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The disease started on the shores of the Black Sea where sailors landed. Ships often unknowingly carried the rats on board, which hastened the spread of the disease to Italy and other countries. The large numbers of dead rats were noted in the areas of disease, but the connection wasn’t immediately noted. Many people believed it was a curse, or caused by earthquakes releasing fumes from the Earth’s core, or by climatic changes. In Venice, a declaration was made that no one could leave incoming ships for 40 days, to be sure they did not carry the disease to the city. This was called quaranta giorni, which came from the 40 days of Christ’s suffering in the wilderness and is where our word “quarantine” comes from. It was not effective--60,000 people in the city still died.


People's reaction to the illness varied. Some went into total isolation to try to avoid the disease, some took the philosophy “play today for tomorrow we die,” and totally ignored the disease, and some fled in an attempt to escape it. It lasted a little more than a year in Italy, and, although accurate records were not kept, deaths probably took between a third and half of the population.

Plant
A fabled plant that was said to stop the plague

doctor
A doctor in protective clothing

 Another belief was that carrying sweet-smelling herbs and flowers and holding them to the nose helped to ward off poisonous vapor. This was the origin of our common nursery rhyme, “Ring-a-ring o’ rosies, A pocket full of posies, A-tishoo! A-tishoo! We all fall down.” The final two lines tell of the sneezing which preceded collapse and death.


At the peak of the epidemic in Paris, there were 800 deaths a day. About half of the city died. The plague then spread to the British Isles and to Germany. By 1351, it had pretty much run its course. It was common to hear about empty houses, abandoned towns, and drifting ships because of the deaths. Pope Clement’s agent calculated that, in all, there were almost 24,000,000 deaths, or about 32% of the population of Europe. There were some smaller outbreaks over the next 50 years, and, in all, Europe’s population was reduced by about 50% by 1400.

There were many changes over the next couple of centuries. Agricultural prices fell, wages rose. Religious faith was somewhat shattered which contributed to reform in the Catholic church and the beginnings of the first Protestant churches. Many medical practices were questioned, and medical guides were published with the invention of the printing press. It was a time of new questions and new discoveries.