Outline
Thesis: Several aspects to the plague that reveal its severity are the cause of the plague, its social and religious effects, and its influence over the population.
I. There have been many disputes over what caused the Black Death.
A.On October of 1347, a Genoese fleet brought the sickness into the harbor in North Sicily.
1.Sickness brought by the rats and fleas aboard the ship.
2.The infested ship rat, called the black ship rat, was carried in the baggage of merchants traveling all over the Mediterranean.
3.Within six months of docking, half of the region had fled the country or died.
B.Doctors at the University of Paris claimed that on March 20, 1345, a conjunction of three higher planets Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars caused a corruption of the surrounding air.
1.It made the air become poisonous and toxic.
2. Highly unlikely theory on the basis of astrology.
The Black Death rapidly spread along the major Eur...
Swollen lymph nodes termed "buboes" caused by plag...
English: An illustration of an undertaker during t...C.Scientists claimed earthquakes caused toxic fumes to come from the center of the earth.
1.This made contaminated air that the people breathed.
D.The contagious nature of the plague caused it to become the epidemic it was.
1.The symptom of coughing up blood caused it to spread rapidly.
A.When blood was coughed up everyone on the room was susceptible to the disease.
B.The bacteria went airborne and infected people in close proximity.
II. The Black Death had many different social and religious effects on the common people of Europe.
A.Social classes were affected differently.
1.The peasants suffered the most.
A.They lived in unsanitary conditions and had the least care.
B.The high death in peasants caused a decrease in workers.
1.There was a high demand for workers, so peasants demanded higher wages.
2. Half of the workers on the estates of nobles died from the...