Black Death: Home

The invasion of the Black Death, or plague, created physical and psychological devastation, but also brought an end to Church domination in the Middle Ages and ushered in numerous social and economic reforms.

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The article discusses issues concerning the role of the gram-negative bacteria Yersinia pestis in ancient and modern plagues. Topics covered include the death of as much as half of Europe's population during the Middle Ages because of Yersinia, genome analysis which reveal the evolutionary history of the bacteria, the role of climate shifts in the spread of plagues and bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin's isolation of the plague bacteria.

The article discusses research published in the journal "Nature" by geneticists and anthropologists including Hendrik Poinar in which samples of Yersinia pestis, the bacteria which caused the Black Death, which were taken from exhumed plague victims were analyzed. The scientists found that the bacteria had no genetic mutations which would have made it more virulent and suggest that other factors such as climate, malnourishment, and stress made the disease lethal.

They are arguably the ultimate villain of the Middle Ages, and stand accused of killing up to 200 million people in the Black Death. However, a new study has found that parasites carried by rats were probably not behind the outbreak of plague in Europe - and blames dirty humans instead.

Middle Ages was a grim time to be poorly. In the 1350s, the average life expectancy was perhaps 30-35. Infant mortality was extremely high where 1 in 5 children died before their first birthday and many women died in childbirth ... "

"One of the most devastating pandemics in human history was The Black Death. It is thought to have started in China or central Asia before spreading west. It swept through the Mediterranean and Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries. By 1349, one-third of the Islamic world had perished and is thought to have killed 30–60% of Europe's population. "

"The long term effects of the Black Death were devastating and far reaching. Agriculture, religion, economics and even social class were affected. Contemporary accounts shed light on how medieval Britain was irreversibly changed."

"The pandemic of bubonic plague that swept across Europe between 1347 and 1353 is known today as the Black Death, though contemporaries called it the "Great Pestilence," and the disease itself was generally known as peste."