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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.

4. There Isn’t Just One Type of Plague; There’s Three

The plague didn’t enter the body in just one way. There were three different types of plague: bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic. The bubonic plague is what we commonly hear when speaking about the Black Death. The bubonic plague was caused by the bites of fleas carrying Y. Pestis. The bacteria then moved to the lymph nodes and quickly multiples created buboes (black growths) on the body. The pneumonic plague was airborne, so there was some bad air about. The disease entered through the lungs causing an infection. The infection causes the victim to cough blood and spread the bacteria from person to person.

Septicemic is the rarest form of the disease. Septicemic plague causes disseminated intravascular coagulation and is almost always fatal. The black spots seen on a body was blood coagulating under the skin. Most plague symptoms included diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fever, chills, weakness, bleeding, shock, and skin turning black. The affected lymph nodes are usually around the groin, neck, and armpits which are tender and warm. Luckily today, we have a cure, and it’s rare to contract the plague.

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.