'The black death' (History continues) - Information for kids

We looked at the start of this great epidemic and what people believed and today we will continue on this journey to discover more about it.

This was a plague that spread very quickly and had a very high 'mortality rate' - a lot of people died.

This plague caused swelling in the groin or under the armpits and they called these swellings 'black buboes'.  This was very painful and the pain and suffering lasted for up to 5 days.  If these buboes would burst by itself, it was actually an indication that the person may survive the plague.

Buboes - An inflamed swelling of a lymph node, especially in the area of the armpit or groin, that is characteristic of certain infections, such as Bubonic plague. 

There were different types of this plague that affected different parts of the body and depending on the type, it also determined how many people died.

 The types were

Bubonic plague - victims of bubonic plague itself had a 50% chance of death.

Pneumonic plague - this attacked the lungs. Victims died quickly, in one or two days. The mortality rate in this case was 90%.

Septicaemic plague - this infected the blood. Again victims died quickly and the mortality rate was 100%.

This plague spread quickly among the people and was even carried from one country to another.  It was believed that the plague originally came from China in the 1330's.  Even after it looked like the plague was over and done with in the 1350's it returned twice again.  A lot of children were killed by this plague, since they did not have any resistance against this illness.  A lot of people also had very bad immune systems, since they were poor, had to work hard and did not eat very healthy.

As we know the doctors of those times did not have the knowledge they have today and on top of it all they also had a lot of superstitions.  They had their own believes on why this plague was spreading and how to treat the people.

• They would take an onion and herbs and rub it on the swelling and if they could get one even chop up a snake or pigeon and rub it on the infected areas
• They believed that drinking a lot of vinegar would help
• They had a fever because of the infection, but some believed that if you sit close to a fire and make yourself even hotter, it would drive out the fever.
• A lot of people believed that God were punishing them, so they would actually walk around and hit themselves with a whip.
• The doctors later realized that if they burst the buboes that it could actually help the infected people.

This plague had a huge impact on the population and the poor people were especially affected by it.  They became in 'conflict' with themselves and started hating and finding fault with the rich people that could afford better food and help from doctors.  Many Historians say that because the government also stop giving more money to the poor, this was actually the start of the end of the Feudal system and the revolt that took place by the poor in 1381

Tomorrow we will learn more about the "Peasants' Revolt".