The Old Globe Theater was closed by the English authorities in their futile attempts to stop the spread of the Bubonic Plague, otherwise known as the "Black Death". Shakespeare's family was not immune to the disease, and several of his siblings were killed by it. The epidemic must have influenced him much like it did all the survivors in Europe. Perhaps that is why he wrote so many tragedies.
Coming out of the East, the Black Death reached the shores of Italy in the spring of 1348 unleashing a rampage of death across Europe unprecedented in recorded history. By the time the epidemic played itself out three years later, anywhere between 25% and 50% of Europe's population had fallen victim to the pestilence.
"Brother abandoned brother" I found this while surfing the web, and out of all the other quotes and stories I read, this one stuck out to me and seemed to truly describe how harsh of times the plague era was. I read many accounts of how citizens were all avoiding each other; how families spilt due to the horrible epidemic.
Streams of people are constantly flooding into our hospital, their legs and necks covered in swollen bumps that blacken within hours; goose bumps rise upon their skin as they shiver with exceedingly high fevers, and many are violently throwing up blood
One of the short stories I read was, "The Black Death". THis story describes a last farewell note written by a young girl who contracted the plague. She talks of how she was shunned and locked away, knowing she would never see her family again. This short story made me realize just how cruel the plague was. Not only did it kill millions of people, it turned neighbors and even family members against each other.
The houses would be locked and bolted from the outside. The victims were not allowed to leave and neither was anyone else allowed to enter. This action was tantamount to signing a death warrant for the whole family and one of the terrible consequences of the disease. Any victim of the Bubonic Plague or Black Death would have to obtain a ' Certificate of Health ' to resume normal life - if they recovered...
"The symptoms were not the same as in the East, where a gush of blood from the nose was the plain sign of inevitable death; but it began both in men and women with certain swellings in the groin or under the armpit. They grew to the size of a small apple or an egg, more or less, and were vulgarly called tumours. In a short space of time these tumours spread from the two parts named all over the body. Soon after this the symptoms changed and black or purple spots appeared on the arms or thighs or any other part of the body, sometimes a few large ones, sometimes many little ones. These spots were a certain sign of death, just as the original tumour had been and still remained."
When the plague first began it's rampage across the land, Europe was emerging from the "dark ages" trying to put unpleasant memories behind it and move on to a more enlightened era. Barbarians no longer ran rough shod, putting entire villages to the torch and slaughtering the local peasants. Without the constant fear of invasion, art and architecture found fertile ground to grow. Medieval painters were not simply anonymous lowly craftsmen, but well respected professionals. They were held in high esteem and often interacted with princes and popes. The arrival of plague harkened in a new darker era of painting. Paintings were overflowing with tortured souls, death, dying, fire and brimstone.
"The plight of the lower and most of the middle classes was even more pitiful to behold. Most of them remained in their houses, either through poverty or in hopes of safety, and fell sick by thousands. Since they received no care and attention, almost all of them died. Many ended their lives in the streets both at night and during the day; and many others who died in their houses were only known to be dead because the neighbours smelled their decaying bodies. Dead bodies filled every corner. Most of them were treated in the same manner by the survivors, who were more
Citizens of Tournai bury plague victims. These are fortunate to have coffins. Most victims were interred in mass graves concerned to get rid of their rotting bodies than moved by charity towards the dead. With the aid of porters, if they could get them, they carried the bodies out of the houses and laid them at the door; where every morning quantities of the dead might be seen. They then were laid on biers or, as these were often lacking, on tables.
Such was the multitude of corpses brought to the churches every day and almost every hour that there was not enough consecrated ground to give them burial, especially since they wanted to bury each person in the family grave, according to the old custom. Although the cemeteries were full they were forced to dig huge trenches, where they buried the bodies by hundreds. Here they stowed them away like bales in the hold of a ship and covered them with a little earth, until the whole trench was full."
The Black Death first appeared in London in 1348, brought there by the fleas living on rats which came ashore from ships arriving from Asia. Already this terrible epidemic had killed millions people before reaching the European continent where the initial outbreak occurred in and around Italy. The disease struck and killed people with terrible speed. In October, 1347 an eyewitness account claimed:
"Realizing what a deadly disaster had come to them, Italians were driven from their city. But the disease remained, and soon death was everywhere. Fathers abandoned their sick sons. Lawyers refused to come and make out wills for the dying. Friars and nuns were left to care for the sick, and monasteries and convents were soon deserted, as they were stricken, too. Bodies were left in empty houses, and there was no one to give them a Christian burial."
