The Causes Of The Black Death In The 14th Century

The Black Death was an outbreak of the plague that effected countries such as China, England, and many other European countries in the mid fourteenth century. Though most of this outbreak was caused by the bubonic plague, there were other forms of plague that effected residents that lived during the Black Death. This outbreak of the plague ended up killing anywhere from twenty-five to fifty percent of these countries populations over the course of a few decades. For this reason, the plague turned out to be not only one of the deadliest disease epidemics that has ever been seen in the modern world, but also effected Europe on a spiritual and laborious level. Starting in Asia, the Black Death was first seen in China in the 1328 outbreak and continued for a number of years there. In 1331, it was reported that “inn one province near Beijing, 90 percent of the population died” (Duiker, 2005, pg. 341). With that being said, most of the deaths that were seen and caused by the Black Death were …show more content…
One specific point is that England’s inhabitants thought that the main reason for the Black Death was God’s way of punishing humans for all of their sins. As a result of this misbelief, many people were murdered in the late 1340’s as a way to thin out the blasphemers and regain God’s approval. Along with that, the inhabitants in Europe were going crazy to try to confess their sins before their inevitable death. After family members would die, those that were still alive in the family would also be trying to reach the pope to check on their loved ones status’ of forgiveness. As the outbreak of plague continued, the pope at that time, Pope Clement VI, released a statement saying that anyone who had died from the Black Death was forgiven of their sins. This statement helped family members gain their peace of mind as to the fate of their loved