The above picture is of an Elizabethan Physician. Households with any infected members were to be quarantined until five weeks after the last sign of infection, and inns and alehouses where infections appeared were ordered to close. Alas, the disease had gripped the city and a large number of people were already infected. The victim's skin turned black in patches and inflamed glands or 'buboes' in the groin, combined with compulsive vomiting, swollen tongue and splitting headaches made it a horrible, agonizing killer. Merchant ships and rodents were the two main ways this disease spread and infected humans (The Black Death 1348). The country area and villages were not exempt from the disease either - there was no hiding place. Serfs were no longer tied to their previous plot of land. The impact of closure must have been extremely frightening, not to mention the threat of the Black Death ( Bubonic Plague ) itself. The Bubonic plague (Black Death) was always caught or spread from an infected animal or person. The reactions from the Christians and the Muslims to the greatly feared disease, known as the Black Death or the Great Plague were different in several ways. Contrary to popular belief it was not just the people who lived in the towns who were at risk of catching the Black Death or Bubonic Plague. One of the names for the plague was "The Pestilence." The plague arrived in Europe in. As the name implies, the Black Death was more often than not a death sentence. (Cultural) Medieval society did not know what caused the plague or how it spread. The Black Death entered south-western England in Summer 1348 and by all accounts struck Bristol with shocking force. Queen Elizabeth I also prohibited the import of foreign goods as a measure to prevent the spread of the disease to the Elizabethan court. When, despite the high wages, no new men for this job could be found women and boys, especially those who had recovered from the Bubonic plague (Black Death), were forced to carry out this work. Still others had the infected person sit near a fire or in the sewer in an attempt to drive out the fever with heat. The disease could also be air bound and transmitted from an infected person's breath. A person affected by bubonic plague develops fever and painful swellings or buboes of the lymph glands. He began his career as a playwright somewhere between 1585 and 1592. In 1500 there was around 2.5 million people in England. Soon, black spots began appearing in the skin and huge boils started developing in the groins or armpits. People did wash, bath and clean their teeth. Animals and human beings contract dangerous disease from flea or rodent bites. The plague, named the Black Death by later historians, had a devastating effect on the European population in the fourteenth century. To support these quarantine measures, every infected community appointed officials both to provide food and essentials to the afflicted households, and also to make sure their residents stayed put. The plague reached Europe through the sea in October 1348. The Black Plague also affected Shakespeare financially. The Bubonic plague, also known ominously as the Black Death, is a bacterial epidemic that reached its peak in the Middle Ages. LinkedIn. Treatment for this dreaded disease during the Middle Ages was vague and clueless. Stopping the spread of the infection through the body is the first and paramount goal. What caused the Bubonic plague in the Middle Ages? Merchant ships and rodents were the two main ways this disease spread and infected humans (The Black Death 1348). However, criminal activity by nobles, persecution by lords, war, and disease eventually caused oppressed peasants to revolt. One of the most terrifying black plague facts is that it killed 30 to 50 percent of infected victims back in the Black Death outbreak. Symptoms noticed: reddening of skin, skin turning black, high fever, swelling of the lymph glands. In fact, it was not even the first. Even though bubonic plague had existed earlier, namely in parts of Asia, its effects were never as widespread as when it reached Europe through popular trade routes during the mid 1300s. Information about the Role of the Watchmen and Death Cart LabourersThe Elizabethan Watchmen and the death cart labourers were, not surprisingly, very well paid. The disease also spread frighteningly quickly, wiping out entire villages before anyone could do anything to stop it. At the heart of the problems confronting Elizabethan England was the challenge of feeding its soaring population. In fact, the social law and orders were being violated, the administrative protocols, the dispensational rules could not at all stand firm owing to this crisis that separated families, friends relatives. Over time, the. There was a great deal of backlash to the measures taken to halt the spread of plague. A devastating outbreak of the Elizabethan plague occurred in 1563 claiming 80,000 people in England. They received higher wages for their labor. Elizabeth I's England consolidated its position with the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, and firmly established the Church of England (begun by her father, Henry VIII, after a dispute with the Pope). At Bristol, Michael carries pike and shotte and portions out gunpowder. Men and women also abandoned their cities, houses, dwellings, relatives, property, and went abroad. As the disease was spread by rodents and fleas, it did lessen its ill effects in the winters but used to spread its arms in the summers and springs again. This time was a period of unprecedented prosperity and advances in poetry, music, theater and literature. Nearly half of the people who contracted the infection died from it, resulting in a loss of 25-60 percent of Europe's entire population. The earthquakes did lead to an increase in the number of rats in the area (some texts even describe "seas of rats" swimming through water or running through the streets). It is estimated that 40,000 dogs and 200,000 cats were killed. Doctors at the time were extremely busy, and -- unfortunately -- completely ill-equipped to deal with the Plague. The Black Death swept through the Middle East and Europe in the years 1346-1353 but it may have begun several decades earlier in the Qinghai Plateau of Central Asia. Due to the fact that the serfs and peasants were poor, they barely ate meat. Over the next five years, more than 20 million people died from a disease that almost killed one . A