The 1300’s were a bad time for the citizens of the known world, which included Europe, most of Asia, and also parts of Africa. It was a time of horror, mainly because of the disease commonly known by many names, including, the Black Death, the bubonic plague, and pneumonic plague. This plague was the killer of over a third of the population of Europe, and was unstoppable in nature. It didn’t matter how you tried to safeguard yourself from it, it found you. In the face of such a seemingly guaranteed death, mankind stooped a very low existance, where most men only wanted what was best for themselves and didn’t care for anybody else, including family. Many thought that the plague was deserved, which included Petrarch, who wrote in his Letters on Familiar Matters that “I do not deny that we deserve this misfortunes and even worse.” (Petrarch, doc 15 pg 72) Throughout the plague, there was many instances of how low one could go, which included (but not limited to) the killing of Jews; false medicinal practices; changes in jobs, payments, and prices of products; changes in funeral behaviors; and changes of the behavior of average citizens in their daily life. The cause of the plague was never actually and accurately known to the people who lived through it. Nobody then would have expected it to come from a bacteria (since bacteria wasn’t even known about back then) that came out of a flea. Some common causes of the plague were the planets aligning and the wrath of various gods. One cause of the plague had a particularly gruesome outcome. Some faithful Christian-folk believed that the Jews poisoned the drinking water. As Gui de Chaulic says, “Many were uncertain about the cause of this great mortality. In some places, they believed the Jews had poisoned the world, and so they killed them.” (Gui de Chaulic, doc14 pg 64) This was obviously a false accusation, but that didn’t stop the flagellant Christians from believing it full-heartedly. The Jews were tortured until they pled guilty to crime of poisoning the wells and also the distribution of such poisons(doc 37, pg 146). These confessions only riled up the judgemental and made them angry. A group of Christians called the flagellants was formed to combat the murderous Jews with even more murder and mayhem. They were frowned upon by most of society, including the King of France and Pope Clement VI. The King decreed a mandate against the flagellants, saying that “pogroms against Jewish communities coincided with the arrival of the plague… While in fact poor men and beggars had confessed under torture to spreading the plague through poison.” (King Philip VI, doc 34, pg 139) The Pope believed that we should protect the Jews, saying “we nevertheless are mindful of our duty to shelter the Jews… some Christians out of rashness have impiously slain several Jews… Some of these chasing after their own profits because they own great sums of money to them.” (Pope Clement
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As mentioned beforehand, instead of the dead being honored by his neighbors and carried by them, they would be carried by a group of men called sextons, who would charge a handsome fee to move the body; preying on the poor. According to Boccaccio, “they [the sextons] charged a fat fee.” (Boccaccio, doc 16, pg 78) In the same sense, Ahmad Ibn cAli Al-Maqrizi wrote about the black death in Egypt, particularly the funeral rites. He said “a reader took 10 dirhams… porters 6 dirhams when engaged, and another 6 at the grave… the gravedigger demanded 50 dirhams per grave.” (Al-Maqrizi doc 19 pg 85) People took advantage of each other for the basic rights that sound be given to everybody, which also kept the world cleaner and less infectious. Not only that, but the dead were not given any respect. Boccaccio claims “no more respect was accorded to dead people than would nowadays be shown toward dead goats.” (Boccaccio, doc 16, pg 79) Nowadays, that phrase probably would better compare the dead plague victims to a dead deer along the road. It is sad, but it is so common we as a society don’t even care anymore. Did society get so low then that they treated their own kind that
As mentioned beforehand, instead of the dead being honored by his neighbors and carried by them, they would be carried by a group of men called sextons, who would charge a handsome fee to move the body; preying on the poor. According to Boccaccio, “they [the sextons] charged a fat fee.” (Boccaccio, doc 16, pg 78) In the same sense, Ahmad Ibn cAli Al-Maqrizi wrote about the black death in Egypt, particularly the funeral rites. He said “a reader took 10 dirhams… porters 6 dirhams when engaged, and another 6 at the grave… the gravedigger demanded 50 dirhams per grave.” (Al-Maqrizi doc 19 pg 85) People took advantage of each other for the basic rights that sound be given to everybody, which also kept the world cleaner and less infectious. Not only that, but the dead were not given any respect. Boccaccio claims “no more respect was accorded to dead people than would nowadays be shown toward dead goats.” (Boccaccio, doc 16, pg 79) Nowadays, that phrase probably would better compare the dead plague victims to a dead deer along the road. It is sad, but it is so common we as a society don’t even care anymore. Did society get so low then that they treated their own kind that