No matter which one wins, everybody loses!

Francis Mosley, ''The Black Death'' by Philip Ziegler, 1997 Source

It's the Black Death European tour of 1347-1351!

The relaxed fit t-shirt and other products with this design are available on my Redbubble :)

CW: Gore, Death, Puke, Decaying flesh, Buboes, Blood, Description of the symptoms of the different plagues in The Black Death, Gruesome description of how the representation would look like, Please tell me if anything that should be put as a warning was not, thanks.

The most feared plague in history, The Black Death.

Mainly the bubonic plague mixed with its two more deadly brothers the pneumonic plague and septicemic plague. It was the deadliest plague of the time as it ran through Europe, Africa, and Asia and conquered any village, town, and city it found itself in, flooding the streets with blood, mucus, and rotted flesh as once healthy humans dropped dead from the plague that seemed to come from nowhere before it dragged everyone to the Hell it had seemed to have spawned from. It did not care who you were, it did not discriminate, rich or poor, loved or hated, known or not, it would blow out the little life that you had. It thrived off the fear and only seemed to grow stronger as another soul joined the long chain of victims that had already succumbed to the disease. Anywhere from twenty to sixty percent of the population of the time was taken by it.

The perpetrator? Yersinia pestis. The carriers? Fleas. The spreader? Rats but some say it could have actually been hamsters that were stowaways. But how were the rats able to spread? Trading ships that jumped from town to town leaving a deadly gift as it sailed away that would lead to the death of all that were unfortunate enough to live there.

Now you may ask what would happen if you were to catch it and let me tell you it was living torture. It would start with a simple flea bite but that flea was infected with Yersinia pestis causing it to build a barrier in its stomach so no blood could be digested or go into its stomach causing it to build up and be infected by the bacteria, and this blood would be thrown back up by the flea onto the wound infecting it as it would be absorbed into the bloodstream. From entering the bloodstream it could take one of three routes: the lymphatic system, continuing through the bloodstream, or directly to the lungs. If you were lucky enough for it to infect your lymphatic system then you had a sixty percent chance of dying meaning you had a forty percent chance of surviving. Even though you had more chances of surviving it did not mean that you were saved from not suffering, from one to seven, or if you were lucky eight, days of contracting the disease was when it would show symptoms. At first it would trick you into the false belief that you only had the flu. You would have a general feeling of being ill, lethargic and weak which only grew into worse fatigue as the days went on, followed by chills and a high fever which anyone would know just seems to be like a normal cold but then that soon developed into muscle cramps in your aching limbs as seizures overtook the body. Then it would present the symptom that gave it the name the bubonic plague, buboes. These were when the lymph nodes would balloon to become large, painful, smoothe swellings which would occur near the original area of infection alongside the groin, neck, and armpits which would continue to grow until they burst. You also had the issue of your skin slowly beginning to necrotise as it died alongside the lenticulae which were small black dots that would be scattered across your body and gangrene took over your lips, nose, toes, and fingers which all caused severe pain to the point you would rather die there and then instead of waiting it out to see if you had the lucky chance of surviving. Of course there were other symptoms like heavy breathing as your lungs felt like they were being held down by rocks, your own body becoming like the flea as it would start to vomit gallons of infected blood, coughing, gastrointestinal problems, and spleen inflammation, but in some cases even the sleep would be disturbed to the point of insomnia where sleep would be impossible to get as your were forced to stay awake to feel all the pain that riddled your body. But then the worst of the systems came at the final stage as delirium came and took over any rational thought as all organs began to fail from the disease overcoming them and causing them to shut down which only led to a coma, but it all ended the same way, death.

