In just two years, 25 million people died of the
plague. In ten years, the plague had killed over 1/3 of Europe's
population. Can you imagine the fear people must have felt?
People were sick everywhere. Whole families were
wiped out. Whole villages were wiped out.
At first, people locked their doors trying to
protect themselves. They carried flowers to ward off the smell of the
dead and dying. The skies were filled with ashes as people burned houses
filled with the dead. Villages filled with the dead were burned down, to
contain and kill the disease. Nothing worked.
Outbreaks of the disease seemed to come in cycles.
Just as people thought it was over, a new rash of illness would hit the
towns, and from the towns move to the villages.
People did not know that infected rats carried the
disease. They thought it was a punishment from God for being wicked.
They believed if you were bad, you would get the plague and die.
The towns were hit the hardest. There was no
sanitation in the towns. People threw their garage out on the street. To
a rat, coming off a ship docked at port, the towns must have seemed like
Medieval knowledge of health, hygiene, and medical
practices was very limited. Commoners and nobles alike took infrequent
baths. The peasants slept and worked in the same clothes for days and
even weeks at a time without washing themselves or their clothes. The
nobles were not much better. Soap was made of lye, which was very rough
on the skin. There was no toothpaste or toothbrushes. People used
watered spices on their lips and teeth, but all that did was briefly
hide the smell of rotting teeth. Peasants died young from
malnutrition and the simplest of diseases. Women died in childbirth from
ignorance. People handled cattle and then directly handled food.
Even before the plague, what is amazing really is
that anyone lived. The truth is, only the very strong survived.
But the strong had no defense against the Black Death. No one was safe.
And millions of people died.
Outbreaks of the plague continued for two hundred
years. The cause of the plague was not discovered until the 20th century
(1900's.) Today, this disease is called the bubonic plague. We have a
vaccine for the plague should an outbreak ever happen again. We're
lucky. The people in the Middle Ages did not have vaccines to protect
themselves from many diseases as we do today.
Map - Spread of the Black Plaque
that shows the spread of the Black Plague
to History - the Plague
Plague Doctor & Crossword
of the Plague
Mayor Rules OK?
Great Plague 1665
Fling Your Teacher
Piper of Hamlin by Robert Browning
Presentations in PowerPoint format
Online Games for the Middle Ages
Middle Ages Clipart for Kids & Teachers
Ages for Teachers
to The Middle Ages for Kids