Unit 13 Study Guide

What were some of the ways that people in Europe and the Mediterranean attempted to prevent the plague from spreading?

After the plague killed a third of the lords in Europe, there was a bit of a revenue stream issue for several kings. The solution? Free the serfs! ... So that they could be taxed, too. It might not have been the most altruistic situation, but the serfs were permitted to leave the lands of their former lords and try their luck making their way in the world in whatever way that they could. The overall result was a rise in the percentage of the population with a disposable income that they could use to buy luxury goods. Others saw the plague as a punishment from God. They gathered in the streets, stripped down to the waist and beat themselves publicly in an act called "self-flagellation." The logic was that they were showing God contrition for their sins and punishing themselves corporeally, so that God would not take his wrath out on others by punishing them.

What steps did the heads of state in Europe and Egypt in order to stabilize their economy after the plague had killed so many of their subjects?

After the plague killed a third of the lords in Europe, there was a bit of a revenue stream issue for several kings. The solution? Free the serfs! ... So that they could be taxed, too. It might not have been the most altruistic situation, but the serfs were permitted to leave the lands of their former lords and try their luck making their way in the world in whatever way that they could. The overall result was a rise in the percentage of the population with a disposable income that they could use to buy luxury goods. The regime put prices on the land and then sold it to their military. The intention was to generate more liquid currency and allow the Mamluks more widespread military control. However, by putting prices on the property and putting it up for sale, anyone could buy it. As it turned out, the middle class had grown so wealthy that they were able to outbid the Mamluk military troops when the land was sold off. The Mamluks lost control of several land grants that used to be a reliable source of revenue. This would have some long term consequences.

The Great Famine

In "The Great Famine" that followed, the locals were reduced to desperation as they scavenging for whatever sustenance they could find, including (according to some scattered reports) acts of cannibalism.

Track the trajectory of the spread of the plague by watching the second video in the maps section. What patterns do you observe (if any?)

It was mostly contained in Europe and the few times it was out of Europe it was contexted to the silk roads in some way

From information provided within the primary sources described in the e-book, what can we conclude about the plague with near-certainty?

Such descriptions paint a clear description of the despair and horror experienced by the people who lived through these times but offer too much nebulous information to be of use in ascertaining a cause of transmission.

What were the symptoms and qualities of the plague, according to the primary sources?

The descriptions of the symptoms are fairly uniform across all of the sources. The symptom that appears most commonly is the coughing of blood. Most witnesses describe the appearance of "buboes" on the body. Buboes are large lumps of pus that would occur at the site of a lymph node: on the neck, under the arms, or on the upper legs near the groin. Blood could not circulate to the tissue that covered the bubo, causing the skin to become necrotic and dark. This symptom was the origin of the term "Black Death."

Pax Mongolia

The unification in the name of commerce was called the Pax Mongolia.

The Great Mortality

Today, most people know this pandemic as "The Black Death" or simply, "The Plague." The individuals who wrote about the effects of this illness during their time referred to it as "The Great Mortality."

What steps did the Mongols take to revitalize trade along the Silk Roads?

nder the rule of the four Mongol states—the Chagatai Khanate, the Il-Khanate, the Yuan Dynasty, and the Khanate of the Golden Horde—the overland Silk Road trade was not merely revitalized; it flourished on an unprecedented scale. The various Mongol khanates profited from taxing Silk Road trade. However, because they monopolized all of the land in Eurasia, they could afford to keep customs taxes very low (never higher than five percent on the cost of the goods being trans-ported). The low cost of doing business encouraged more merchants to use the Silk Roads as a means of transport. The Mongols recognized that the danger of being attacked and robbed by interlopers had discouraged many potential merchants from bringing their goods across the wide breadth of the trade networks. So, they used their own military, along with paid mercenaries, to secure protection for the traders. Beginning in the mid-thirteenth century, it was no longer unheard of for an individual to traverse the entire length of the Silk Roads, from the Mediterranean to the Pacific.

How did the bubonic plague travel to the Mediterranean?

rodent population of the steppes to migrate further west. We can actually still wit-ness the migration of rodents today due to human activity. In this scenario, the infected rodents could have brought the pathogen with them, infecting merchants traveling to the western side of the Silk Roads.

self-flagellation

they gathered in the streets, stripped down to the waist and beat themselves publicly in an act called "self-flagellation." The logic was that they were showing God contrition for their sins and punishing themselves corporeally, so that God would not take his wrath out on others by punishing them.