The Bubonic Plague
In the late 1340s the Black Death, or bubonic plague, broke out in Europe. It originated in the East and swept across the continent killing perhaps one-third of the English population and about one-half that of Europe, a total of more than 25 million people. The infection was probably carried along the trade routes, like those by which Eastern spices and silks were taken by European traders. It may also have arrived when the first Crusaders returned. The germs were spread by rat fleas, and victims were marked by the inflamed swelling of lymphatic glands, especially in the groin or armpit. Spots of blood turned black under their skin and it became difficult to breathe for those who fell under this deadly, epidemic disease. Few would live more than three days. The devastation of the plague caused a manpower shortage that broke the traditional bonds of the serf to the land and the manor-feudalism began to disintegrate. The Black Death hastened the process of social and economic change in Europe in the late Middle Ages.
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