Black Death

:This article concerns the worldwide pandemic starting in the mid-14th century, with a focus on material available from European records and accounts. For detailed information on the most commonly accepted cause of the epidemic, see bubonic plague.

Related Topics:
Pandemic - 14th century - Bubonic plague

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The Black Death (more recently known as the Black Plague) was a devastating pandemic that first struck Europe in the mid-14th century (1347–1350), when it was estimated to have killed about a third of Europe's population. A series of plague epidemics also occurred in large portions of Asia and the Middle East during the same period, which indicates this outbreak was actually a worldwide pandemic. The same disease is thought to have returned to Europe every generation with varying degrees of intensity and fatality until the 1700s. Notable late outbreaks include the Italian Plague of 1629-1631, the Great Plague of London (1664–65), and the Great Plague of Vienna (1679).

Related Topics:
Pandemic - Europe - 14th century - 1347 - 1350 - Europe's population - 1700s - Italian Plague of 1629-1631 - Great Plague of London - Great Plague of Vienna

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The result of the plague was not just a massive decline in population. It irrevocably changed Europe's social structure, was a disastrous blow to Europe's predominant organized religion, the Roman Catholic Church, caused widespread persecutions of minorities like Jews and lepers, and created a general mood of morbidity that influenced people to live for the moment, unsure of their daily survival.

Related Topics:
Social structure - Organized religion - Roman Catholic Church - Persecution - Minorities - Jew - Leper - Mood - Morbidity

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The initial 14th-century European event was called the "Great Mortality" by contemporary writers and, with later outbreaks, became known as the "Black Death" because of a striking symptom of the disease, called acral necrosis, in which sufferers' skin would blacken due to subdermal hemorrhages. Historical records attribute the Black Death to an outbreak of bubonic plague, an epidemic of the bacterium Yersinia pestis spread by fleas with the help of animals like the black rat (Rattus rattus), although today's experts debate both the microbiological culprit and mode of transmission.

Related Topics:
Acral necrosis - Bubonic plague - Bacterium - Yersinia pestis - Flea - Black rat

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