Medicine - The Black Death

What was it?

• Historians today think it was the bubonic plague, carried by fleas on black rats
• The disease was brought to different countries on trading ships
• Passed to humans when an infected flea bites them and the disease enters

How people thought the Black Death was caused

• Religion: God sent the plague as a punishment for people's sins
• Astrology: the position of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn was unusual at this time
  
• Miasma: bad air or smells caused by decaying rubbish
• Volcanoes: poisonous gases from volcanoes and earthquakes…