Mr.

Spielberger Peter Straubinger

AP European: DBQ: Plague Period 8

Throughout the course of humanity’s history, even the most thorough examiner

would be hard-pressed to find an element as catastrophic and devastating as the natural

disaster. Embodied within a plethora of forms and apparent in every corner of the globe,

these seemingly arbitrary displays of the planet’s potency are responsible for some of the

most horrific blows to mankind. The infamous Black Death, a plague that ravaged Europe

for three and a half centuries, is arguably the single most crippling and cataclysmic event

of all recorded history. Leaving behind it a death toll of some twenty five million people,

the bubonic plague was responsible for the loss of over one-third of Western Europe’s

inhabitants. However, as immense as the toll upon human lives was, the plague had

numerous other effects upon European civilization which were equally damaging. In a

time where medical knowledge was as much a form of magic as it was a science, the

Black Death garnered varied responses from across the continent. People’s reactions to

the deadly pandemic became increasingly motivated by fear and superstition.

Consequently, the plague seemed to bring out the extremes of human nature; the era of

the Black Death saw people committing selfless acts of charity, risking near certain

infection to care for the sick and the dying. Inversely, there were also those who seemed

to shed all vestiges of moral decency, and opportunists seeking to profit off of the

misfortune and misery of others ran rampant. Finally, with catastrophe and chaos

engulfing entire regions of Europe, the continent’s economic condition declined sharply.

With such a dynamic force present, people’s responses, and the beliefs that motivated

them, had a near infinite variety.

 When the plague first struck Europe, there was not a soul alive able to explain the

methods with which it spread and killed so speedily. The concept of germs had not even

arisen, and people often attributed the plague’s transmission to vague and enigmatic

methods, such as “foul vapors” or “bad blood”. Others put the rampant sickness down to

the general filth and squalor of the European towns and cities. Predictably, with the

plague’s means being so ill understood, many of the various theories and methods for

treatment now seem laughable in their misguidedness. Potential remedies ranged from the

religiously inspired (Eating consecrated food, for instance) to the mind-bogglingly

ludicrous (Toads, hung about the neck, have the ability able to draw out plague). Some

would even forsake the idea of the plague being a natural malady wholly; instead, it was

attributed to the wrath of a vengeful God being visited upon a base and immoral

populace. Exhibiting lack of knowledge in a different form, one traveler wrote:

“The news came as we were ready to set forth for Italy that the plague was now violent
in Rome, which discouraged all the gentlemen but three and myself, for I resolved to trust
to Providence rather than not see so fine a place”
-Sir John Reresby, English traveler, memoirs, 1656

Sir John’s resolution to “trust to Providence” is a clear cut example of how, having

essentially no knowledge of the disease, people began to see fortune as important factor

in determining their fate. Reresby is, most likely, a religious man; it is probable that he

believes his piety will ward off sickness, and that a man of God has a negligible chance

of infection even in the heart of the plague’s dominion. It is impossible to know for sure

what befell Sir John in the time following his words, but one may assume that his faith in

Providence and luck was grossly misplaced.

Given the alien nature of their viral assailant, it is understandable why many

Europeans were consumed by fear while the plague raged all about them. People became
distrustful of their neighbors, fearing contamination and infection. Scattered outbreaks of

plague would drive people away from public areas, such as schools or churches. Many, in

the hopes of avoiding disease, would simply seclude themselves within their homes,

dreading that the disease should permeate the walls of their dwelling. Often, a house

stricken by plague would see its inhabitants, one by one, succumbing to fevers and

delirium. Those who did frequent the markets and streets outdoors would often avoid the

purchase of questionable items; wigs, for example, were often suspected as being cut

from the heads of deceased plague victims. The Black Death, with its enigmatic modus

operandi, spread a terror among the populace that permeated into all aspects of daily life.

So great was the apprehension of European citizenry that they would resort to methods of

control which seemed barbaric, even by the standards of the day.

“Whatever house the pestilence visited was immediately nailed up, and if a person died
within, he had to be buried there. Many died of hunger in their own houses. Throughout
the country, all the roads and highways were guarded so that a person could not pass from
one place for another”
-Heinrich von Staden, Count of the Palatinate and traveler to
Russia, The Land and Government of Muscovy, 1571

While the practices Heinrich recounts seem morally repugnant at first glance, his

intentions were likely of the noblest sort. In sharing the methods with which the plague

was controlled, his aim could easily have been to educate others on the most effective

means to curb infection and halt the spread of disease. Starving families to death in their

homes may seem reprehensible, but von Staden had likely seen entire towns ravaged

because they would not put such harsh, but effective measures into practice. Thus,

motivated by the fear of infection, a man could be pushed to extreme measures in order to

safeguard himself and those he held close.

