Cures
While facing the plague people became desperate and would do anything to keep healthy so some of the cures were pretty strange.
Vinegar and water treatment- If a person gets the disease, they must be put to bed. They should be washed with vinegar and rose water
Lancing the buboes- The swellings associated with the Black Death should be cut open to allow the disease to leave the body. A mixture of tree resin, roots of white lilies and dried human excrement should be applied to the places where the body has been cut open.
Bleeding- The disease must be in the blood. The veins leading to the heart should be cut open. This will allow the disease to leave the body. An ointment made of clay and violets should be applied to the place where the cuts have been made.
Diet- We should not eat food that goes off easily and smells badly such as meat, cheese and fish. Instead we should eat bread, fruit and vegetables
Sanitation- The streets should be cleaned of all human and animal waste. It should be taken by a cart to a field outside of the village and burnt. All bodies should be buried in deep pits outside of the village and their clothes should also be burnt.
Pestilence medicine- Roast the shells of newly laid eggs. Ground the roasted shells into a powder. Chop up the leaves and petals of marigold flowers. Put the egg shells and marigolds into a pot of good ale. Add treacle and warm over a fire. The patient should drink this mixture every morning and night.
Witchcraft- Place a live hen next to the swelling to draw out the pestilence from the body. To aid recovery you should drink a glass of your own urine twice a day.
Vinegar and water treatment- If a person gets the disease, they must be put to bed. They should be washed with vinegar and rose water
Lancing the buboes- The swellings associated with the Black Death should be cut open to allow the disease to leave the body. A mixture of tree resin, roots of white lilies and dried human excrement should be applied to the places where the body has been cut open.
Bleeding- The disease must be in the blood. The veins leading to the heart should be cut open. This will allow the disease to leave the body. An ointment made of clay and violets should be applied to the place where the cuts have been made.
Diet- We should not eat food that goes off easily and smells badly such as meat, cheese and fish. Instead we should eat bread, fruit and vegetables
Sanitation- The streets should be cleaned of all human and animal waste. It should be taken by a cart to a field outside of the village and burnt. All bodies should be buried in deep pits outside of the village and their clothes should also be burnt.
Pestilence medicine- Roast the shells of newly laid eggs. Ground the roasted shells into a powder. Chop up the leaves and petals of marigold flowers. Put the egg shells and marigolds into a pot of good ale. Add treacle and warm over a fire. The patient should drink this mixture every morning and night.
Witchcraft- Place a live hen next to the swelling to draw out the pestilence from the body. To aid recovery you should drink a glass of your own urine twice a day.
- Black Death Treatment: Black Death was treated by lancing the buboes and applying a warm poultice of butter, onion and garlic. Various other remedies were tried including arsenic, lily root and even dried toad.
- During a later outbreak of this terrible plague, during the Elizabethan era, substances such as tobacco brought from the New World were also used in experiments to treat the disease.
How to Avoid the Plague
1. Avoid breathing in the same air as a plague victim.
2. Sit next to a blazing hot fire, (it worked for the Pope in the summer of 1348).
3. Live in a house sheltered from the wind and keep the window closed.
4. Attack foreigners and people of a different religion. (Twenty
Thousand Jews were burned to death in Strasbourg in 1348).
5. Letter from King Edward III to the Lord Mayor of London in
1349: “You are to make sure that all the human excrement and other filth lying in the street of the city is removed. You are to cause the city to be cleaned from all bad smells so that no more people will die from such smells.”
6. You could walk around carrying flowers, herbs or spices, which you would often raise to your nose.
7. Live a separate life, only eating and drinking in moderation and seeing no one.
8. Run away to the country, leave everyone behind.
9. Go to church and ask for forgiveness.
10. Go on a pilgrimage. Punish yourself in public by joining the flagellants.
11. “No poultry should be eaten, no waterfowl, no pig, no old beef, altogether no fat meat. ...It is injurious to sleep during the daytime...Fish should not be eaten, too much exercise may be injurious... and nothing should be cooked in rainwater. Olive oil with food is deadly... Bathing is dangerous.”
12. “In the first place no man should think on death.... Nothing should distress him, but all his thoughts should be directed to pleasing, agreeable and delicious things... Beautiful landscapes, fine gardens should be visited, particularly when aromatic plants are flowering.... Listening to beautiful melodious songs are wholesome…The contemplating of gold and silver and other precious stones is comforting to the heart.”
2. Sit next to a blazing hot fire, (it worked for the Pope in the summer of 1348).
3. Live in a house sheltered from the wind and keep the window closed.
4. Attack foreigners and people of a different religion. (Twenty
Thousand Jews were burned to death in Strasbourg in 1348).
5. Letter from King Edward III to the Lord Mayor of London in
1349: “You are to make sure that all the human excrement and other filth lying in the street of the city is removed. You are to cause the city to be cleaned from all bad smells so that no more people will die from such smells.”
6. You could walk around carrying flowers, herbs or spices, which you would often raise to your nose.
7. Live a separate life, only eating and drinking in moderation and seeing no one.
8. Run away to the country, leave everyone behind.
9. Go to church and ask for forgiveness.
10. Go on a pilgrimage. Punish yourself in public by joining the flagellants.
11. “No poultry should be eaten, no waterfowl, no pig, no old beef, altogether no fat meat. ...It is injurious to sleep during the daytime...Fish should not be eaten, too much exercise may be injurious... and nothing should be cooked in rainwater. Olive oil with food is deadly... Bathing is dangerous.”
12. “In the first place no man should think on death.... Nothing should distress him, but all his thoughts should be directed to pleasing, agreeable and delicious things... Beautiful landscapes, fine gardens should be visited, particularly when aromatic plants are flowering.... Listening to beautiful melodious songs are wholesome…The contemplating of gold and silver and other precious stones is comforting to the heart.”
Symptoms
Black Death Symptoms
The symptoms of the Black Death were terrible and swift:
The symptoms of the Black Death were terrible and swift:
- Painful swellings (buboes) of the lymph nodes
- These swellings, or buboes, would appear in the armpits, legs, neck, or groin
- A bubo was at first a red colour. The bubo then turned a dark purple colour, or black
- Other symptoms of the Black Death included:
- a very high fever
- delirium
- the victim begins to vomit
- muscular pains
- bleeding in the lungs
- mental disorientation
- The plague also produced in the victim an intense desire to sleep, which, if yielded to, quickly proved fatal
- A victim would die quickly - victims only lived between 2 -4 days after contracting the deadly disease