The Black Death

When did the Black Death arrive in England?

1348

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Which two diseases spread during the Black Death?

The bubonic and pneumonic plagues.

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Bubonic plague

• Caused large swellings called buboes
under the armpits, on the neck and in the groin.
• Spread by rats, who dwelled in medieval towns and had fleas living on them. Fleas living on an infected black rat then jumped onto humans and bit them, spreading bu

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Bubonic plague contd

• It is believed that the Black Death was brought to England by rats that travelled to England on ships from China.
• Mortality rate: 50%

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Pneumonic plague

• Spread through coughs and sneezing
• Mortality rate: almost 100%

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What did people believe caused the Black Death?

• Miasma
• Imbalance of the 4 humours
• Witchcraft
• Punishment from God

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How did people try to treat the Black Death?

• Flagellants whipped themselves to stop God from punishing them
• People prayed for the sick
• Bloodletting
• Carrying herbs to stop miasma
• Physicians used herbal remedies.

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Consequences

• Up to half of Europe's population was killed.
• The focus of medicine was finding effective cures and treatments for the disease, but similar ideas were used to deal with the Great Plague in 1665, because there was no greater understanding of the cause

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The Black Death

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