The Black Plague

: From the early fourteenth to late seventeenth century, 
Europe was decimated by one of the most horrifying 
pestilence's human kind has ever known(Coulton 493). The 
killer's name was later to be recognized by the detrimental 
consummation it had seized upon a person's life. It was 
known as the Black Plague. This terrible epidemic exhausted 
small towns across Europe, including the British Isles, 
brutally killing an incredulous amount of people. The 
disease had wiped out entire villages leaving dead bodies to 
decompose within the gutters of streets and corners of 
allies(Ziegler 17). Though people were introduced to the 
severity of the plague, they were still mystified as to the 
causes of the deadly disease. Because of this fact, a 
parade of unconfirmed myths and questionable facts had 
arisen concerning the sources of the abhorrent epidemic for 
over five centuries(Coulton 493). In the nineteenth 
century, the causes of the terrifying pestilence was 
discovered and the Black Death was no longer 
a conundrum. One myth, of the origin of the deadly plague 
was said to be a result of medieval gas warfare. Yet 
another myth, stated that the murderous disease was an 
aftereffect of a great earthquake that occurred in Europe. 
Scientists even believed that the epidemic was caused by 
Paolilli 2
heaps of unburned corpses left in churchyards(Beatty and 
Marks 80). The last proven cause of the pestilence was 
found to be a disease of rats and other related 
animals(Rowling 186). 
One of the myths as to the cause of the Black Plague is 
quite an unusual story that was formed by peoples 
unexplainable imaginations. One of the probable derivations 
of the epidemic supposedly was born in a terrible war that 
had occurred between the deadly waters of the Indian Ocean 
and the sun(Ziegler 14). The immense waters of the 
treacherous blue ocean were lifted up like a solid wall of 
concrete to fight the flaming sun. As the wall stood in the 
midst of the air still touching the base of the water, 
dangerous vapors began to disperse from the water. The 
high winds spurred the poisonous fumes spurred out in every 
direction(Ziegler 14). The plague reached the nearby lands 
and the epidemic began to take it's murderous route. This 
myth arose from small villages as people spread rumor after 
rumor from the stories they had once heard as to the 
unexplainable causes of the plague. Though this tale is 
entirely nonsensical, people were still mystified because of 
the secrecy as to the causes that they were eager to believe 
any explanation that there was to offer concerning the 
deadly plague. 
Paolilli 3
Another myth, as to the beginning of the dreadful 
virus, is it arose from poisonous fumes as a direct result 
of earthquakes that occurred during the Medieval times. It 
was stated that a horrendous amount of pressure 
had been building up underneath the Earth for several 
years(Ziegler 21). Poisonous gases then began to stir 
amongst each other. Then terrible earthquakes had rocked 
Europe and the poisonous fumes, that were once enclosed by 
the several layers of earth, were now being released through 
cracks into the atmosphere. This viperous cloud streamed 
across Europe and killed each individual who it met(Ziegler 
21).
Next, it was stated that the epidemic was caused by 
innumerable layers of unburned corpses that were left in 
churchyards(Beatty and Marks 81). A man named Galen had 
stated, 
The infection arose from 'Inspiration of air 
infected with a putrid exhalation. The beginning 
of the putrescence may be a multitude of unburned corpses, as may happen in war; or the exhalations 
of marshes and ponds in the summer…'(Ziegler 22). 
A Dr. Crighton also supported the findings that the plague 
had originated within the piles of dead corpses that were 
left unburied. He stated that specific incidents that would 
explain the tremendous amount of people left dead are 
directly related to the tragedies that had struck 
Paolilli 4
China(Ziegler 24). He also concluded that, the probable 
reason why there was such a high death rate among church 
affiliated persons is the dead were buried in churchyards 
where the priests and monks lived close to. The church 
related people had obtained cadaveric poisoning from the 
enormous amount of dead bodies and diseases that lied within 
the corpses.
Finally, the real truth to the origin of the Black 
Plague was found essentially to be a pestilence of rats and 
other small related animals(Rowling 186). This theory 
somewhat coincides with the previous idea of the birthplace 
of the epidemic being found in the mounds of dead bodies, 
and also the incredibly high death rate that was cradled in 
Central Asia between 1338 and 1339(Beatty and Marks 72). 
The origin of the plague began when 
a bacteria known as Pasteurella Pestis, which 
formed itself within the piles of dead corpses, 
had found it's home either in the bloodstream of 
an animal or the stomach of a flea(Ziegler 25). 
During the time of the deaths in 1338 and 1339 in Central 
Asia, near Lake Issyk-Koul, the rat was in great abundance 
and in turn, so were the fleas(Beatty and Marks 72). The 
fleas carried this deadly virus within their 
bloodstream(Coulton 493). They would attack countless 
numbers of rats by protruding their skin and transferring 
the epidemic into the rats body(Rowling 186). Then a 
Paolilli 5
"massive exodus"(Ziegler 26) took place where the carrier of 
the disease, the black rat, made a tremendous move to a 
different various parts of Europe, including the British 
Isles, for a reason that is still a mystery. 
The Plague Research Commission of 1910 
commented'… the transference of infected rats and 
fleas in merchandise or, in the case of fleas, 
on the body of a human being is a 
probable cause of the spread of the deadly virus(Ziegler 27). 
So basically, people had received the disease from rats 
poisoning a persons food and living within their homes. It 
was incredible easy for a person to become infected with the 
disease. The disease continuously dispersed itself across 
the continent of Europe by repeating this process 
continuously(Rowling 188). 
In conclusion, the Black Death became known as one of 
the most mysterious and deadliest plagues to ever touch our 
world. In medieval Europe, during this time, the epidemic 
drastically decreased the population in Europe leaving only 
a sparse number of people to remain(Rowling 188). It had 
terrified the hearts of every person in Europe to know that 
an unexplainable disease, of that magnitude, was out there. 
The once positive outlook people had on the life of the 
thirteenth century had perished along with the many lives 
the plague took along with it(Rowling 188). The mystery of 
the causes of the plague took over five centuries to 
uncover. Several unjustifiable phenomenon and myths were 
devised during this period concerning the causes of this 
disease. To this day, people still find it mind-shattering 
to believe the magnitude the disease had upon an entire 
continent and the number of deaths it had caused. 

Bibliography

Beatty, William K., and Geoffrey Marks. Epidemics. New York: 
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1976.
Coulton, G.G. Medieval Panorama: The English Scene From 
Conquest to Reformation. New York: W.W. Norton and 
Company Inc., 1974.
Rowling, Majorie. Everyday life in Medieval Times. New 
York: Dorset Press, 1968.
Ziegler, Philip. The Black Death. New York: Harper and Row 
Publishers, 1969.