The Black Death plague arrived in Europe in 1347 from Central Asia, carried by fleas on black rats. Over the next three years, it killed almost half of Europe's population. The plague spread quickly through towns and villages across England between 1348-1349 due to filthy living conditions that supported rat populations. Medieval people did not understand germ theory and employed ineffective cures like applying frogs to boils caused by plague. By 1350, approximately 2.5 million people in Britain had died from the pandemic.

2. Coming out of the East, the Black Death reached the shores of Italy in
the spring of 1347 unleashing a rampage of death across Europe.
By the time the epidemic played itself out three years later,
ALMOST HALF of Europe's population had fallen victim to the
pestilence.

3. THEORIGINS
Usually thought to have started in China or Central Asia, the plague
had reached the trade city of Kaffa in the Black Sea by 1346. From
there, BLACK RATS carried it onto merchant ships bound for Italy.
It then spread throughout the Mediterranean and ravaged Europe.

4. THEPLAGUEINENGLAND
Other historians think that the plague arrived in England during the
summer of 1348. During the following autumn it spread quickly through
the south west. Few villages escaped. Churchyards were full with bodies.
The plague spread quickly during the winter of 1348-1349 to the
north of England. By 1350, nearly the whole of Britain was infected with
the plague. At the end of 1350 nearly two and a half million people were
dead!

5. HOWDIDITSPREAD?
Towns were dirty places, with narrow filthy streets. Waste disposal back
in the Middle Ages was very crude. People would simply dump their
trash out the window and onto the streets. The filth that littered streets
and gave rats the perfect environment to breed and increase their
numbers.

7. HOWDIDITSPREAD?
Typical bathing and cleanliness in the
Middle Ages was not very good. Most
people only washed their hands and
face; limiting BATHS to ONCE A
YEAR, usually around Easter. People
tended to sleep on beds of hay or wool
and rarely would have been changed or
cleaned.
Because of this, people would often
have problems with bedbugs, lice and
fleas.

10. THECURE
Medieval people did not know about
germs causing disease. They did not
understand that plague was spread by
rats and fleas. They thought that
people’s bodies were poisoned. If the
swellings burst and the poison came out
people sometimes survived. It seemed
sensible to draw out the poison.

12. MEDIEVALCURENUMBER1
The swellings should be softened with
figs and cooked onions. The onions
should be mixed with yeast and butter.
Then open the swellings with a knife.

13. MEDIEVALCURENUMBER2
Take a live frog and put its belly on the
plague sore. The frog will swell up and
burst. Keep doing this with further
frogs until they stop bursting. Some
people say that a dried toad will do the
job better.

14. QUESTION
How useful do you think these medieval cures actually were? Did
they help at all or were they more harmful?

15. MEDIEVALCURENUMBER
During the Black Death, a
religious sect called
Flagellants took to
travelling England in
procession, whipping
themselves in punishment of
their sins.
Their reasons was if they
punish themselves, God
would not see the need of
punishing them also with
the plague, This method was
too unsuccessful

16. WHAT MEDIEVAL PEOPLE THINK THAT CAUSED BLACK
DEATH?
Most people believed that it is a punishment
from God as God angered by greed and sin
on Earth
Some believed it was caused by the
alignment of start and planets
While some other claimed that the Jews who
lived among Christian population , poisoning
their well leading to mass killing of Jewish
communities in Germany and France.
Some even thought that poisonous air,
known as miasma was spreading the disease.

17. PLAGUEDOCTORS

18. WHY PLAGUE
DOCTOR DRESS
AS SUCH?

19. QUESTION
Black Plague still exists around the world today, especially in Third World or
developing nations where trash and pollution are prominent and vermin like
rats exist. Cases are still reported in USA, China, India and African countries.
It is treatable with common antibiotics. Mortality rate is about 8-10%.

20. PATHOFTHEPLAGUE
The plague travelled on trade routes and caravans. Its path of death was
generally from south to north and east to west passing through Italy, France,
England, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Finland, and even as far as
Greenland. If the plague had just stayed in one city, the containment might
have spared Europe. Unfortunately, the plague spread when people fled to
other cities.

22. THEDEATHTOLL
It is difficult to accurately estimate
the number of people killed by the
Black Death plague.
Many times, the Church and monks
kept records of the census and
populations, but as the sick poured
into their monasteries, monks
themselves were infected and their
records were also lost or destroyed.

23. THE DEATH TOLL
At best, it can be estimated that
between 1/3 and 2/3 of European
population were decimated by
the disease, which means 25-50
million people out of 75
million.
In fact, the bodies piled up so
fast, the people were unable to
provide proper Christian
burials. Instead, they threw
them in pits and burned them.

24. DARKHUMOUR

25. Video Links
I AM A Black Death (The Plague) Doctor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw0wGaVCWiQ