Black Plague Notes 9/14/10

• Began in 1348
• Plague came to Britain in the guts of infected fleas.
• Came on ships through black rats and cargo. 
• Plague was all over Asia and spreading to Europe
• Once it arrived by sea to Italy, it spread quickly to mainland Europe. 
• It would take about 6 days from the bite of an infected flea for the victim to show symptoms. 
• Crowded cities were breeding grounds for the plague. 
• The youngest and oldest members of the communities died first.  
• In the first wave of the plague, 300 died every day. 
• The dead were thrown into pits by the masses instead of being put in individual graves during the plague. 
• By 1359 the plague had spread throughout England and Scotland and it then spread to Ireland. 
• The people believed that the plague was caused by miasma. 
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miasma_theory_of_disease
• People worked on antidotes, but they did not work to cure the disease. 
• Entire families were wiped out
• Survivors claimed that they were being punished for turning away from God. 
• The countryside after the black death was a irreversibly adverse world. 
• There were not many serfs .
• there was a desperate labor shortage. 
• Serfs could now set the deal and ask for payment. 
• The social order was shaken, with lords having to listen to the demands of their workers if he didn't want to watch his lands go to waste. 
• The plague made the rich realize that "King Death" did not care if they were rich and powerful. 
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadaver_tomb <--- burials for royal people
• The crown was passed on to Richard