Source 15.39 A sketch describing the common responses to the Black Death in medieval Europe
When the Black Death struck in the 14th Century, there hadn’t been a disease that had had the same devastating affect before. The people didn’t know how to respond and this resulted in some very different reactions. Many people adopted an “eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die” attitude and spent their time in various taverns and inns drinking cheerfully with their friends who shared their mantra. Others were so deathly afraid of catching the disease they shut themselves away from the infected, even abandoning their own families. Some ran away to protect themselves from the disease entirely.
Many of the religious people believed that the plague was a punishment sent from God for their wrongdoings and many stopped practicing art, science and literature as they were seen as “sins” at the time. Flagellants were a group of religious extremists who walked through towns and villages all around Europe, wearing a red cross on their clothes and calling themselves the “Brethren of the Cross”. They would strip down to their waists and carry a heavy whip with needles or other sharp objects on the end of each leather strip. As they walked through towns they beat and lashed themselves on the back drawing blood and loudly begged for God to forgive them of their sins and thus stop the plague.
It was also a common belief that the Jewish people were responsible for the Black Death. Many Christians felt that the Jews were inferior because of their heretical practises and that they were the cause of the crucifixion of the Christian saviour, Jesus Christ. As a result, when the Black Death hit and everyone was looking for someone to blame, the Jews were scape-goated as the cause of the disease and persecuted. A common charge was that the Jews were poisoning the town’s wells and their other water supplies. The Massacres of the Jews began in 1348 in France and then spread to other countries like Belgium and Germany. The worst case was in Mainz, which had the largest community of Jews in Germany, where in the middle of a flagellant meeting the town wiped out all 12 000 of the Jewish inhabitants. In many towns, people would accuse and torture the Jews until they lied and claimed they were responsible for the Black Death. The Pope eventually created laws to protect the Jews and accused the flagellants of breaking church rules, after that their murderous movement died out very quickly.
Many of the religious people believed that the plague was a punishment sent from God for their wrongdoings and many stopped practicing art, science and literature as they were seen as “sins” at the time. Flagellants were a group of religious extremists who walked through towns and villages all around Europe, wearing a red cross on their clothes and calling themselves the “Brethren of the Cross”. They would strip down to their waists and carry a heavy whip with needles or other sharp objects on the end of each leather strip. As they walked through towns they beat and lashed themselves on the back drawing blood and loudly begged for God to forgive them of their sins and thus stop the plague.
It was also a common belief that the Jewish people were responsible for the Black Death. Many Christians felt that the Jews were inferior because of their heretical practises and that they were the cause of the crucifixion of the Christian saviour, Jesus Christ. As a result, when the Black Death hit and everyone was looking for someone to blame, the Jews were scape-goated as the cause of the disease and persecuted. A common charge was that the Jews were poisoning the town’s wells and their other water supplies. The Massacres of the Jews began in 1348 in France and then spread to other countries like Belgium and Germany. The worst case was in Mainz, which had the largest community of Jews in Germany, where in the middle of a flagellant meeting the town wiped out all 12 000 of the Jewish inhabitants. In many towns, people would accuse and torture the Jews until they lied and claimed they were responsible for the Black Death. The Pope eventually created laws to protect the Jews and accused the flagellants of breaking church rules, after that their murderous movement died out very quickly.
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It was commonly considered that miasma was the reason that it spread and that bad stenches were the cause of the disease to begin with. As a result it was typical for people to carry around posies of small flowers or pouches filled with spices and herbs to combat the odour. Even “plague doctors” (doctors who were thought to be specialised in the treatment of the Black Death) wore beaklike masks with sweet smelling herbs, flowers and spices at the end of the beak to prevent themselves from becoming infected. The physicians also wore long thick cloaks with gloves, hats, stockings and shoes so they were covered and protected from their infected patients. |
Source 15.38 A 17th-century painting of the uniform typically worn by plague doctors. Medieval plague doctors were similarly dressed.
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FLAGELLANTS
Source 15.40 A procession of flagellants, painted by the Spanish artist Goya between 1815 and 1819
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MASSACRES OF THE JEWS
An illustration from the Friese Chronicles showing the 1349 massacre of Erfurt Jews in Germany, who were blamed for the Black Death.
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