T.J. Laverne
author of supernatural historical fiction
The Black Death
The Black Death, which raged in Europe between the years 1346 and 1353, was one of the greatest natural calamities to affect mankind, killing one-third to one-half the total population, somewhere between 75 to 200 million people.
The “Great Pestilence” is believed to have originated in central Asia, which then traveled along trade routes to Europe. As told in The Morning Star, the Mongolians, while battling the city of Caffa in Crimea, threw their plague-infected corpses over the walls of the city as a kind of biological warfare. The plague then spread to the city residents, and was subsequently spread by ship to Italy, in turn setting in motion the spread of the plague across Europe.
The most widely-believed view is that the Black Death was caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium, which causes different forms of the plague. The plague most popularly linked with the Black Death is the Bubonic plague, which is spread by fleas carried by rodents (facilitated by the fact that towns were excruciatingly filthy at the time.) The infection results in fever and a swelling of the lymph nodes that causes massive “buboes” to crop up all over the body. The Pneumonic plague, however, spreads from person to person through the air, and is accompanied by coughing and chest pain. It is most likely the Black Death began as Bubonic and escalated to Pneumonic, as the plague would not likely have spread so quickly if it was merely spread by fleas on rats.
The people of that time had no knowledge of what caused the Great Plague or where it originated, and therefore turned to religion for answers. Fear led many to awful conclusions, some believing that it was the end of the world, and others believing it was God’s punishment on mankind for its sins. Crazed fanatics arose, some travelling the continent to display their penitence, and others deciding to persecute and eliminate those they believed most displeased God. Jews, foreigners, and people with skin diseases and disfigurements were among those most victimized. Thousands of Jews were killed, and many Jewish communities were completely obliterated.