The moral disparity which the plague was able to create in European society is a
remarkable showcase of how human nature exhibits itself in times of great unrest. While

some, especially members of the clergy, would dedicate themselves to treating the sick

and easing their pain, many Europeans during the time of the plague sought to gain

wealth, or simply to secure their own survival, with blatant disregard to the well-being of

others. Nurses, one of the most sought-after workers in plague-stricken towns, would

often simply shirk their duties or outright violate them. It was in a nurse’s best interest for

their patient to die, as not only did this lessen the time they had to spend near the

infected, but it also resulted in their fees being paid all the sooner. Such self-centered

practices were quite common at the time, with personal survival being the primary

interest for most of the population. However, a decrease in moral sensibility usually

resulted in much harsher punishments for those violating the law. Those who encroached

upon health regulations would often be publicly hung at the first offense, serving as a

grisly deterrent to any would-be scofflaws. Many crimes, however, were far beyond

simple breaches of regulation.

“About 40 people at Casale in Western Lombardy smeared the bolts of the town gates
with an ointment to spread the plague. Those who touched the gates were infected and
many died. The heirs of the dead and diseased had actually paid people at Casale to
smear the gates in order to obtain their inheritances more quickly.”
-Johann Weyer, German physician, The Deceptions of
Demons, 1583

As a physician, Weyer was likely horrified at the behavior exhibited by the plague-

spreading scoundrels. Given that Weyer’s profession caused him to see firsthand the

effects of plague upon the populace, as well as to risk infection himself, Weyer’s aim with

his words was most likely condemnation of the guilty parties. He sought to expose the

heirs of Casale’s inhabitants for their heinous acts of immorality and opportunism.

With all manner of ailments, both physical and social, infecting Europe’s people,
it is obvious that European civilization as a whole would suffer. And nothing is more

tightly woven into the fabric of a society as its economic status and activities. Thus, when

a population is afflicted and put into decline, the economy will surely follow suit. One of

the main problems, oddly enough, was the fact that the rich had the means to survive.

While it may seem that it is the wealthy who support a region’s economy, it is in fact the

poor who are integral to the workings of society. When the affluent fled areas that the

plague was approaching, the bottom rungs of the social ladder were left to take the full

brunt of the plague’s onslaught. Subsequently, with much of the poor population

deceased, there were now countless mundane, ignoble tasks left with no-one to perform

them. There are few more effective ways to castrate a region’s economy than to simply

whisk away the bottom of that region’s social pyramid. A second problem was that most

of the trade within Europe was effectively brought to a screeching halt by the nature of

the plague. With human contact now a life-threatening risk, ports would cease to admit

foreign ships, and exportation on the whole was crippled. This immediately led to the

trade in manufactured goods’ termination. Obviously, such circumstances resulted in

severe economic hardship:

“I have accompanied severity with compassion and charity. I have managed and fed the
convalescents and servants of two pest houses; I have paid guards and gravediggers with
the alms your lordships have sent me
-Father Dragoni, priest, letter to the Health Magistracy of
Florence, 1630

While not stated outright, it is difficult to misinterpret the pleading nature of this

message. As a priest, one is able to trust to some degree the truth of Father Dragoni’s

words; while a member of the clergy misappropriating funds is by no means

inconceivable, it is most likely he appeals for further funding out of desperation rather
than greed. Judging from the times that he lived in, it is most probable that Father

Dragoni merely wishes to care for the ill and infected, while securing the safety of those

in his employ. It is doubtful that one would attempt to deceive the Florentine Magistracy

in a time when men were often put to death for much lesser crimes.

The Black Death was one of the most world-shaking events that mankind has ever

experienced. Bringing about the deaths of millions, it dramatically changed the lives of

untold millions more, and sounded the death knell for an entire age. The plague was, for a

time, the embodiment of fear; it brought out the best and the worst in Europe’s citizens.

Its effects were compounded by a severe knowledge deficit, and it brought about some of

the greatest economic upheaval that Europe had experienced thus far. Most fascinatingly

of all, however, it allows one to see how, in times of chaos and crisis, humans will truly

respond, react, and remember.