Module 2: Articles on the Plague

Soon, red blotches appeared on their skin, and the lymph nodes (clumps of tissue) in their armpits and groins swelled to the size of eggs.

But within five years, it would race north through Europe into Scandinavia and Russia, claiming the lives of 25 million people, nearly one third of Europe's population. Never was an epidemic (a rapidly spreading disease) so deadly.

They prayed for deliverance from sickness, but it followed them everywhere.

Because of a growing labor shortage, serfs (peasants) no longer had to do what their lords commanded.

In one small city near Florence, elders issued laws in a futile (useless) attempt to stop the disease.

One law directed that the bodies of the dead be "placed in a wooden casket covered by a lid secured with nails, so that no stench (smell) can issue forth from it."

People called the disease by many names, including "the Great Mortality," "the Pestilence," and "Black Death."

The discovery came hundreds of years too late to help medieval Europeans (those who lived during the Middle Ages).

A Rebirth, or Renaissance
It would take Europe centuries to replenish its population and recover from the upheaval and chaos brought on by the plague.

It would take Europe centuries to replenish its population and recover from the upheaval and chaos brought on by the plague.

Questions about God and faith led to more thoughtfulness and skepticism.

The plague recurred (came back) in later centuries, hitting London, England, hard in the 1600s and Asia in the late 1800s.