The 1348 emergence of Black Death in Europe marked significant changes in the social, economic, and even the psychological wellbeing of European nationals. Apparently, the plague was swift to spread. In Europe alone, there were cases in “Italy, France, Spain, and the Balkans” before the infection made its way into “Switzerland, Austria, England, and perhaps Denmark.” In other words, every nation by the end of the first half of the fourteenth century was aware of the same. Now, while the social and economic outcomes of the bubonic plague (another name for Black Death) are well explored, the circumstances under which they took place remain overlooked. In other words, the disease brought population shortages that improved the lives of survivors by reducing the number of people dependent on available resources. Still, the violence that spread across Europe because the people did not know the origins of Black Death is worth mentioning. Accordingly, at the foundations of the changes that came with Black Death were the religion-based disparities between societies residing in Europe. For the given reasons, this paper looks into the persecutions made in the wake of Black Death and argues that they were the primary factor that fuelled the spread of the plague as the people failed to concentrate on the actual causes of the same.
Foremost, Black Death had its origins in Central Asia and by 1348, the plague made its way to Europe via cargo ships which, aside from the transported goods, carried flea-ridden rats responsible for introducing the disease to the European populace. The nature of the plague was in itself horrifying. According to a witness account, upon infection, a person developed painful buboes around the armpits, groin, and behind the ears; eventually, he or she would develop a fever and begin to hallucinate. After the victims began to fantasize, death often occurred within as little as three days. Naturally, the mortality rates were always high and as one Giovanni Villani chronicled, five people died “for every [single] survivor.”
Subsequently, it is no wonder that the people were anxious about the disease that was spreading fast and killing people in large numbers. However, perhaps the scariest element of the illness was the fact that it lacked a final pattern of infection. Even in the medieval times, it was possible to determine the most likely vulnerable victims of a particular disease; although most of the reached theories were either wrong or only based on assumptions. The Black Death offered no chance to the medical practitioners of Europe or the Church. Apparently, the plague spread indiscriminately and did not question the age, gender, or marital status of the victims. By that logic, it was impossible to render it a divine retribution from God. The bubonic plague did not restrict itself to the confines of human understanding or expectations; on the contrary, the infections destroyed existing social hierarchies by rendering, men and women as equal as the nobles and the commoners.
At this point, it is essential to appreciate the fact that the old communities of Europe were mostly superstitious with an excessive dependency on the church and the Bible. Thus, whenever a new phenomenon emerged, the people were quick to either associate it with virtuous persons, such as the clergy and the aristocracy, or the sinners who mainly encompassed the “less chaste” and robbers. The medical personnel of the era did little to discourage the people from the same.
Expectedly, as the plague proved more elusive to understand, the societies turned their attention to religion as a possible source of explanations about not only the cure but also the cause of the disease outbreak. Therefore, during the plague, Catholics would journey to the religious shrines because it was a common belief that God responded to pilgrimage prayers faster than He did to the ordinary kind. Out of such devotion, a violent sect emerged: the flagellants. According to the practices of the new cult, for repentance, the men would pray while viciously whipping themselves as they “wandered the land, through fields and open country without any order.” The move was apparently similar to that of Jesus Christ and according to the ideologies of the participants, the dripping blood and pain were something akin to a sacrifice that would increase God’s favor upon their persons. Such was the level of desperateness among the Europeans, but their tactics did not deter the Black Death; hence, a new trend came into existence in the form of scapegoats.
With the given facts in mind, European persecuted their numbers as the cause of the plague and for that reason, went to extreme measures to repent and make an attempt at deterring God’s anger from their persons. Naturally, that did not work, and since they were yet to understand the role of vermin in the spread of the plague, the persecuting hand moved towards the Jews who happened to be the only non-Christian community residing in the territories. In the entire European continent, Jewish men and women were either forced out of their homes or tortured into making unfounded confessions before executions. Additionally, other religious groups such as Muslims and any other non-Christian groups faced a similar fate as that of the Jews. Notably, the persecutions were not exclusively based on religion. On the contrary, the men and women at the forefront of demanding the expulsion of the Jews and other foreigners were mostly jealous of the latter’s economic achievements and were in other instances indebted to them for one loan or another. Hence, by calling for their persecutions, on the assumption that they were poisoning water and were the sole cause of God’s displeasure with the people, Europeans were only protecting their financial interests. The fact that the people ignored the Pope’s condemnation of their actions proves that they were not acting on the grounds of Christianity.
In conclusion, as Europeans concentrated on persecuting themselves and later others for the plague, Black Death was still spreading via the carrier rats. Evidently, if the people had sought to determine the actual cause of the disease, they would have reported lesser deaths and curbed infections earlier. In that sense, superstitions begot persecutions that went on to allow more infections and spread of the disease.
Bibliography
Aberth, John. The Black Death: The Great Mortality of 1348-1350: A Brief History with Documents. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2005.