consequence of continued outbreaks was that even old Plague Pits were re-opened. A few ramifications were self-evident, such as trade, others were concealed within the fear that the population had lost so much already, they could no longer afford to lose anything else, whether that be dignity or pride. The bizarre and gruesome Physician masks would have acted as protection against contracting the disease through breathing the same air as the victim. The bubonic plague was important to the English culture because this disease affected many people in England. A ship came from China that brought rats infested with fleas, carrying the plague to Sicily. After the Black Death, the main plague epidemics occurred in 1563, 1593, 1625 and 1665. The reign of Elizabeth I saw the . Abandoning the affected ones was the real ecstasy them. What were the effects of the black death? As per their analysis, Giant Gerbils (rodents) and their explosive population in Asia along with plague bacteria-infected fleas was the primary source of the airborne disease. Yes, this talks about death and epidemics that used to kill hundreds and thousands in the medieval ages that had no specific cure and hence, was really terrifying. Early treatment is still key, however, so anyone experiencing fever and tumors must seek medical treatment immediately. Also spurting wage demands created an abysmal situation in Europe then. Many peasants died from the disease, probably from their poor diets and lack of nourishment. A famine broke out, and it is now known as the famine before the plague. Marilyn Chase (Goodreads Author) (shelved 1 time as black-plague) avg rating 3.82 1,045 ratings published 2003. He is someone who writes essentially a morality tale at the end, tracing the beginnings of a citizen who decides he and his wife are going to flee from London to escape the plague. Sir William Davenant ( possible an illegitimate son of William Shakespeare ) his associates and his career and life in Elizabethan England. Its populace of roughly 100,000 people included royalty, nobility, merchants, artisans, laborers, actors, beggars, thieves, and spies, as well as refugees from political and religious persecution on the continent. There were three types of the Plague which included the bubonic, septicaemic and the pneumonic plague. Europe during the fifteen hundreds were a dangerous place; disease, famine, and violence all prevented the population of the era to live a long life. To avoid contracting plague, physicians recommended various tinctures and cordials, either to be taken on their own or added to ones breakfast. A perfect vehicle for ensuring the spread of the disease in Elizabethan London. Shakespeare in the Elizabethan Era. In the same year, in the month of August, the plague had entered England and the English named it as The Black Death. The illness also produced in the victim an intense desire to sleep, which, if yielded to, quickly proved fatal. Fifteen years after the Elizabethan church instituted its emergency plan for the spiritual health of the realm, Elizabeth and her counselors released a set of seventeen edicts to address and contain the spread of contagion when it appeared. Due to the food shortages and closure of businesses those who were not struck down by the Bubonic plague (Black Death) often resorted to stealing from the dead bodies. The plague had an enormous social effect, killing much of the population and encouraging new health reforms, it also had religious effects by attracting the attention of the Catholic Church, and lastly, it affected the trade around Europe, limiting the transportation of goods. Although this first outbreak was certainly the most dramatic, the "plague" did not simply disappear after 1349. As mentioned, modern populations are not out of the woods yet. It was one of the darkest periods in medieval times. They had symptoms that included fever, unable to eat, pain that was so bad they became crazy. Black Death was a plague epidemic that swept across Europe between 1348 and 1353, killing nearly 25 to 60% of the entire population of Europe. In today people have way better medicines and doctors to be able to help cure illnesses. Plague laid waste to England and especially to the capital repeatedly during Shakespeare's professional life in 1592, again in 1603, and in 1606 and 1609. No effective remedy was found and hence, people did not at all receive any function able treatment. Within a few days, the deadly plague spread in Sicily and other parts of Europe. Such was the fear of plague that people started abandoning their sick family members and friends. Medieval towns had no system of drains, sewers or trash collections. Elizabethan Medicine was extremely basic in an era when terrible illnesses such as the Bubonic Plague (Black Death ) were killing nearly one third of the population. INTRODUCTION These assemblies were empowered to levy emergency taxes on the towns and villages of their respective counties in order to fund relief efforts, to appoint officials to collect and disburse these aid funds to affected communities, and to impose and enforce further preventative and relief measures as they saw fit. Globe Theatre Fact 1. There was no known cure at the time, and the bacteria spread very quickly and would kill an infected person within two days, which led to structural public policies, religious, and medical changes in Europe. The symbol of Britannia was first used in 1572 and often thereafter to mark the Elizabethan age as a renaissance that inspired national pride through classical ideals, international . Between 1558 and 1582 plaques arrived in London every four years on average. The spread of the disease continued. Information about the Closure of the Elizabethan Globe Theater due the Black Death or the Bubonic PlagueThere were three very serious outbreaks of the diseasewhich led to the closure of all places of Elizabethan entertainment, including the Globe Theater. A preservative against the pestilence The Bubonic Plague: The Black Death The victims would often die within two to four days. A famine broke out, and it is now known as the famine before the plague. The main culprit of the spread was the poor hygiene, however, the real species that are the cause of this potential wipeout, are the rats and other infected rodents that resided in the area. Thousands of years ago, a plague invaded the human world. A contemporary historian reported twenty thousand dying in London in 1562. The