At the beginning of October, in the year of the incarnation of the Son of God 1347, twelve Genoese galleys . . . entered the harbor of Messina. In their bones they bore so virulent a disease that anyone who only spoke to them was seized by a mortal illness and in no manner could evade death. The infection spread to everyone who had any contact with the diseased. Those infected felt themselves penetrated by a pain throughout their whole bodies and, so to say, undermined. Then there developed on the thighs or upper arms a boil about the size of a lentil which the people called "burn boil". This infected the whole body, and penetrated it so that the patient violently vomited blood. This vomiting of blood continued without intermission for three days, there being no means of healing it, and then the patient expired.
Adieu, farewell, earth's bliss; This world uncertain is; Fond are life's lustful joys; Death proves them all but toys; None from his darts can fly; I am sick, I must die. Lord, have mercy on us!
Rich men, trust not in wealth, Gold cannot buy you health; Physic himself must fade. All things to end are made, The plague full swift goes by; I am sick, I must die. Lord, have mercy on us!
Beauty is but a flower Which wrinkles will devour; Brightness falls from the air; Queens have died young and fair; Dust hath closed Helen's eye. I am sick, I must die. Lord, have mercy on us!
Strength stoops unto the grave, Worms feed on Hector brave; Swords may not fight with fate, Earth still holds open her gate. "Come, come!" the bells do cry. I am sick, I must die. Lord, have mercy on us!
Wit with his wantonness Tasteth death's bitterness; Hell's executioner Hath no ears for to hear What vain art can reply. I am sick, I must die. Lord, have mercy on us!
Haste, therefore, each degree, To welcome destiny; Heaven is our heritage, Earth but a player's stage; Mount we unto the sky. I am sick, I must die. Lord, have mercy on us
"Ring around the rosy, A pocket full of posies, Ashes... Ashes, We all fall down."
This familiar nursery rhyme that kids have recited as a harmless play song for generations ironically refers to "The Black Death". The simplistic words in the rhyme capture the essence of the plague's horror. "Pocket full of posies," refers to the herbs people carried around to ward of the odor. Most of the corpses were cremated- the " ashes, ashes," and finally death would come and we would "all fall down."
The odds of surviving are not good for serfs, or clerics, since they tended the sick, but miraculously I survive. Mr. Erikson rewards me with a laminated badge that reads, I SURVIVED THE BLACK PLAGUE. Mom will be so proud.” ― Cynthia Hand, Unearthly
Having no defense and no understanding of the cause of the pestilence, the men, women and children caught in its onslaught were bewildered, panicked, and finally devastated. -Giorgio Boccacio
"One citizen avoided another, hardly any neighbour troubled about others, relatives never or hardly ever visited each other. Moreover, such terror was struck into the hearts of men and women by this calamity, that brother abandoned brother, and the uncle his nephew, and the sister her brother, and very often the wife her husband. What is even worse and nearly incredible is that fathers and mothers refused to see and tend their children, as if they had not been theirs.
“Accounts from Europe indicate that the danse macabre took another form, inspired by the Black Death, rather like our children's rhyme 'Ring o' Ring o' Roses', which refers to the Great Plague. In 1374, a fanatical sect of dancers appeared in the Rhine, convinced that they could put an end to the epidemic by dancing for days and allowing other people to trample on their bodies. It is not recorded whether they recovered but, incredibly, they began to raise money from bystanders. By the time they reached Cologne they were 500 strong, dancing like demons, half-naked with flowers in their hair. Regarded as a menace by the authorities, these dancers macabre were threatened with excommunication.” ― Catharine Arnold, Necropolis: London and Its Dead
the black death first came to Europe from overseas. the ships that carried the deadly disease had a large number of dead bodes. the dead carried strange black marks on their bodies. this caused the disease to be called the black plague. everyone thought they could escape the plague by sending the ships carrying the disease back but the disease spread too quickly and eventually became one of the most deadly pandemics in history
Enterprise Networking Magazine is one of the best digital printed magazine which features the latest technologies used in the networking landscape. It unfolds the technology advancements in the networking industry with the help of insights from proficient CIOs and technologists.
The Old Globe Theater was closed by the English authorities in their futile attempts to stop the spread of the Bubonic Plague, otherwise known as the "Black Death". Shakespeare's family was not immune to the disease, and several of his siblings were killed by it. The epidemic must have influenced him much like it did all the survivors in Europe. Perhaps that is why he wrote so many tragedies.
