Bubonic Plague

The Bubonic Plague, also known as Black Death, is one of the most mysterious and powerful epidemics known to mankind and it’s impact on the Middle Ages resulted in countless deaths and left millions begging for mercy. The Bubonic Plague “cut like a scythe through Europe’s cities and countryside, killing tens of millions.” (Time Life Books 11).
Plagues in general have been around for 3000 years, but no plague has affected an age in history to the extent that the Bubonic Plague affected the Middle Ages. “The disease occurred in huge pandemics that destroyed the entire population of cities throughout the Middle Ages.” (“Plague”). The deadly disease first arrived in Europe when a ship docked in Messina, Sicily in 1347. Carriers of the disease include brown rats, marmots, and prairie dogs, but in this case it was the infected rats that unleashed the Bubonic Plague upon humanity. Xenopsylla cheopis is the flea that attaches itself to the rat, thus exposing the rat to t...