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It is believed that the Black Death originated in central China in 1333 as the population succumbed to starvation. The plague spread to the Crimea where Kipchak Mongols or Tartars attacked Genose carrying furs and silks from Cathay were besieging a Genoese trading centre of Calla, and catapulted their own dead into the city. The Genoese traders escaped by sea carrying the plague to Messina in Italy. In 1348 the plague spread from Cyprus to Florence which was also suffering from famine. The plague spread to Genoa from the Levant on 3 Galleys that went on to Marseilles, and then to the English south coast near Southampton in 1348. The plague affected all walks of life from the rich to the poor. The Black Death ravaged Bristol killing most of its inhabitants. It reached London around 1 November 1348 and by 2 February 1349, 200 people were being buried every day. The daughter of king Edward III, Joanna of died of the plague in Bordeaux on her way to marry Don Pedro, heir to the throne of Castille. The Scots who had not been affected by the black death took advantage by attacking England at this time, but this was simply that the plague had not travelled that far north, but they were soon also afflicted.
In 1349 Edward III wrote a letter to the Mayor of London asking that the streets should be cleaned as of old, where he complained that the streets and lanes of London were 'foul with human faeces, and the air of the city poisioned to the great danger of men passing, especially in this time of infectious disease'. On 18 June 1349 the Ordinance of Labourers was passed in an attempt to keep pay the same as pre-plague levels. In 1352 Parliament cited violations with wages at x2 and x3 pre plague levels. Stocks were ordered to be set up in every town for offenders. The black death broke out again in the Spring of 1361, but there was a low incidence of the pneumonic form so the death rate was lower, it was said to affect the young, particularly males. The population of Britain was estimated at between 3.5-5 million before 1348 and 2 million in 1377. Plague returned to England again in 1391.
The plague came in two forms:
Pneumonic Plague giving fever and spitting of blood and the body became marked with small black pustules, thus the name The Black Death, this was the more infectious and almost always fatal, they became bed ridden for 2 to 3 days and died on the 3rd or 4th day.
Bubonic Plague was spread by fleas, and the symptoms were fever and carbuncles and enlarged lymph glands or buboes, thus the name bubonic plague, and the recovery rate for this was higher.
People thought that the plague was God's punishment and in 1349 the Flagellants appeared in England, 600 arriving from Flanders. They wore no shoes and were bare from the waist up and had a cap with a red cross on the front and back, and carried a scourge with 3 tails, each having a not, with which some had fixed the middle one with a nail. As they marched they whipped themselves drawing blood, four would chant together and another four would chant in response. They would then stretch on the ground in the shape of a cross with the rear one stepping over the ones in front whipping them, until he lay down whereby the rear one would get up and take his turn, until all had whipped the others.
The Plague in Europe
In 1348 the plague arrived in Europe. In Saint-Maurice, there was an outbreak lasting 9 weeks from April to June 1349 with149 deaths in
the village, (40 % of the population), in the surrounding countryside,
mortality was between 25 to 30 %. In Vouvry 29 out of 67 died. In Bern, they buried 60 bodies per day. Once the death rate reached around 70 %, the survivors were probably immune. Switzerland's population declined from around 800,000 in 1300 to 600,000 in 1400. Béziers 1304 population 14,000, 100 years later 4,000. In France in 1350 the price of wheat had increased fourfold. At St Omer near Amiens,
1 year after the plague passed textile workers had 3 wage increases. 1374 In Milan plague victims were taken out of the city where they would be
left to die or recover. Anyone who nursed a plague victim was required to be
put in quarantine for 10 days. In 1382 The Black returned to Europe
in a weaker epidemic although it took an
especially heavy toll in Ireland. By the end of
the century it is estimated that 75 million people died.
Social change caused by the plague
Plague caused huge social changes throughout Europe. There were less people to work the lands and those that survived had more wealth between fewer people. In the Abbey of Ramsay, England, 30 years after the plague, grain production had halved. Such drops in output caused grain prices to rise, and peasants were in higher demand and could attain higher wages, despite laws to stop them. The black death killed may clerics, and children in grammar schools who were taught French were instead taught English due to the lack of French trained clerics.
Plague Timeline
1333 Black Death originated in central China
1348 the plague spread from Cyprus to Florence
1348 Plague arrives in England on the south coast near Southampton
1348 September 2 Joanna, daughter of king Edward III died of the plague in Bordeaux on her way to marry Don Pedro, heir to the throne of Castille
1348 November 1 plague reaches London
1348 November 29 - A new Vicar is appointed at Shaftesbury, England, to replace one who had died of the plague
1348 December 10 - Third Vicar appointed to Shaftsbury, England, to replace those who died of plague
1349 Edward III orders streets to be cleaned
1349 February 2, 200 people were being buried every day.
1349 May 12 The fourth new Vicar of the church in Shaftsbury, England is appointed, when predecessors die of the Plague.
1349 June 18 Ordinance of Labourers was passed in an attempt to keep pay the same as pre-plague levels.
1352 Parliament cited violations with wages at x2 and x3 pre plague levels. Stocks were ordered to be set up in every town for offenders.
1361 Spring The black death breaks out again
1374 Black Death returns
1377 Population of Britain estimated at 2,000,000
1379 Poll Tax recorded 4 Gloucestershire villages as having no return
1388 4th outbreak of plague. Earlier re-occurrences had affected mainly children but this time it was mainly adults.
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