How the Black Death reshaped Europe and why medieval medicine failed to stop it.
In short: Between 1347 and 1352, the Black Death decimated Europe, killing up to thirty million people. This video examines the origins of the plague, the devastating symptoms it caused, and the desperate, ineffective attempts by medieval doctors to combat a disease they did not understand.
The bubonic plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, arrived in Europe via rat-infested Genoese ships docking in Sicily from the Black Sea. Infected individuals suffered from fever, joint pain, and the characteristic black-colored swelling of lymph nodes known as buboes. With a mortality rate of approximately two-thirds among the infected, the disease often claimed lives within seventy-two hours.
Because medical professionals of the time were unaware of the role played by rodents and bacteria, they attributed the catastrophe to divine wrath, demonic influence, planetary alignments, or bodily imbalances. This lack of scientific understanding left society helpless against the outbreak, which ultimately reduced the European population by about one-third and triggered significant shifts in the medieval social structure.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: The Black Death of Medieval Europe and Their Cures
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