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Brittany

Cynthia Bisson

World History

Nov 22, 2021

The Plague:

The bubonic plague severely affected the population of many societies and was

believed to have started around 1313 C.E. As stated by, “Traditions and Encounters” written by

Bentley and Ziegler the plague had originated and spread from southwestern China to many

western European countries. According to many of the sourcebooks specifically “The

Decameron” many religious witnesses believed it could have been sent by God, “there made its

appearance that deadly pestilence, which, whether disseminated by the influence of the celestial

bodies or sent upon us mortals by God in His just wrath by way of retribution for our iniquities.”

The plague had spread the fastest unwillingly through trade routes carried by merchants,

laborers, slaves, and travelers, “By 1346 it had reached the Black Sea ports of Caffa and Tana.”

(434). However, the plague did not have a substantial impact on parts of the Eastern Hemisphere,

cold temperatures delayed the increase in plague-bearing rodents and fleas yet, were still able to

decrease the population of those countries.

As those who were there to witness the plague, they were able to provide us with

information about symptoms. Although, these were just common effects shown through those

who contained the plague they still were not sure if it was different for everyone. In many

sources, they all see a common symptom but are all named differently tumor, gavaccioli, and

bubo. According to, “The Decameron,” Boccaccio states, “Not such were they as in the East,
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where an issue of blood from the nose was a manifest sign of inevitable death; but in men and

women alike it first betrayed itself by the emergence of certain tumors in the groin or the

armpits, some of which grew as large as a common apple, others as an egg, some more, some

less, which the common folk called gavoccioli.” It was also included; many black spots would

appear in various parts of the body and those who were sick did not make it after three days.

Additionally, in “The Florence Chronicle” as claimed by Stefani, “The symptoms were the

following: a bubo in the groin, where the thigh meets the trunk; or a small swelling under the

armpit; sudden fever; spitting blood and saliva (and no one who spits blood survived it)”

However in this source, there is a difference between blood in sort and the blood from the nose.

There however was no explanation on how it spread, whether it was respiratory, gastrointestinal,

through the skin, etc. Any near those who were sick could easily spread the pestilence, ‘The

virulence of the pest was the greater by reason the intercourse was apt to convey it from the sick

to the whole, just as fire devours things dry or greasy when they are brought close to it, the evil

went yet further, for not merely by speech or association with the sick.” (The Decameron.) As

I’ve mentioned before, humans were able to stay sick for up to three days and many did not

make it after the fourth day,” Almost none of the ill survived past the fourth day. Neither

physicians nor medicines were effective.” (The Florence Chronicle) The illness also affected all

living things, it was rapidly spread and immediate death, “If touched by some other living

creature, not of the human species, was the occasion, not merely of sickening, but of an almost

instantaneous death” (The Decameron) It also stated in other sources, “There was such a fear that

no one seemed to know what to do. When it took hold in a house it often happened that no one

remained who had not died. And it was not just that men and women died, but even sentient

animals died. Dogs, cats, chickens, oxen, donkeys sheep showed the same symptoms and died of
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the same disease.” (The Florentine Chronicle.) Even though these internet sources are relatively

uniform in discussing the symptoms, they lack enough information about the origin and how it

might’ve spread. The textbook nonetheless, does an acceptable job of discussing the origin and

when and where it spread. For example, “Internal hemorrhaging often discolored the

inflammations known as buboes-which gave rise to the term bubonic-and because of the black or

purple swellings.” (434.)

Why did people react the way they did? As the plague arose panic in citizens lacking the

knowledge of how to prevent getting the contagion, they all had abandoned and the governments

created regulations to decrease the amount of spreading, “They inspected the urine from a

distance and with something odoriferous under their nose. The child abandoned the father, the

husband the wife, the wife the husband, one brother the other, and one sister the other. In the

city, there was nothing to do but carry the dead to a burial. And those who died had neither

confessor nor other sacraments” (the Florentine Chronicle.) In the government’s actions to

prevent the spreading of the plague they created penalties, if citizens were to break these

regulations, they would have to pay a certain amount. During this time, people could not afford

to lose any amount of money due to famine and economic issues, “Nor shall such persons return

to the house where the defunct person lived or enter into that house or any other house on the

said occasion on penalty of £ 10” this was stated in, “ Pistoia; Ordinances for sanitation in a time

of mortality” and continues with various ways of disposing of bodies while taking certain

precautions however, many did not want to risk catching the plague so either family members or

highly paid citizens to do the work for them, “And those who were responsible for the dead

carried them on their backs in the night in which they died and threw them into the ditch, or else

they paid a high price to those who would do it for them.” (Pistoia) Another example from the
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same text is, “Cannot be nor ought to be removed from the place in which they are found unless

first such a body has been placed in a wooden casket covered by a lid secured with nails so that

no stench can issue forth from it” (Pistoia.) In essence, to resolve or reduce the plague,

antibiotics have brought the disease an immense amount of control yet, it is still seen among

people throughout the world.