

would infect them. As you can see most of the friars and nuns were the only ones

who still prayed to god the rest believed that his powers were not real and used the

suit instead.(www.themiddleages.net ).
 The Black Death would hurt people, families, and even communities. For

example, parents would abandon their children in fear of getting sick themselves.

They would just leave their children in their bedroom and would not even help them

once they knew the children were infected with the plague. Parents however, would

end up eventually dying though because once their child was dead they would go

take the sheets off the bed and then the fleas would jump on them and infect them

as well. As the same time, children would also abandon their parents. Babies

would sit and cry by their sick mothers that lay dead in the body infested street.

According to Boccaccio’s writings “Fathers abandoned their sick sons. Lawyers

refused to come and make wills for dying. Friars and nuns were left to care for the

sick, and monasteries and convents were soon deserted, as they were stricken, too.

Bodies were left in empty houses, and there was no one to give them a Christian

burial” (www.middleages.net ). People would also” Die miserably” according to

Boccaccio. The Black Death was very painful.

Clearly the Black Death hurt people dramatically. It broke up many families.

During a crisis the most important thing is family. They are there to back you up in

the worst of times. When the parents were ill there was usually one kid that takes

care of all the other children. Sometimes the oldest would have to take care of six or

seven children depending on how many their parents had. This put a lot of strain

on families. People thought more of themselves and they were living out of plain

fear. They would often abandon their children and leave them to die alone. Parents

would not even be near their children when it was obvious that it was going to be

the child’s last few days of life.

 The Black Death changed history dramatically. It now teaches us the

importance of hygiene. Today in modern Europe it prospers and is very neat it has

always been like that ever since the renascence the whole reason this happened is

because of hygiene related problems. This is just like a cause and effect relationship.

Nothing dirty equals no rats and no rats equals the fleas to stay near the places

where few people live. There still probably still had been deaths but not so

dramatically as 25 million people! Today people clean up many of their messes and

also do very good personal hygiene ( www.bbc.co.uk,www.themiddleages.net )

The Black Death also changed many people’s religious aspects. Some people

turned against the Christian church and believed that god was the reason that this

happened and revolted against the church. They believed that god’s power was evil.

People would also ( www.eyewitnesstohistory.com ). The Black Death also made

much medical advancement. Know we know that we can get many shots or pills for

many different things such as the polio vaccine. We now know the bacteria in what

caused the plague and how to stop it. As you can clearly see the Black Death has

changed history in many ways. We should never have to go through this terrible

thing again. Thanks to many researchers, doctors, and writers who tell us what

happened during the time period of the Black Death

All in all, you can see how terrible the Black Death was. Thanks to science we

will never have to go through this terrible thing again. Who would ever think

something so small could be so deadly. As you know so many people got sick so

quick but they died before I even got to finish this sentence.