The Black Plague

                   The Black Plague

The Black Plague was one of the most devastating epidemics in the world because of the deaths of many people in Eurasia and Europe. It is believed that the plague was caused by a bacterium known as Yersinia pestis. The Catholic church put in efforts to prevent the spread of the epidemic. Some of the measures implemented by the church included restricting the movement of people from one town to another, and people from the affected regions were not allowed to export any woolen or linen material. Some of the failures of the measures implemented by the church include, it led to the death of many clergy members. Many clergy members died because they handled the sick individuals who sought refuge in the church. The church opened new colleges at established universities to train people. The shortage of clergy members provided opportunities for members of the public to assume essential roles in the local parish.

According to researchers, the likely cause of the spread of the Black Plague was human fleas and body lice. The researchers argue that human beings, rather than rats, spread the plague because it killed more human people than the number of rats that died during this period. Europe was trading with the East, and some of the medieval Europeans knew that a mysterious disease attacked many Asians. The Black Plague moved from Central Asia along a trade route to the Black Sea Region. Some people believed that the Jewish were contaminating the water supply, and people to drank the contaminated water would contract the disease. Rats were blamed for the spread of the disease because it was believed that they carried the parasites who would bite people’s skins, and the bacteria jump into the bloodstream and collect in the human’s lymph nodes.