Black Death

Historical Context Essay

Ole Jürgen Benedictow (University of Oslo)

The Literary Encyclopedia. WORLD HISTORY AND IDEAS: A CROSS-CULTURAL VOLUME.

Domains

Plague - Virological or Bacteriological Epidemic

Dates

Date of occurrence 1346-1353

Places

Europe (Location)

Resources

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This article focuses on an extraordinary murderous and notorious wave of epidemics of bubonic plague which raged in the years 1346-53. Much later, it acquired the name “the Black Death” which does not refer to any medical features of plague disease, but is usually assumed to be a mistranslation of the Latin term “mors atra” where the adjective “atra” may mean both “terrible” and “black”.

Nature and Pattern of Spread of the Black Death

The Black Death was an epidemic of bubonic plague caused by a bacterium called Yersinia pestis and is basically a disease of rodents. Areas or regions where plague circulates continually in large wild rodent populations are called plague foci (plague reservoirs)and are found in many places in

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5317 words

Citation: Benedictow, Ole Jürgen. "Black Death". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 October 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=126, accessed 24 November 2024.]