Month: September 2022

SINGLE UNIFORM WAVE. “Barcelona was one of the main entry points for the Black Death into Europe, with historical reports suggesting the disease first entered there in the spring of 1348. In London, the earliest reports of the illness are from autumn 1348. This indicates a contemporary presence of the same strain in both southern and northern Europe, supporting the notion of a single wave entry, with low genetic diversity in the pathogen.” https://lnkd.in/g9Pgxuv View in LinkedIn

EASTERN SPREAD. “Y. pestis spread from Europe to Asia after the Black Death and gave rise to both the 1.IN lineages of the Yunnan Province of China (1.IN3) as well as the 1.ORI strains associated with worldwide spread during the third plague pandemic.” https://lnkd.in/g9Pgxuv View in LinkedIn

GENOME FINDINGS. “Our results suggest (1) limited Y. pestis diversity during the early phase of the Black Death, and likely a single entry into Europe; (2) a wave of plague that traveled eastward after the Black Death and later gave rise to the 19th century pandemic; and (3) an involvement of the same plague lineage in two post-Black Death European epidemics that are 200 years apart.” https://lnkd.in/g9Pgxuv View in LinkedIn

BREAKING THE FABRIC OF HISTORY. “This tragedy launched a socioeconomic and evolutionary transformation in Europe that changed the course of history.” https://lnkd.in/gFp3nUn View in LinkedIn

WORK-LAND IMPACT. “The revolutionary effect (if it can be called thus) of the Black Death was the inversion of the land/work relationship. The reduction in the workforce due to the high mortality rates made labor a scarce asset. Peasants began to have a certain degree of margin for negotiation, as the rentals for their land grew less costly, leading to an increase in their wages. In certain parts of Europe, rulers took measures to control these increases in salary, sparking peasants’ revolts in some cases.” https://lnkd.in/gxzkSs7 View in LinkedIn

“PRIOR TO THE PANDEMIC, Europe was under a feudalistic social system, closely related to the prevalent economic system of manorialism. Peasants worked for noble landlords in exchange for protection and use of land. A majority of these peasants were serfs, bound to isolated manorial estates and obliged to their landlords. Consequently, there was a disparity between social classes: the rich were exceedingly rich and the poor were exceedingly poor.” https://lnkd.in/gyBNmBb View in LinkedIn

FEUDALISM DECLINES. “In the decades following the pandemic, Europe experienced significant economic, social, scientific, and religious changes. Increased wages empowered peasants, causing serfdom to disappear in many places, triggering the decline of manorialism. The demand for labor was so high it threatened manorial holdings. Serfs, no longer tied to one landlord, could easily leave for another who would hire them.” https://lnkd.in/gyBNmBb View in LinkedIn

“MEDICAL PRACTICE and health protocols improved after the pandemic. While medical practice was still outlawed for those not affiliated with the Church, more people turned to independent practitioners, allowing exploration into treatments extending beyond Church doctrine. Governments followed suit with many European governments creating efficient public health protocols.” https://lnkd.in/gyBNmBb View in LinkedIn

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM. “The effects of the pandemic immediately impacted people's religious beliefs, allowing for religious exploration. These religious implications and the resulting willingness of people to question standard Catholic doctrine were contributing factors in the emergence of Martin Luther’s protestant reformation in the early 16th century, along with other religious movements.” https://lnkd.in/gyBNmBb View in LinkedIn

DARK ART. “Alongside shaken religious faith, European culture was devastated. With the prevalence of unexpected death, the masses realized death’s inevitability. Art in the years following the pandemic exemplified this mindset by showing its grim influence. Artists coped with the devastation by creating works featuring a new dark genre: the Dance of Death, or Danse Macabre.” https://lnkd.in/gyBNmBb View in LinkedIn