If you were unlucky enough for it to infect your lungs first or just infect your lungs before the other systems became worse then you had a ninety-five percent chance of dying meaning you had a five percent chance of surviving. To make the pneumonic plague even worse you could develop it even after being infected by either the bubonic plague or the septicemic plague; it could also be caught from not just it infecting your lungs after a bite which infected the bloodstream but by also breathing in air borne droplets of the bacteria from another thing that was riddled with the plague. As it would normally be caught after having bubonic or septicemic plague it meant that at first you would present all the symptoms from the other plagues before experiencing the specifics of the pneumonic plague. At first you would think you have a fever but a severe one as headaches, nausea, and weakness run rampant as if it was trying to warn you that this would be no normal bubonic or septicemic plague. Luckily compared to the bubonic plague the time you would suffer with this plague was a great short, even though it would take around three to seven days before the symptoms showed as soon as the symptoms worsened or even showed you could guarantee that you would be dead within thirty-six hours, most likely less. You would be constantly vomiting for three days straight as your lungs slowly began to feel as if they were being sewn shut at each bronchus, only leading to each breath becoming shorter and shorter as you seemed to constantly be coughing and rasping for the tiniest bit of unrestrained air. Then soon enough your lungs would spew out a bloody and watery mess that would stain your tongue with its mercury taste which you would continue to cough out in between the vomiting until you went into shock as your full respiratory tract went into failure and just stopped, finally leading to death.

But if you were the most unfortunate person alive on Earth at the time that every God seemed to hate since it stayed in your bloodstream and completely infected your blood it meant you had no chance of surviving as you had a hundred percent chance of dying. It made the other two diseases seem like child’s play as it normally only took around fourteen hours before it shut down the body, worse of all it could even kill you without showing any of the symptoms. Like the others you would think it was a common cold due to the fever, chills, and low blood pressure but soon enough severe abdominal pain would set in as it felt like you were dying due to the extreme amount of diarrhea which would be accompanied by nausea that only led to severe vomiting. But soon enough the vomit and diarrhea would be filled with blood until it was fully red as the body lost most of its clotting resources from the tiny blood clots that had formed throughout the body so it could no longer control the blood which started to bleed into the skin and organs creating red or black patches of rashes or bumps which could be seen on the skin. The blood clotting also caused necrosis as tissue and organs would die from the lack of blood flow as it all leaked into where it should not, the most obvious spots of the decay were the gangrene in the fingers, nose, and toes. Then the bleeding would extend from not just bleeding in the body but blood coming out from the rectum but most noticeably the mouth and nose where it would come out like a waterfall. Obviously due to the blood leaking into everything it would cause difficulty breathing as it would fill the lungs and deprive it of the blood outside the lungs that was needed to exchange the carbon dioxide for oxygen. And with no blood to deliver the oxygen needed for the organs to live they all would go into organ failure causing the body to go into shock before the final moments where everything went back as it was taken over by death.

As it can be seen all of them had the same outcome, death.

Luckily nowadays the plagues are a simple pest if the person has access to treatment to stop it from progressing further but at the time that The Black Death ran rampant no one had the luxury of those treatments leading most to die who caught it. Masses upon masses of bodies continued to build up only attracting more of the rats then the ones that had already been attracted to the large towns by the excrement and rotting butcher’s meat that made a river through the streets. With more rats that withered away from the disease it just meant more fleas would jump to more human hosts to use which only led to more living corpses to roam the streets as the disease turned people into skeletons while still living before turning them into an actual corpse.

It was understandable as to why humans of the time would be so scared of such a thing as to them it just seemed like their fellow mortals were dropping like lowly flies that would eat away at the flyblown flesh that continued to pile away in mass graves to create more nests for their larvae and eggs to incubate inside. Imagine the terror and fear that must have filled their minds as they did not understand pathogens at the time, to them it would have seemed like divine wrath but no one could think of a reason as to why their Almighty would betray them like this as everyone appeared to be on their best behaviour. They needed something to blame. They found something to blame. 

Simple rumours turned into truths.

Somewhere in England there was said to be a village. Small, nothing of concern as it was like every other village of the time. Like every other village it had a butcher, a silent man who was rumoured to once be a knight but no one knew why he was not anymore. He tended to be quiet, avoiding others who were not his friends and family. It was said that he loved his nephew and that if he had enough swigs of barley that you could get him singing and dancing on the roof or you could convince him to give you his primest cuts of meat. He was deemed as normal, he was like everyone else, until one day.

