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16 Dreadful Details about the Black Plague

Shaina Lucas September 18, 2018 18 min

The Decameron - Black Death — A 14th-century etching by L. Sabatelli depicting the Black Death in Florence as described in Boccaccio’s Decameron. Wikimedia Commons.

2. The Cause of The Black Death Was Never What They Thought

During the Black Death, the real cause was never found. It wasn’t until the 1890s when the real cause was found, and they were able to find a cure. The Black Death was spread by Oriental rat fleas. These rats would travel on carts and ships across the world, and the fleas would jump off and bite humans, transmitting the disease. The fleas carried Y. Pestis which affects the flea by blocking its stomach, causing it to regurgitate bacilli into its host. When the host dies, the fleas and its offspring seek a new host was how humans became infected. Doctors thought the plague was caused by punishment from God for the sins of the people. During the Plague no one ever suspected rats and their fleas to be the cause.

People who lived during this time thought the plague was caused by “bad air” released by earthquakes or by the unfavorable alignment of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars in the 40th degree of Aquarius on March 20th, 1345. Sadly for them, the plague started much earlier than that. People also blamed the Jewish community for spreading the plague to wipe out Christians. Kamikaze mission then? Jewish people and Muslims were just as likely to contract the disease. After being tortured many Jews confessed to poisoning the water in wells and caused the plague. Thousands of people were expelled or killed. As a result of these forced confessions, Jews in Straussberg, Germany were given a choice to convert to Christianity or be burned in rows on stakes on a platform in the city’s burial ground. About 2,000 Jewish people were killed.

Written by

Shaina Lucas

Shaina Lucas is an avid historical buff. She graduated in 2013 from York College of PA with her BA in Professional Writing, Creative Writing, and World History. She then graduated from SNHU in 2015 with her MA, and in 2018 graduated with her MFA in Creative Writing from National University. She is a local actress in York, PA and specializes in Shakespeare, Medieval history, comic history, and the French Revolution. She is also an avid collector of swords and knives from various time periods.