What Was the Impact of the Black Death on Ideas About the Body?

What was the impact of the Black Death on ideas about the body?

There were many views on the origin of the Black Death, Bubonic Plague or as contemporaries called it, the pestilence (medical name Yersinia pestis). As we begin to discover the impact on Black Death and how we treat the diseased body before, during and after death, I will discuss with you how the plague came about and the influence it had on ideas about the body. Some medieval writers believed the beginning of the plague was in China [p.1]. There were millions of reported deaths and Ð''from 243BC to 1911 there were 290 reported plague epidemics in China [p.78]'. Even now, the World Health Organization reports 1,000 to 3,000 cases of plague every year [p.2]. "The disease that produced the greatest natural disaster ever to hit the continent of Europe, one which remains branded in popular memory"2 [p.78] had an astronomical impact on medicine and the economy.

Black Death hit Europe from around 1347 to 13511 [p.1]. This is basically the first epidemic of plague that Europe had seen, which has proceeded all the way up until the 18th century. However this was not the first plague on record, plagues have been around since ancient times. The true origin of the Black Plague may never be known to man. Most references contradict each other on not only the year of its beginnings but the geographical location as well. There is also great debate over the primary causes of the plague. According to Osheim, Ph.D.:

Contemporary doctors and theologians agreed that the epidemic had both religious and physical causes. The first and most important was God's judgment on a sinful humanity; the second was a lack of balance in the body's humors, or fluids. As with earthquakes, floods and fires, medieval Christian's assumed illness was a call to repentance.1[p1]

Researchers also agree on how it came to effect humans. First, Rattus rattus, the common black rat,2[p.79] were the original carriers of the disease. Second, rats on ships carried the disease from port to port down the European coast line, and third, Xenopsylla cheopis, the oriental rat flea,2[p79] transferred the infected blood from the rats to humans and other animals. Once bitten there is a 2-6 day incubation period.3[p.1] The first symptom is the swelling of lymph glands. Ð''The swollen gland is called a "bubo" (hence the term "bubonic plaque").'3[p.1] Then came high fever and unquenchable thirst. Followed by blood vessels under the skin rupturing, resulting in black blotches, this is where the name Ð''Black' Death is derived. Once the swelling is so great and the glands rupture most die from the pain. It is written that the pain is so excruciating that it can wake even unconscious patients. Guy de Chauliac, physician to the Pope, treated many patients before he contracted and later died of the plague.2[pp84-85] During weeks leading up to his death Ð''he resorted to bleeding, using a heated cup to raise his blood to the surface of his skin. Draining off the corrupted blood caused by the plague Ð'- if it could be done before the vital organs were tainted Ð'- was regarded as a way of halting the disease. There was no real way of treating the diseased body because no-one new how to!'2[p85] Early Christians abandoned the body, the average life span for European's was thirty five throughout the middle ages. Philosophically speaking, ideas on the body during the middle ages reflected theological beliefs. The Church had everyone believing the body belonged to God and not to glorify it, so they held the body in contempt. After the plague hit, a new way of thinking came about. It was more of a Greek philosophy that changed the way people viewed the body. Unreservedly, the body was considered by academics and leaders of the Renaissance and the Reformation to be more important than it was in the middle ages. The ancient Greeks believed the body was very important and it played a major role in everyday life. These views certainly depict ideas about the body and how it was treated. People in the middle ages did not care to much for the body as they were very unhygienic, and the Greeks saw the body as a temple, so therefore held the body in high regard.

The plague destroyed whole communities. Ð''The disease caused a decline of population during the plague years which made labor scarce and upset the old contracts between lord and peasant' . Europe's population declined by about one third, some of the major cities in Italy and Germany lost almost half their populations. Many of the smaller towns eventually disappeared. The economy way devastated but possessions and holdings left behind by the dead paved way for a wealthier population per capita.1[p.3]

Some religious groups including Benedictines established hospitals and infirmaries which were mostly in the monasteries. Later developed were charitable institutions designed to care for the victims of the Black Death. [p.5]. People looked to the church and political leaders in hope of guidance, but the host, (the flea), was not found to be the carrier until 1894. In that year Alexandre Yersin gave his name to bacteria he identified, Yersinia