No one knew what happened. It was supposed to be a joyous day to celebrate the coming of winter but it was far from that. Nearly the whole family was found butchered with a precision only expected to be known by a trained killer. The lower left leg and most of the fingers of the right hand of the older brother laid in a puddle of blood but they could not find the rest of his body; the mutilated body of the brother’s wife was spread around slightly from each different part as if when she was being attacked the culprit had went after another member while still holding onto the part it was hacking off; the body of their son was curled into the corner clutching onto the leg of his mother while out of the stab holes that covered his body in ten folds nearly making him unidentifiable oozed out blood into a bloody puddle that collected around his body; and finally the grandmother of the family who was found decapitated in her rocking chair with her head being found outside within the well. The only one not found dead was the butcher and when he returned, covered in blood, everyone turned their suspicions to him. When he tried to explain that he had been out hunting but had been attacked by a large grey man no one believed him, especially when they saw the crazed look within his eyes that could only be produced by when they had let Beelzebub into their soul. Everyone agreed to grab their pitchforks and chase him out so no more could be hurt.

It was only a few months before the figure started to appear across the world. People from the village murmured to other villages and beyond when they heard what the figure looked like in its earlier stage that they believed it to be the same butcher infected with the plague of Beelzebub to infect the world with their sin to bring more to Hell. Everyone believed him to be the reason for the spread of the plague. It was said that if you were to see him within the fields outside of any town, village, or city that all the inside were destined to die. 

The Ghost of The Black Death.

A figure that would strike the fear into the hearts of all.

A horde of rats followed behind him in trails as flies buzzed around his head, if he was near you would always see a Black Shuck which commanded a storm alongside it as if they were his hounds of doom brought along to give the townsfolk warning of their dire fates and to pray to the Almighty while they were still apart.

A black coat hid the majority of his body as bloodied rags of old hunting gear of a peasant hung off of skeletal remains with a jaw hanging off his neck as if it was a necklace as it was tied there with rope. Messy blonde hair spread out in all directions as blood leaked out from the tear ducts in a false mockery of the tears that millions had split in their last moments. No nose or bottom jaw could be found, decayed off long ago. The face looked skeletal as teeth, gums, and a tongue were exposed to the bitter air that reeked of death and loss as the cheeks were tattered in form as more skin continued to flake off as it continued to decays; once blue eyes so full of life were left sunken, dead as if they were another victim that had succumb to the plague that the Ghost was said to bring alongside him. A trail of buboes surrounded his neck as if it was a noose to which he could hang himself with as the tail was marked by a diversion of buboes that wrapped around and under his arms to around his groyne. His spine and ribs jutted out for all to see underneath the greyed skin which was littered with blackened patches of decay as branches of red veins leaked and bleed out to leave a path of blood in his wake for all to track him by. Still, as he rotted away, vague faints of the muscular body that had been far gone from its prime lingered where it once remained. The bottom of his calves with his feet and the bottom of his forearms with his hands had turned black and mummified from the decay and gangrene that had taken them over, leaving no remaining sensations within the hands to feel the warmth of a human ever again for the rest of eternity.

If you were to see him late at night, staring into your soul you better pray that The Ghost does not turn you into another soul like him.

can anyone recommend some good educational stuff or maybe movies on the black plague and the plague doctors. im in that special interest phase where i just can't consume enough knowledge i nEED MORE

One fact that will forever make me grumpy is that plague doctors in their bird form didn’t exist during the Black Death

They both existed during the second bubonic plague outbreak because the second outbreak went far past the Black Death

The Black Death was the second outbreaks big debut but the bird outfit wasn’t even made until 1619

The Black Death was a 14th century thing the plague doctor birds were a 17th century thing

The Decameron

Why is everyone reading The Decameron? https://www.vogue.com/article/why-is-everyone-reading-the-decameron

The Decameron web https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/

An intro to the Decameron https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/07/magazine/what-is-the-decameron.html

The Decameron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Decameron

The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23700

"We started discussing mortality rates, that is, of the people who contract the disease, what percentage of the people who are ill will die. At that point in time COVID mortality rates were hovering at about 2% and hospitals were filled to capacity with people who were very, very sick from the disease. [...] On this particular zoom call my friend asked me what mortality rates were during the Black Death. What percentage of people who contracted plague would die from it?

"Best guess?" I said, "around 80%."

