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BUBONIC PLAGUE IN EUROPE.
THE BLACK DEATH
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The Bubonic Plague in Europe, arrived on the shores of Italy in the year 1348. The most devastating manifestation of the Plague ever known. It is believed to have originated in the Gobi Desert, travelling quickly along the trade routes, killing unknown thousands every day.
Carried by fleas, which lived on rats, it arrived in Western Europe, having already carved a deadly swathe via the Crimea and Constantinople, aquiring the fearful name of the Black Death as it made it's way westwards.
This outbreak of Bubonic Plague killed nearly half of the total population of Europe, forcing them to bury their dead in mass graves.
A layer of bodies would be placed in a huge deep grave, then covered with a thin layer of earth, upon which the process would be repeated layer upon layer until the grave was full. Many such graves are to be found the length and breadth of Europe.
The name Black Death could have come from the blackish/grey colour that the tissue turns, with the premature death of the cells and living tissue. See the Symtoms of Bubonic Plague.
There were many reasons for this huge pandemic of the Bubonic Plague in Europe reaching the proportions it did. Not least was the absolutely abysmal living conditions under which most human beings in medieval Europe had to live through, due to the abject poverty of the times.
ABOVE: THE BLACK DEATH.
In the towns and cities there was much squalour. Lack of space meant not only did the humans live together in cramped conditions, but it was quite normal to live virtually side by side with their animals which included livestock.
Mainly in continental Europe, there was a widespread fear of cats. Many people believed they belonged to the Devil, resulting in many domestic cats being killed, leaving the rats free from a natural predator, and leading to a huge rise in their numbers.
This in turn allowed many more rats to carry the fleas into the human habitatations, with the resultant infectation of so many people.
The following centuries saw more outbreaks of the disease which, although they were deadly, did not reach the severity of the black death which had started in 1348.
The Great Plague of London in 1665 - 1666 which preceded the Great Fire of London, was the last major outbreak of Bubonic Plague in England. The Great Plague of Vienna in 1679, was the last major outbreak in Europe.
