Watson 1

Grace Watson

Professor Bisson

World History

November 21, 2022

The Bubonic Plague

During the high middle ages there was a plague that passed throughout the silk road. It

came from east Asia all the way to western Europe. The bubonic plague, also known as the black

death, is one of the most famous diseases in world history. Many people associate it with the

plague doctors that have the pointy, birdlike masks, ring around the rosey and black spots

covering people’s bodies. Today the plague would be treatable with some antibiotics, but back in

the fourteenth century it was a death sentence.

Anyone who caught the plague died, one account writes that signs of the disease are

tumor outgrowth, in the thighs or arms, as well as bleeding ulcerations. The plague spread

throughout the medieval world killing people daily. The plague spread throughout China into

India, to the Uzbeks then to the Persians. It spread to Khaiti and then to the Cyprus Islands into

Cairo, all the way through Upper Egypt.1 Then spreading throughout the middle east and into

western and eastern Europe. This is an account of the plague by a Jewish Prisoner in the year

1349. He says that in some places everyone died and no one was left. There were even ghost

ships where all of the crew and the captain had died, so there was no one to steer the ship. All

physicians and wise teachers believed that the bubonic plague was God’s will. He says that the

plague came to the town of Strasbourg where sixteen thousand people died. During this time

many Jews were being accused of poisoning the wells, as a result they were burned. Leaders
1 Christos S. Bartsocas, "Iwo Fourteenth-Century Greek Descriptionsofthe 'Black Death,
Journalofthe History ofMedicine and Allied Sciences21 (1966): 395. Reprinted by permis
sion or Oxtord University PressviaCopyright Clearance Center.
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were told to burn their Jews, the leaders of Strasbourg, Freiburg, and Basel did not believe that

the Jews should be burned. The citizens of Basel marched to the city hall and demanded that the

Jews be burned and new Jewish people could enter the city for the next 200 years. The other two

cities did not know what to do with the Jewish people. They ended up being arrested and burnt at

the stake in many cities. The Jews were burnt on a wooden platform and many Jewish children

were taken out of the fire and baptized at their parents' will. Looking back at this horrific account

it seems the people of these cities cared more about burning the Jewish people than they did

trying to stop the plague or at least worry about it coming and spreading through their cities. 2

There is an account by an Italian doctor in the year 1348, writing what might work for treatment

for different people as well as some different types of symptoms. He says for men from ages 14-

31 fish should be avoided, they should also know what are good types of food and drink. The

doctor recommends meat such as pork and beef, as well as fine wine. They should make use of

purgatives, phlebotomies, and large fungus. Which has healing properties that is recommended

as a purgative. The doctor says that he should take this a couple of times a week until the end of

May for the best Theriac or antidote. He says that it is about the same for women, about the same

does or more depending if they are between the ages of 14 and 30. He states that babies under the

age of one should not take these doses. He says that the medicine should be taken in the morning

with wine or with water diluted wine. He also states that people should have fire in their homes

and the house and city should be cleansed of foul matter. He recommends the herd, and vinegar

with wine, as that can stop the plague. Lastly he states that the college recommends the grace of

the Lord. He says that the men were found short of their breath in their lunges because they

found that tightness of the chest can cause harm throughout the body. He does not say if this is a

2 Nohl, J., The Black Death, pp. 181-196.

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symptom but just that it is bad for your body.3 There is an account about how the plague hit the

city of Pistoia Italy, a town that had a population of 11,000 people in the early fourteenth

century. The city went on lockdown, having no one going in or out of the city. The city ordered

that if any dead body was found it should be carried to a wooden casket and buried. Due to the

dreadful smell of the bodies the city ordered the ditch to be buried to be at least 2 ½ barrica

measured by the city. The city of Pistolia forbade any dead bodies to leave or enter the city, if

someone brought in a dead body or took a dead body out of the city, they would be fined 25

pennies. They made a funeral. The mourners can not be in the presence of the body, nor shall

they return to the house where the deceased lived, this can end in a fine of $10. No one can

present or send any gifts before or after the burial to the former dwelling place of the deceased or

to go to a meal at the house. This can end in a fine of $25, although relatives of the deceased will

be expected to do this. There are many more rules than the city of Pistolia such as what clothes

they could wear during mourning.4 There is an account of the plague by Marchione di Coppo

Stefani who lived in Florence Italy during the bubonic plague. He says that anyone who got the

plague did not live past the fourth day. No doctors could successfully help any of the patients

nor could the medicine. People fled their houses and towns to neighboring villages. At churches

they dug trenches in order to bury all the bodies. He talks about how the prices had gone up such

as wax, sugar and eggs. They found that between March and October 96,000 people died from

the plague.5 There is another account of the Black Death by Giovanni Boccaccio. Boccaccio

states that tumors appeared on the body and they spread. Within three days of the symptoms

3 Karl Sudhoff, "Pestschriften aus den ersten 150Jahren nach der Epidemie des 'schwarzen
Todes' 1348."Archiv für Geschichte der Medizin 5 (1911): 83 86.

4 PISTOIA, "ORDINANCES FOR SANITATION IN A TIME OF MORTALITY

5 Marchionne di Coppo Stefani, The Florentine Chronicle

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people died without any fever or other malady. He said that people would hold flowers and

spices up to their nose in order to not smell death. Many people avoided each other in order to

avoid getting sick. People left their homes and parents even left their own children. Women

would cry by the body, yet very few of the deceased had very many people attend their funerals.

Many people died in the public streets as well as in their homes.6

The bubonic plague was a scary time for all people, this evident in the amount of people

who fled their homes, some even leaving their children. People did not know what to do

considering so many doctors had died, one even suggested from the colleges that your fate was

up to the mercy of God. Many people believe that the plague was God’s doing. The different

accounts say that one of the symptoms was black tumors on the skin and once you saw this you

only had a few days left to live. Cities smelled so bad that people held up flowers and spices up

to their noses in order to not smell death. The plague was a terrible disease that struck during a

time where the water was not even clean enough to drink by itself. It caused thousands to die and

is one of the most infamous times in history.

6 Medieval Sourcebook: Boccaccio: The Decameron - Introduction