The Black Plague

The Black Plague, which decimated medieval Europe, is by far the worst epidemic in recorded history, and quite possibly ever. One in every four or five people in Europe died, not to mention those in Asia, wiping out quite swiftly a huge portion of the world’s population. That fact alone would obviously have a huge impact on customs in any town, and the communicable nature of the disease added to the effect of changing customs. Being too scared to come in contact with anyone that might be carrying the disease, and with obvious good reason to be, people abandoned relatives that may be sick and disposed of bodies and handled the dead in a most disrespectful and unsanitary manner. Piling bodies up in front of houses, and making mass graves are just a couple of examples of this unsanitary and disrespectful behavior, but honestly, who could blame them? The alarming rate at which the bodies would pile up would be overwhelming to a society that lacked the technology, and not to mention ...