Plague ravished fourteen century Europe twice within the narrow space of a single generation. Using data contained in tutorial exercises 1-5 compare and contrast the cattle panzootic of 1314-25 and the human pandemic of 1346-53.

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Plague ravished fourteen century Europe twice within the narrow space of a single generation. Using data contained in tutorial exercises 1-5 compare and contrast the cattle panzootic of 1314-25 and the human pandemic of 1346-53.

The fourteenth century was one of great disasters. Europe was hit twice within just over 20years with a devastating pestilence that affected most of the population. In 1314 as the Great European Famine was beginning thousands of cattle were struck down by an infectious disease. Again in 1346 the population were dealt another devastating blow in the form of a human pandemic which killed nearly 60% of the population. This pandemic later became known as the Black Death. In the course of this essay I will compare and contrast the two disasters to give a better insight into them.

The cattle panzootic of 1314-25 which decimated large amounts of the bovine population of Europe was caused by Rinderpest which is German for cattle plague. This is an ‘infectious viral disease of cattle, domestic buffalo and some species of wildlife’ (Wikipedia) It is believed that the cattle plague originated in the East near Mongolia.   The Human pandemic of 1346-53 is thought to be the cause of Bubonic plague which is caused by bacteria. It is believed that the bacterium was spread from black rats on merchant ships. However many people disagree with this theory. Samuel Cohn Jr (2002) claims that ‘No contemporary evidence links the black death or its successive strikes in Western Europe to rats’  First outbreaks of this were found in Central Asia. The causes of the disasters were similar and they both originated from the same region. Although there is much debate about the causes of the human pandemic, majority of people believe that Rhinderpest was to blame for the cattle panzootic.

At first the spread of the cattle plague seemed relatively slow. The disease originated in Mongolia in 1314 and did not reach Europe until 1316. Then it took the disease a further 2 years to reach France and was not seen in England to 1319. Dendrochronology records show that at this time show cold and dry weather, this is possible a reason why the spread of disease was slow. As the plague moved through the United Kingdom it appeared to get even slower and did not reach Wales until September 1320. Although the disease spread slowly it lasted 11 years in total. The effects were devastating on both the rich and the poor. On the other hand the spread of the human pandemic was much quicker. The plague was first recorded at Messina, Sicily in October of 1347 and is believed to have travelled on trading ships from the Black Sea. Within one month the plague had travelled to nearby Corsica and Sardinia. By the start of June 1948 the plague had spread to England and within one month was in full swing. The human pandemic lasted 7 years in total but its affects were much more impacting than that of the cattle panzootic.

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Both the cattle panzootic and the human pandemic had direct and indirect impacts upon foodstuffs and resources among communities. The sudden mortality of cattle meant that there was a loss of capital. Also farmers had to resort to other means in order to keep the farm productive. In some cases cattle were substituted for horses and sheep dung was often used instead of manure. ‘In most cases herds were not rapidly repaired’ (Newfield, P) It could take farmers up to 5 years to replace the animals they lost. The cattle panzootic affected a population already experiencing the Great European ...

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