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Bubonic Plague Dbq Essay

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Why was the Bubonic Plague (Black Death) so Devastating to European Society? The Bubonic Plague, otherwise known as the Black Death, was a huge epidemic in the mid-1300s. It killed off about 20 million Europeans within 1348 and 1351and was thought to originate from China and move westwards through means of infected fleas and rats through shipping and trade (Document 1). The plague was recorded in the spring of 1348 in Messina, Italy and the summer that followed, in England. The last region affected by the disease was the Baltic region. Symptoms that came along with the plague were buboes, large swellings on the lymph nodes, groin and armpit. One form which invaded the respiratory system, moved the virus to live in the exhaled breaths of a victim, easily spreading the disease to the next person. Another group of swellings that covered the body were called …show more content…

Officials refused the entering of the sick into their cities, manure was cleaned out, and lessons of hygiene were given. Referring to an adaption of Marchione di Coppo Stefani, "Child abandoned the father, husband the wife, wife the husband, one brother the other, one sister the other (Document 3)." This part describes the results of disease leading to abandonment of family. An example of products of the plague was a song titled "Ring-a round the rosy (Document 5)." The rhyme has metaphors depicting things done during that time. Physicians died in contact with the illness and others used procedures of keeping distance and wearing outfits that resembled a bird's beak; it contained vinegar for protection (Document 6). As victims of the illness were deteriorating, another group suffered. Thousands of Jews burned and got tortured due to accusations (Document 7). Although they did poison wells, we now know that they were not the

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