The Plague, also known as the Black Death, was a disease that was extremely deadly. It was thought that there were 2 types of plague during this period. These are called Bubonic plague and pneumonic plague.
Bubonic plague is the weakest form of the plague, and would take weeks to kill the infected person. Bubonic plague was called Bubonic because of the bubons (lumps) which appeared on the body, most commonly found on the legs and under the armpits. The term black death came from this type of the plague, this is because of the bubons (lumps) that were found on the body. These bubons would be black in appearance and would start to rot on the victim, thus the black death, Occasionally these bubons would fall off the body leaving holes of rotting flesh, this would be most uncomforting and would have smelt really bad.
Pneumonic plague was spread by coughing, and caused such things as diarrhea. This is a far more deadly than Bubonic and would only take a matter of days to kill the victim once infected. Pneumonic plague was 100% fatal no matter what treatment was applied, but thankfully this was rare.
During the Plague people had no real idea of what was causing the plague to spread. Everything from cats and dogs to Jews and bad air was blamed for the plague. Another religious theory was that god was punishing people for there sins. Because of this people known as flagellants would parade around the streets whipping themselves for gods forgiveness.
The impact of the plague could be seen throughout and even after the plague happened. And these impacts can be seen as good and bad. During the plague, in a small village called Eyam in Derbyshire, an amazing tale of bravery emerged. Eyam was one of the first places to be infected with the plague. But the people did not panic, they simply pulled together and helped each other and indeed the rest of the country. For the villagers knew that the plague, if not contained would spread quickly around the whole of Derbyshire. So they decided to cut themselves off from the rest of the country, by letting no one in the village and no one out. People from outside of Eyam would leave food on a large rock around half a mile from the village, and the villagers would collect this food and leave money in a pot full of vinegar, this was organized by the Duke of Devonshire, who’s residence was Chatsworth House in Derbyshire. Although most of the villagers died, there bravery was not forgotten and they saved many hundreds of lives with their efforts and there is a permanent memorial to them in the village of Eyam. So even during the plague, some good was happening.
Most of the other good impacts of the plague came after the plague had died down. Peasants, who had suffered so much during the plague, would if they survived look forward to better times after the plague. As a lot of peasants died during the plague, there were less of them around to work the land. So therefore, those who were left were in demand to work on the lands of the lords. This meant that they would get paid a higher wage to do the same work they had always done. Also, there was always the chance that they would be poached by another land owner and therefore be paid an even higher wage. Other good things to come after the plague were that peasants enjoyed more freedom and all labour services were gone.
Obviously there were negatives to come out of the plague. One being the mass loss of lives, it was estimated that one third of England was infected, most of these dying. Also the loss of money that the country experienced, with many people scared of going out and many people dead or severely ill the country’s workforce was very small. There was simply not enough people to work the land, and this continued for years after the plague. Finally, reputations of once highly regarded jobs, such as doctors were now in taters. People had began to despise doctors as it seemed that they were powerless to help the ill, and this angered people.
The Plague was indeed a very deadly and horrible illness for the people of medieval Britain to face. With no real idea of how it spread or how to prevent it, they had little chance of survival once they had been infected. Despite all of the negatives that can be taken out of the plague, there are still many positives that can be linked with the plague.
