The Black Death
The Black Death, which reached England in 1348: plague, its symptoms and routes of spread, its heavy death toll, and how worker shortages helped some survivors seek higher pay
What a learner can do afterwards
- Describe what the Black Death was and at least two symptoms
- Explain that plague can spread through bites from infected fleas and, when it infects the lungs, through droplets from a sick person's cough
- Explain how fewer workers helped some survivors seek higher wages, while rulers and landowners tried to limit these changes
1 · Read
The Black Death was a deadly outbreak of plague caused by bacteria. It reached England in 1348. The outbreak spread through much of Europe between 1347 and 1351. One form caused fever and painful swollen lumps called buboes. Many people died.
Fleas carrying plague bacteria can infect people through bites. They may live on rats and other animals. If plague infects the lungs, droplets from a cough can infect someone nearby. These are two different routes. Not every person with plague spreads it by coughing.
Many people died, leaving fewer workers. Landowners still needed people to work their fields. This helped some survivors ask for higher wages. Pay rose in many places over time. Rulers and landowners tried to limit wages and keep workers from leaving. The plague did not make every survivor richer or free every serf.
To find half of a group, split it into two equal groups. Half is one group. In a made-up example, a village has 12 people and half survive. Split 12 into 6 and 6. One group has 6 people, so 6 survive. This is not a death-rate record from a real village.
Plague can spread through infected flea bites or droplets from a cough when it infects the lungs. Worker shortages helped some survivors seek higher pay, but restrictions remained.
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More to read
An outbreak and its losses
The Black Death affected parts of Asia, Europe and North Africa in the 1300s. Many people died. The loss of life differed from place to place.
Plague is caused by bacteria. People at the time did not understand this cause, and their treatments could not stop the outbreak.
Records from the time are incomplete. Historians use the evidence that survives to estimate deaths. An estimate is not an exact count of every person.
Two routes of infection
Plague bacteria are called Yersinia pestis. Fleas can take these bacteria from infected animals. A flea carrying them can infect a person through a bite.
If plague infects the lungs, coughing can send bacteria into nearby air in droplets. Someone breathing in those droplets can become infected.
These are different routes. A person infected through a flea bite does not automatically pass plague to everyone they meet. Researchers still study how different routes contributed to the medieval outbreak.
Travel and infection
Merchants used roads and ships to carry goods between towns. Journeys could also carry infected people, animals or fleas.
After disease reached one place, further journeys could carry it elsewhere. This is why historians compare travel routes with records of illness.
Not every traveller carried plague. Nor did every local outbreak begin in the same way. Evidence about where and when people became ill helps historians investigate the spread.
Beliefs and evidence
People in the 1300s did not know bacteria caused plague. Some explained the illness through bad air or the stars. Those beliefs did not identify its bacterial cause.
Scientists can study the bacteria responsible for plague. Historians also read accounts from the time to understand what people believed and how they acted.
An account of a belief tells us what someone thought. We need other evidence before accepting that belief as a true explanation of disease.
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