ReplyDeleteArticle Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2609213
Coming out of the East, the Black Death reached the shores of Italy in the spring of 1348 unleashing a rampage of death across Europe unprecedented in recorded history. By the time the epidemic played itself out three years later, anywhere between 25% and 50% of Europe's population had fallen victim to the pestilence.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/plague.htm
"Brother abandoned brother" I found this while surfing the web, and out of all the other quotes and stories I read, this one stuck out to me and seemed to truly describe how harsh of times the plague era was. I read many accounts of how citizens were all avoiding each other; how families spilt due to the horrible epidemic.
ReplyDeleteStreams of people are constantly flooding into our hospital, their legs and necks covered in swollen bumps that blacken within hours; goose bumps rise upon their skin as they shiver with exceedingly high fevers, and many are violently throwing up blood
ReplyDeletehttp://teenink.com/mobile/fiction/286617/?page=2
One of the short stories I read was, "The Black Death". THis story describes a last farewell note written by a young girl who contracted the plague. She talks of how she was shunned and locked away, knowing she would never see her family again. This short story made me realize just how cruel the plague was. Not only did it kill millions of people, it turned neighbors and even family members against each other.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.booksie.com/historical_fiction/short_story/moemoepl12/the-black-death
The houses would be locked and bolted from the outside. The victims were not allowed to leave and neither was anyone else allowed to enter. This action was tantamount to signing a death warrant for the whole family and one of the terrible consequences of the disease. Any victim of the Bubonic Plague or Black Death would have to obtain a ' Certificate of Health ' to resume normal life - if they recovered...
ReplyDelete"The symptoms were not the same as in the East, where a gush of blood from the nose was the plain sign of inevitable death; but it began both in men and women with certain swellings in the groin or under the armpit. They grew to the size of a small apple or an egg, more or less, and were vulgarly called tumours. In a short space of time these tumours spread from the two parts named all over the body. Soon after this the symptoms changed and black or purple spots appeared on the arms or thighs or any other part of the body, sometimes a few large ones, sometimes many little ones. These spots were a certain sign of death, just as the original tumour had been and still remained."
ReplyDeleteWhen the plague first began it's rampage across the land, Europe was emerging from the "dark ages" trying to put unpleasant memories behind it and move on to a more enlightened era. Barbarians no longer ran rough shod, putting entire villages to the torch and slaughtering the local peasants. Without the constant fear of invasion, art and architecture found fertile ground to grow. Medieval painters were not simply anonymous lowly craftsmen, but well respected professionals. They were held in high esteem and often interacted with princes and popes. The arrival of plague harkened in a new darker era of painting. Paintings were overflowing with tortured souls, death, dying, fire and brimstone.
ReplyDelete"The plight of the lower and most of the middle classes was even more pitiful to behold. Most of them remained in their houses, either through poverty or in hopes of safety, and fell sick by thousands. Since they received no care and attention, almost all of them died. Many ended their lives in the streets both at night and during the day; and many others who died in their houses were only known to be dead because the neighbours smelled their decaying bodies. Dead bodies filled every corner. Most of them were treated in the same manner by the survivors, who were more
ReplyDeleteCitizens of Tournai bury plague victims. These are
fortunate to have coffins. Most victims
were interred in mass graves
concerned to get rid of their rotting bodies than moved by charity towards the dead. With the aid of porters, if they could get them, they carried the bodies out of the houses and laid them at the door; where every morning quantities of the dead might be seen. They then were laid on biers or, as these were often lacking, on tables.
Such was the multitude of corpses brought to the churches every day and almost every hour that there was not enough consecrated ground to give them burial, especially since they wanted to bury each person in the family grave, according to the old custom. Although the cemeteries were full they were forced to dig huge trenches, where they buried the bodies by hundreds. Here they stowed them away like bales in the hold of a ship and covered them with a little earth, until the whole trench was full."
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/plague.htm
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe Black Death first appeared in London in 1348, brought there by the fleas living on rats which came ashore from ships arriving from Asia. Already this terrible epidemic had killed millions people before reaching the European continent where the initial outbreak occurred in and around Italy. The disease struck and killed people with terrible speed. In October, 1347 an eyewitness account claimed:
ReplyDelete"Realizing what a deadly disaster had come to them, Italians were driven from their city. But the disease remained, and soon death was everywhere. Fathers abandoned their sick sons. Lawyers refused to come and make out wills for the dying. Friars and nuns were left to care for the sick, and monasteries and convents were soon deserted, as they were stricken, too. Bodies were left in empty houses, and there was no one to give them a Christian burial."
