“The black death entered the port city of Messina on the island of Sicily in October 1347. It traveled aboard trade ships en route from the East, where it had decimated populations. Now it would spread throughout Europe” (qtd. in Peters 1). According to an article published by History channel in the internet 12 Genoese trading ships were awaited by the good people of Messina. The people gathered in the Sicilian port had no idea that most of the men on board are already dead. Before the authorities of Sicilian were able to draw the ships away from the people, it was too late, the plague spread like wildfire killing anyone it touches. The plague can be infected to a human in two ways first is the insect or pleas bite and the other one being airborne. It was lethal and there was no escape. The Black Death was one of the most devastating and lethal pandemics in history. The estimated number of killed people by the plague ranges from 75 to 200 million. Whipps shared in an article posted on the internet that the Black Death nearly wiped out half of the population of Europe and several years for the population to recover. Europe wasn’t the only one attacked by the plague, China was also among the victims according to an article published in the website, The Middle Ages.net. The case with China started with the plague killing rodents until humans are infected and more humans followed after. It was sure kill for everyone infected, the plague usually takes three to four days before an individual dies. Imagine how horrifying must it felt to be aware that your days here on earth is counted, to make it worst, your family, your children, and friends are also going down with you. Infoplease website shared a scary story behind the nursery rhyme entitled “Ring Around the Rosie.” This poem was actually inspired by the black plague or as it goes with a different name the Bubonic Plague. Kids who are reciting these rhymes are unaware that the story is about millions of people who were infected by a plague that inflicted people with swollen lymph nodes that occasionally opened up like a fresh wound until it put the person if tortures out of his or her misery.
The Black Death Today and The Cure
The nightmare of the plague in Europe ended in 1350, but that wasn’t the last trace of bubonic plague humanity will ever see. The modern day, unlike the medieval days had fewer cases of bubonic plagues with the advancement of health science. With the help of medical experts and the painful experience of the people in the past, the world already came with cure and a way to contain the plague if it ever inflicted someone. William-Shakespear.info uploaded an online article proving that there are still cases of the Black Death these days in many countries. “Drugs to cure plague remained unknown until antibiotics-a family of drugs that kill bacteria-were discovered in the 1930s and 1940s” (qtd. in Cunningham 93).
The Effects of the Black Death to Feudalism in Europe
Fortune of the Poor
The black plague can somehow be similar to the movie The Purge, The Purge: Anarchy, and the upcoming sequel which is the Purge: Election Year. All three movies tell a story about an insane idea for the US government to boost its economic power. The movie focused on a country that provides a single day called the Purge wherein all citizens were given the chance to kill other citizens without worrying about the consequences. In the movie, the rich are the ones who benefited mostly because they were untouchables during the Purge because of their societal status and modern security system. However, in the case of the Black Plague it was the peasants, the poor or the serfs who greatly flourished during those terrifying days. The population was greatly minimized and the supply for necessities was overflowing. The survivors received most of the food supplies and money. The peasants were even allowed to ask for a higher wage during those times because Kings and Barons were in great need of services. David Rout mentioned in his article published in the EH.net, “The landlord’s discomfort ultimately benefited the peasantry. Lower prices for foodstuffs and greater purchasing power from the last quarter of the fourteenth century onward” (qtd. in EH.net)
Mark of the Black Death
The years of the Black Death plague in Europe inspired many films, books, and journals released and published in the most recent years. Director Christopher Smith introduced a new storyline connected to the Black Death when he came up with a movie to combine a horrifying reality of human history and skin cringing creatures called necromancers. His movie “Black Death” tells a story about a knight and a monk he recruited facing a village believed to be inhabited by resurrected plague victims by a necromancer. There have also been several books published in order to tell different stories of people from the past and the present and their battle against the plague. One in particular is the book by Stephen Person entitled Bubonic Plague: The Black Death. The book tells a story of a man who was inflicted with the plague by picking up a dead rat and tossing it to the trash, the man was Jesus Lajun living in Los Angeles, California. “Days later, Lajun came down with a fever along with muscle pain and headaches. Then he noticed a lump on his thigh. It was the size of an egg and very painful. About a week later, he started coughing up blood. Within three days, he was dead” (qtd. in Person 5). The case of the Black Death has been a target research for many historians up to these days. “It is not surprising that modern historians traditionally have viewed, the Black Death as playing a pivotal role in late medieval civilization, which resulted in a decline of society and culture” (qtd. in Aberth 3).
There were also stories published by writers about vampires existing during the Black Plague. “The Black Plague had changed everything. Until then, vampires had been at the top of the food chain, hunting and feeding from humans as they were meant to do. Humans at least had a small chance of surviving the Black Death, but for vampires, drinking the blood of an infected human was a death sentence” (London 91-91).
There were also stories about religion wherein Catholics preferred to cure the soul by prayer rather than do something about the plague. “Some men and women chose to live as hermits, or anchorites, either off in the literal wilderness or completely isolated in a cell in a church” (qtd. in Byrne 127). Some historians believed that the civilization, infrastructures, and environment of Europe during the late 1340’s were a perfect home for the plague from. People were cramped together and a single carrier can infect hundreds around him in minutes. “Some people dying more rapidly than others” (qtd. in Platt 3).
You might ask yourself, “what would I have done if I was alive during those days?” Live somewhere far from people, isolate yourself in a room wherein not even a plea can enter, or maybe after being infected, enjoy your last days with your family despite the excruciating pain.
Conclusion
It is true that these days, the Black Plague or the Bubonic Plague isn’t that active and there have been remedies and medical treatments to suppress it, but the world still has so many diseases and plagues to worry about. The Black Plague was hell on earth and the chance for survival is very thin. The Black Plague will always be remembered as a period of death and nothing more.
Works Cited
Aberth, John. The Black Death: The Great Mortality of 1348-1350. New York: Palgrave Macmilian, 2005. Print.
Byrne, Joseph Patrick. Daily Life During the Black Death. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2006. Print.
Christinavunyugen [Christina Vunyugen]. “The Black Death (part 2): History and how if affected Feudalism. Wordpress, 2011 10 Nov. Web. 23 February 2016.
Cunningham, Kevin. The Bubonic Plague. North Mankato: ABDO Publishing Company, 2011. Print.
EH.net. “The Economic Impact of the Black Death.” eh.net. Economic History Services, n.d.
Web. < https://eh.net/encyclopedia/the-economic-impact-of-the-black-death/>
History. Black Death. History Channel. Web, 23 February 2016.
Infoplease. Epidemics of the Past: Bubonic Plague. Web. 23 February 2016.
London, Laurie. Tempted by Blood. Don Mills: Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 2012. Print.
Person, Stephen. Bubonic Plague: The Black Death! North Mankato: Bearport Publishing, 2011. Print.
Peters, Stephanie True. The Black Death. Tarrytown: Benchmark Books, 2005. Print.
Platt, Colin. King Death: The Black Death and its Aftermath in Late-Medieval England. Abingdon: Routledge, 2014. Print.
Routt, David. The Economic Impact of the Black Death. Economic History Association. Web. 23 February 2016.
The Middle Ages. The Black Death: Bubonic Plague. Web. 23 February 2016.
History. Black Death. History Channel. Web, 23 February 2016.
Trueman, Chris. The Black Death of 1348-1350. The History Learning Site, 5 March 2015. Web. 23 February 2016.
Whipps, Heather. How the Black Death Changed the World. Livescience, 28 April 2008. Web. 23 February 2016.
William-Shakespeare Site-Map. The Modern Day Black Death & Bubonic Plague. Web. 23 February 2016.