Black Plague A frightening and swift end to life. Abandoning the affected ones was the real ecstasy them. The Black Death was the second pandemic of bubonic plague and the most devastating pandemic in world history. The pathogens enter the lungs via blood vessels and provoke the septicaemic plague. This is essentially a climbing animal which lives in walls and roofs, always in close contact with man. The principal ideas underpinning most Elizabethan medical thinking come from Galen, who lived in the second century A.D. Physicians will cite him as an unquestionable authority when they explain to you that your health depends on a balance of the four humors: yellow bile or choler, black bile, phlegm, and blood. Rodents, fleas and plague-infected people showed up in the major. In this system, the lord owned the land in small communities, and the peasants living there farmed the land and gave him a portion of their crops as a form of payment. As a response to the plague that took place. But their gruesome job entitled them to receive a good supply of alcohol. The Black Plague It was their custom to douse themselves with vinegar and chew angelica before approaching a victim. A frightening and swift end to life. Even the animals could not escape its deathly hold. The Black Death. People formed communities, isolated from each other. Some measures, like perfume and bloodletting, have ultimately proven to be useless. 3,000 people died in Danzig and many again in Lbeck and other cities as the Sweat spread along the Baltic coast into Denmark, Scandinavia, and Russia. It was the worst pandemic plague, and had significant results on the world. . The cause of the Bubonic plague (Black Death) was unknown during the Elizabethan era so people were not in the position to take proper care or adequate precautions. People were instructed to carry something with a sweet smell, such as a pomander or a handkerchief dipped in rosewater, to ward off this miasma. The Black Death was a devastating global epidemic of bubonic plague that struck Europe and Asia in the mid-1300s. Innumerable cows, sheep, pigs, goats, and chickens perished along with people. Although this first outbreak was certainly the most dramatic, the plague did not simply disappear after 1349. These "death ships" carried the plague that traveled across Europe, eventually reaching Great Britain. Historical scientists suggest that the medieval outbreak of Black Death seemed to agree with the weather conditions in Asia and not the European climate. First of all, the Black Death influenced the way people lived in Medieval Europe. Threats of imprisonment were made as encouragement to undertake these tasks and this consequence was suffered by anyone who refused the role. When a person caught the plague, he/she had a sudden fever with chills and headache. Men and women also abandoned their cities, houses, dwellings, relatives, property, and went abroad. Prevention did not stop at perfume, however. This tragedy started around 1347 1352 A.D, originating from East Asia or China .This disease was brought by the sea from ships, and on the ship was black rats and fleas were carrying it and it was passed down to the rats. Many people at the time believed that the Plague was a result of the release of "bad air" from the ground, due to earthquakes nearby. This black plague was spreading almost like a wild forest fire that is unstoppable in nature. Upon receiving the Orders, the justices of the peace of every county were commanded to assemble to determine where infections were already occurring, what sorts of communities these places were, and their wealth. The disease originated in central Asia and was taken to the Crimea by Mongol warriors and traders. The Black Death Unequivocal evidence for its early existence comes from the discovery of genomic traces of Y. pestis . When she was a kid, she spent a lot of time in France. There was a total lack of a structured sewage system in Elizabethan London. The dead were to be buried in a secluded part of the graveyard at twilight, to minimize the chances of passersby contracting plague from the bodies. Around 25 million hoi polloi lost their lives between the years, 1347 and 1352.Black Plague. Following the death of Elizabeth in 1603 the coronation of James I was delayed due to a plague." << The Black Death of October 1347 to c1352 was one of the worst catastrophes in recorded history - a deadly bubonic plague that ravaged communities across Europe, changing forever their social and economic fabric. It was like a terrifying killer was let loose all across Europe. In turn, all the justices of the county were ordered to meet every three weeks during an outbreak to compile a report on how many had contracted or died from the plague in their county, what towns and villages were affected, how much money they had raised through taxes, and how that money was being spent. But the spread of the disease still continued Information about the Medical Profession during the Elizabethan eraThe Elizabethan churches administered to the Black Death (Bubonic Plague) victims but very little other help was given and food was rarely distributed. Around 650 cases of the Plague are still reported each year, although modern medicine is much more equipped to deal with it. Does the Black Plague Still Exist? Friar Laurence in "Romeo and Juliet" has asked a fellow friar to deliver a crucial message to the exiled. A group transporting the spoils of a Spanish carrack from Dartmouth couldn't get further than Greenwich due to the . Today, we know that there were many causes of the Black Death. The Black Death, also known as the Bubonic Plague, was one of the biggest pandemics in the world. At this time of desesperation and agony in most homes religion such as Islam and Christianity became the most powerful force in the lives of people. Victims also suffered a very high fever, delirium, the victim begins to vomit, muscular pains, bleeding in the lungs and mental disorientation. The plague had an enormous social effect, killing much of the population and encouraging new health reforms, it also had religious effects by attracting the attention of the Catholic Church, and lastly, it affected the trade around Europe, limiting the transportation of goods. In the year of 1563 alone, 20,000 people had died in London, essentially wiping out over two-thirds of its population in a single year. How many died? 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