At the beginning of October, in the year of the incarnation of the Son of God 1347, twelve Genoese galleys . . . entered the harbor of Messina. In their bones they bore so virulent a disease that anyone who only spoke to them was seized by a mortal illness and in no manner could evade death. The infection spread to everyone who had any contact with the diseased. Those infected felt themselves penetrated by a pain throughout their whole bodies and, so to say, undermined. Then there developed on the thighs or upper arms a boil about the size of a lentil which the people called "burn boil". This infected the whole body, and penetrated it so that the patient violently vomited blood. This vomiting of blood continued without intermission for three days, there being no means of healing it, and then the patient expired.
ReplyDeleteA Litany in Time of Plague
ReplyDeleteby Thomas Nashe
Adieu, farewell, earth's bliss;
This world uncertain is;
Fond are life's lustful joys;
Death proves them all but toys;
None from his darts can fly;
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us!
Rich men, trust not in wealth,
Gold cannot buy you health;
Physic himself must fade.
All things to end are made,
The plague full swift goes by;
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us!
Beauty is but a flower
Which wrinkles will devour;
Brightness falls from the air;
Queens have died young and fair;
Dust hath closed Helen's eye.
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us!
Strength stoops unto the grave,
Worms feed on Hector brave;
Swords may not fight with fate,
Earth still holds open her gate.
"Come, come!" the bells do cry.
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us!
Wit with his wantonness
Tasteth death's bitterness;
Hell's executioner
Hath no ears for to hear
What vain art can reply.
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us!
Haste, therefore, each degree,
To welcome destiny;
Heaven is our heritage,
Earth but a player's stage;
Mount we unto the sky.
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us
"Ring around the rosy,
ReplyDeleteA pocket full of posies,
Ashes... Ashes,
We all fall down."
This familiar nursery rhyme that kids have recited as a harmless play song for generations ironically refers to "The Black Death". The simplistic words in the rhyme capture the essence of the plague's horror. "Pocket full of posies," refers to the herbs people carried around to ward of the odor. Most of the corpses were cremated- the " ashes, ashes," and finally death would come and we would "all fall down."
The odds of surviving are not good for serfs, or clerics, since they tended the sick, but miraculously I survive. Mr. Erikson rewards me with a laminated badge that reads, I SURVIVED THE BLACK PLAGUE.
ReplyDeleteMom will be so proud.”
― Cynthia Hand, Unearthly
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHaving no defense and no understanding of the cause of the pestilence, the men, women and children caught in its onslaught were bewildered, panicked, and finally devastated.
ReplyDelete-Giorgio Boccacio
"One citizen avoided another, hardly any neighbour troubled about others, relatives never or hardly ever visited each other. Moreover, such terror was struck into the hearts of men and women by this calamity, that brother abandoned brother, and the uncle his nephew, and the sister her brother, and very often the wife her husband. What is even worse and nearly incredible is that fathers and mothers refused to see and tend their children, as if they had not been theirs.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/plague.html
“Accounts from Europe indicate that the danse macabre took another form, inspired by the Black Death, rather like our children's rhyme 'Ring o' Ring o' Roses', which refers to the Great Plague. In 1374, a fanatical sect of dancers appeared in the Rhine, convinced that they could put an end to the epidemic by dancing for days and allowing other people to trample on their bodies. It is not recorded whether they recovered but, incredibly, they began to raise money from bystanders. By the time they reached Cologne they were 500 strong, dancing like demons, half-naked with flowers in their hair. Regarded as a menace by the authorities, these dancers macabre were threatened with excommunication.”
ReplyDelete― Catharine Arnold, Necropolis: London and Its Dead
the black death first came to Europe from overseas. the ships that carried the deadly disease had a large number of dead bodes. the dead carried strange black marks on their bodies. this caused the disease to be called the black plague. everyone thought they could escape the plague by sending the ships carrying the disease back but the disease spread too quickly and eventually became one of the most deadly pandemics in history
ReplyDeleteEnterprise Networking Magazine is one of the best digital printed magazine which features the latest technologies used in the networking landscape. It unfolds the technology advancements in the networking industry with the help of insights from proficient CIOs and technologists.
ReplyDelete