The black death

The Plague

• It was brought in by Genoese sailors from Black Sea trading colonies and spread through trade.
• It was transmitted by parasites that bit humans.
• The plague struck a weakened Europe and was believed to cause near-total mortality; it wiped out about one third of Western Europe.
• Italy's population declined by 35–50%.
• Because of urban overcrowding, cities were the most dangerous places.
• Better-nourished people (the wealthy) were more resistant.
• The psychological impact caused great disruption: order and organization collapsed.
• Jews were blamed as scapegoats and were expelled.
• It lasted 6–8 months; people gradually became immune.
• Survivors felt relief because population density decreased; 26% of inhabited land in Germany (20% in England) became deserted.
• Smaller centers of infection remained in Europe, but later waves of plague were weaker.
• The plague was not the fundamental cause of the crisis; it merely deepened an existing structural crisis.