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                           Total number of deaths

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                           Total number of deaths

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The Black Death reinforced a huge decline in population of some areas in Western Europeand either left them deserted or they were reduced to a fraction of their population. Thousands of human settlements were abandoned and fell into ruins. Towns were reduced to the size of villages. Markets closed, grains rotted in the fields and cattle and sheep roamed around until they died. In five years, the Black Death killed more than 20 million people in Europe, almost one-third of the continent’s population. Spreading throughout the Mediterranean and Europe, the Black Death is estimated to have killed 30–60% of Europe's total population. In total, the plague reduced the world population from an estimated 450 million down to 350–375 million in the 14th century. Before the plague, growing populations had kept wages low and prices and rents high. Workers were in high demand as as there were not enough of them to work the manor lands. As result of this, wages,increased,and with low demand, agricultural prices declined. The plague passed through Europe and Asia as well as many towns in Italy, France, England and Germany.

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                          Prevention and Treatment

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                          Prevention and Treatment

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It was believed that the plague was caused by poisoned air so one of the main ways to treat this pestilence was to burn aromatic herbs and wood to counter the atmosphere. Houses were filled with plants that were pleasant smelling and the floor was sprinkled with vinegar and rose water. For the reason of the poison air, people would carry sweet-smelling concoctions when they left the house. People also believed that the plague was sent by God to punish them for sinning so another prevention of the plague was to pray and do other religious acts. The time period known as the Age of Faith during the Middle Ages was when the Catholic Church dominated in medical knowledge and treatment. In a sick room, priests were more important than doctors. All medical teaching was conducted according to the teachings of the church. In hospitals, patients were well fed and cared for, but not much was done to cure them of illness. The treatment of bleeding the patient was believed to release the poisons from the body. Other treatments included lancing the boils or buboes to draw off the poison by  covering them with a substance.

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                          Impact on towns and cities

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                          Impact on towns and cities

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Cities and towns were smaller than they are today. Paris, Milan and Venice had populations of about 80 000 people and were the largest cities in Europe. Medieval cities and towns were very overcrowded. Living g conditions in the bigger towns and cities contributed to the spread of the disease. In London, toilets of the houses of aristocrats jutted out and dropped sewage into the river. In some other places, sewage was piped into a drain running down the centre of a narrow street or lane. Crowded mid-sized towns were dirty, with open drains and meat and fish rotting in the streets, polluted well-water and flowing sewage pits or cesspools. Many people owned pigs which were supposed to be kept outside the walls of the city but instead they would often roam the streets in search for food, these conditions were common in any European medieval town. Everywhere was overcrowded and even well-off families sometimes would share a single bedroom. In the houses of the poor, it was common for a number of people to sleep on the floor in the same room. Dirty and insanitary conditions led to many illnesses. These living conditions as well as a poor diet, weakened people and made them more susceptible to the plague. This environment was ideal for rats to flourish.

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                             Impact on society

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                             Impact on society

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Plague did not discriminate between communities, families, race or class but certain groups in society, such as priests, doctors, monks and nuns were often the first port of people who received help and comfort. Apart from their contracts with victims in hospitals, the confined environment of monks and nuns were offered no escape from infection and the doctors were too sick and dying to deliver care to others. The people in the middle ages had no knowledge of the cause, how it spread or how to treat it. In Europe, people from all levels of society struggled to cope with the enormous loss of life. The plague killed entire families at a time and destroyed villages. Some people ran away in attempt to save themselves, but were most likely turned away by other villages. If a family member had contracted the disease, the entire household was doomed to die. Parents who became infected had to make the descision to abandon their children in the small hope that they may survive.

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                          Impact on infected people

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                          Impact on infected people

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The plague afflicted people in three forms. The most common was the 'bubonic' named for the swellings, or buboes, that appeared on the victims neck, armpits or groin. This form was transmitted by infected fleas. You get the bubonic plague from the bite of an infected flea or rodent. In rare cases, Yesinia pestis bacteria, from a piece of contaminated clothing or other material used by a person with plague, enter the body through an opening in the skin.In bubonic plague, the most common form, bacteria infect the lymph system and become inflamed. A second variant was the pneumonic plague which attacked the respiratory system and was spread through the victims exhaled air or cough and so was far more contagious and deadly than the bubonic form. Pneumonic plague is contagious. If someone has pneumonic plague and coughs, droplets containing Yersinia pestis bacteria from their lungs are released into the air. An uninfected person can then develop pneumonic plague by breathing in those droplets. The third variant, the septicaemic plague, was most deadly, attacking the blood system.This form of plague occurs when the bacteria multiply in the blood. You usually get septicemic plague the same way as bubonic plague which is through a flea or rodent bite. You can also get septicemic plague if you had untreated bubonic or pneumonic plague.
During the Middle Ages, the average life expectancy was low. An average adult life span was about 35 years for males and 31 years for females.

Symptoms of the Black Death
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                                 Origins of the Black Death 

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                                 Origins of the Black Death 

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The calamity was that The Black Death in the Middle Ages was a bubonic plague pandemic. Which is a disease that spreads across wide areas, such as entire countries or continents. Regular outbreaks of the Black Death occurred in antiquity and continued into the early Middle Ages. In the sixth century AD, bubonic plague had spread across most of Arabia, North Africa, Asia and Europe, causing devastating loss of life. The Black Death was transmitted by infected fleas carried by rodents. People remained ignorant of the role played by crowded, unsanitary living conditions. The Black Death initially began in China or Central Asia. It then spread to Crimea by the year 1346 travelling through the Silk Road. From Crimea, the bubonic plague was most likely transmitted by Oriental rat fleas that survived on the blood of black rats that resided regularly on the various merchant ships. It then spread throughout the European continent and the Mediterranean region. The bacteria that cause the plague are transmitted by fleabite. Fleas that bite humans are of a different species from the fleas that bite rats. The normal host of bubonic plague causing bacteria is the European black rat in which the bacteria can survive for indefinite periods of time. A human contracts bubonic plague when it is occasionally bit by a rat flea carrying the bubonic plague causing bacteria. Once a human being is infected from bubonic plague, the bacteria can then be transmitted to other humans by the bite of human fleas. Once the plague bacteria have multiplied in the human body, there is a small chance of them evolving into a pneumatic strain, which is not only transmitted by flea bite but also by airborne water particles formed from sneezes and coughs.

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