Bubonic Plague(Black Death)

“We eat lunch with our friends and dinner with our ancestors in Paradise”

~Giovanni Boccaccio

Black Death in Central China - 1333Black Death Arrives in Europe - 1347Plague arrives in England - 1348Daughter of King Edward III died of the plague - Sep. 2nd. 1348Plague reaches London - Nov. 1st. 1348King Edward III orders the streets to be cleaned of the dead bodies - 13493000 Jews killed in Germany - 1349200 people burried everyday - Feb. 2nd. 1349The plague reaches Moscow. The whole continent is now infected - 1351Poll tax recorded 4 Gloucestershire villages as having no return - 1379Peasant’s revolt - 13814th outbreak of plague, defected mainly adults - 1388The Italian plague/ Great Plague of Milan - 1629The Great Fire of London - Sep. 2nd. 1666The plague reaches Austria - 1711

The Bubonic Plague began in the year 1330 and started in China.A trading ship from China brought the Bubonic Plague to the shores of Italy in Spring of 1346.The starting Point was the trading City of Kaffa. From the ship that brought the Black Plague came the Black Rats whom were the carriers of the Plague.

Meet The Bubonic Plague

It seems like that during the Bubonic Plague the main people that seemed to suffer from the Plague and die at a rapid rate was the Elderly, poor, and children.Children mainly died at an accelerated rate during the Bubonic Plague epidemic due to the fact that their bodies did not have the strength nor the health to fight such a strong disease. The same goes for the elderly, due to the old age and the fact that they no longer have the strong immune system the Bubonic Plague would just destroy their bodies and their health along with it. The poor were widely effected by the Plague due to the fact that they were never strong enough health wise to begin with. Only those whose health was strong was able to overcome the Bubonic Plague, but they overcame it with a price. Some were said to have gone insane due to the fever and headaches that had plagued them when they had the disease.

About 10 to 20 people contract the Bubonic Plague each year in the USA. Our main defence against the disease is hygiene. Our modern sewage systems and Public Health organisations keep this plague to a minimum.When an occasional case of the Bubonic Plague arises Health Authorities will isolate the patient, trace their movements and destroy the rodent population responsible for the outbreak. (Which is of course a lot easier to do today, then it was back then)There is a vaccine, but because it takes several weeks to become effective, it would be of little use during an epidemic.

Ring around the rosyA pocketful of posies

"Ashes, Ashes"We all fall down

The lyrics of the song are based ONLY off of the Black Death. Ring around the rosie is a reference to the black sores that would appear on your body as part of the plague. Your "rosie" is around the center of the back of your hand. A pocket full of posies is a reference to people would carrying posies (flowers) around to not smell the sickening scent of dead bodies everywhere. Ashes Ashes signifies the ashes from all the bodies being burned on pyres. Bodies couldn't be buried or else the infection would spread. We all fall down signifies death. The meaning wasn't later realized until a while after the Black Death had occurred. It still shocks many people to know that such an innocent song we used to sing when we were little has such a horrifying and disturbing meaning. Now when you hear this song will you think of it the same way you did before

1. "Black Death." History.com. A&E Television Networks. Web. 16 May 2014.http://www.history.com/topics/black-death

2. "PlagueStats." PlagueStats. Web. 19 May 2014.http://pages.uoregon.edu/dluebke/Reformations441/PlagueStats.html

3. "The Black Death: Bubonic Plague." The Black Death: Bubonic Plague. Web. 19 May 2014.http://www.themiddleages.net/plague.html

4. http://people.hofstra.edu/alan_j_singer/CoursePacks/DBQWhyWastheBubonicPlagueBlackDeathSoDevestatingtoEuropeanSociety.pdf

5. "Ring around the Rosy Rhyme." Ring around the Rosy Rhyme. Web. 17 May 2014.http://www.rhymes.org.uk/ring_around_the_rosy.htm

6. "The Modern DayBlack Death &Bubonic Plague." Modern Day Bubonic Plague and Black Death. Web. 18 May 2014.http://www.william-shakespeare.info/bubonic-black-plague-modern-day.htm