"Eighteen percent?!" she said in horror. "There's no way. Society would have collapsed!"

And then I had to tell her that no, I had not said 18%, what I had said was 80%. There was utter silence on the zoom call as my friend absorbed this piece of information.

"So," another friend asked, "what percentage of the population actually died?"

"For Europe," I said, "estimates are that at least 50% of the population was wiped out."

And in that moment the horror of the Black Death struck me harder than it ever had before.

[...] And as far as that data I gave my friends on that zoom call in March, 2020? I was probably underestimating. Mortality rates during the Black Death were more likely closer to 82% or 85% and the overall impact on the population was probably more severe, with something like 60% or in some places as much as 70% of the population wiped out.

And while my information was generally correct for Europe, one new piece of information that we're going to explore more in-depth was this: it now seems clear that the Black Death was in-fact a global pandemic, extending much further into Africa and the Middle East and circulating through much more of Asia than we once believed."

- Dorsey Armstrong, The Black Death: New Lessons from Recent Research

Hi! I was wondering if you had any recs for fiction and non-fiction about the Black Death?

Hello! Do I ever!

Fiction: Connie Willis, Doomsday Book. In the near future, when time travel is discovered, it is put in the hands of the historians of Oxford University. This is 1) perfectly rational 2) gloriously doomed to suffer the fate of any large-scale project put in the hands of a tweedy and aggressively unworldly professor and a handful of ambitious postgraduate students. Also, the technologies of time travel are in their infancy. So our bright-eyed young historian gets sent to the middle of the fourteenth century by mistake, and her aggressively unworldly, intensely loyal supervisor is not going to let her fall victim to one of history's greatest crises. I love them.

Fictionalized history: John Hatcher, The Black Death: An Intimate History. Hatcher wrote this after having spent over half his life immersed in the records of medieval England, and it shows. Using the surviving documentation of villages and manors, he constructs a hypothesized case study of how one set of people might have responded to the pandemic. It's poignant and interesting, I think.

Non-fiction: this gets a bit trickier because Black Death studies have been moving at a dizzying speed for the last decade or so, and rapidly for the past 15 years. I have had to revise my teaching on it every. single. time. I have taught, just to keep up with the scholarship. (I'm not mad about it; I'm just tired.) Anyway: the 2014 issue of The Medieval Globe has a collection of very valuable and interesting essays, and if you poke around a bit, you might still find them open-access on the authors' respective webpages. I really like Bruce M.S. Campbell's The Great Transition: Climate, Disease, and Society in the Late-Medieval World (2016.) There's also this webinar you can access free of charge:

Something that will so often shock people is the fact that my great uncle died of the plague. Yes. THE plague. The Black Death. In the 90s.

So many people believe that this sickness has been eradicated, but it has in fact not. Yes, in the first world cases are rare and nobody knows to this day, how my uncle got infected - but it absolutely is a disease that still exists.

Smart

The teensy little bit of Spain:

You may be old, but are you old enough to remember the Black Death?

just a lil bink bonk from today's medieval festival

Day 69/100

I finally finished it. I finally finished the last gift that my best friend gave me before she passed away. Over the past 9 months, I've been torn on whether or not to complete it since that'd be one less thing tying her to my everyday life. But I did it.

Been a busy few days. I've been in and out of the hospital 3 times in the past week. I'm currently in the hospital, this time I'm waiting for my ultrasound to see my babygirl.

Today, I got some bad news. One of my classes needed to finish my program was canceled this semester. I was so close to wrapping up my associates. I'm torn again. Should I delay my classes another year and hope I come back and finish? Or should I see if there's some other way for me to complete my program?

After this doctor visit, I plan on going home and curling up with my next book and resting while I still can.

Random Fact #6,439

Before the germ theory of disease (now the accepted scientific theory for how disease works) doctors believed that the plague spread was through poisoned air.

The beaked masks were filled with theriac, a mixture of more than 55 herbs and other compounds including ingredients such as cinnamon, myrrh, and honey. The shape of the beak was supposedly designed to give the air enough time to be cleansed by the herbs before it reached the nose.

While they weren’t entirely correct about what caused illness, the plague doctor masks did in fact help with preventing some illnesses.