Black Death and its implication on history

Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject History Europe - Other Countries - Middle Ages, Early Modern Age, grade: 1, University of Alaska Anchorage, course: Medieval Period, language: English, abstract: The medieval times are synonymous with knighthood, castles, and the plague. The Black Death as it became known wiped out whole townships and landscapes. The figures of those who became victim to the sickness vary and are highly localized. Some towns lost 80% to 90% of their population, while others mourned over 30%, some towns and cities remained untouched by the disease while others literary died out or were completely abandoned. Generally, the statistics name one third to a half of Europe s population as the death toll . Today, few realize that the cause of the mass exodus not only appeared before the Middle Ages, but also that it was a prevalent disease in Europe and Asia. The common understanding is that the pestilence first arrived in 1348 in Messina, Sicily on a ship which came originally from an Asian harbor using the established trading routes . The dead and infected sailors then passed on the sickness through contact with the susceptible inhabitants, and rats leaving the ship spread the disease further by hosting the carrier of the virus, the flea.