Why Did the Plague Sweep Through Europe in 1347?

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The History Channel is airing a documentary on the Plague, detailing its devastating impact in 1347, where nearly half of Europe's population perished within three years. The documentary explores the initial symptoms, the societal chaos, and personal stories from various perspectives, including a princess, a doctor, and a Jewish merchant. Viewers are encouraged to reflect on how such a catastrophe might affect modern society. The discussion also touches on historical sites related to the Plague, with participants sharing their local experiences and engaging in light-hearted banter about their fictional roles during the Plague, including peasants, nuns, and physicians. The thread highlights the blend of historical education and humor, with references to the documentary's content and the impact of the Plague on communities.
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The History Channel is repeating their documentary on the Plague tonight. It was very good.

It began like the common cold. Then fever, baseball-sized black swellings on the neck, coughing of blood. Few lived more than two days. The year--1347. It was history's worst biological disaster and almost half of Europe's population died within three years. Visit the plague ships' rat-infested holds, witness the terror that swept through the towns, and walk with the religious flagellants. Follow a princess as she travels into the center of the plague, a doctor who struggles to understand what is happening, and a Jewish merchant caught up in violent attacks. Hear the actual words of the victims, taken from diaries and journals. From the Pope's palace to the humble huts of medieval peasants, watch as people live and die in the unforgiving grip of fear and death, and wonder how we would act if such a terrible event happened today.
If this doesn't put you in the Holiday spirit, nothing will.

The UK sight has the website presentation that went with the original.

http://www.thehistorychannel.co.uk/site/microsites/theplague/
 
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Can't British people spell? What, I'm a peasent?

Evo of USA, in the spring of 1348 you are a greedy Peasent.

You survive the plague, thanks no doubt to the lock of a martyr's hair you purchase from a peddler. You live to the age of 47, a village record!

http://www.thehistorychannel.co.uk/site/games/Plague/?
 
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Evo said:
The History Channel is repeating their documentary on the Plague tonight. It was very good.

If this doesn't put you in the Holiday spirit, nothing will.

The UK sight has the website presentation that went with the original.

http://www.thehistorychannel.co.uk/site/microsites/theplague/

Surprising how many villages disappeared due to black death and enclosure, there are four sites with a five mile radius from me, not that there is much to see above or below ground,
but in some cases a church or a farm house remain.
within my area is, Chaple Ascot, Hodnel, East End and Watergal.
 
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Evo said:
Can't British people spell? What, I'm a peasent?



http://www.thehistorychannel.co.uk/site/games/Plague/?

:smile:
I'm saved!
Moonbear of New Jersey, in the spring of 1348 you are a lecherous Nun.

Despite attending the sick and dying, you survive the Black Death as though by divine ordinance, and are regarded with awe.

See, it pays to be in the sisterhood. :biggrin: :smile:
 
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NO FAIR! How did you get "lecherous nun"? :devil:

Moonbear said:
Moonbear of New Jersey, in the spring of 1348 you are a lecherous Nun.

Despite attending the sick and dying, you survive the Black Death as though by divine ordinance, and are regarded with awe.
 
wolram said:
Surprising how many villages disappeared due to black death and enclosure, there are four sites with a five mile radius from me, not that there is much to see above or below ground,
but in some cases a church or a farm house remain.
within my area is, Chaple Ascot, Hodnel, East End and Watergal.
I'm going to have to come visit you some day Wolram. The historical sites in your area would be a dream to me.
 
robin of bishops itchington, in the spring of 1348 you are an odorous Physician.

Your knowledge of medicine saves you from the Black Death, as you bleed yourself profusely, and refuse to see any patients.

Stuff and nonsense, i would never bleed myself.
 
Evo said:
I'm going to have to come visit you some day Wolram. The historical sites in your area would be a dream to me.

Just up on the hill i can see from my window is a church founded by the nights Templar
Google Burton dassett, it is very interesting.
 
wolram said:
robin of bishops itchington, in the spring of 1348 you are an odorous Physician.

Your knowledge of medicine saves you from the Black Death, as you bleed yourself profusely, and refuse to see any patients.

Stuff and nonsense, i would never bleed myself.
:smile: Maybe not now...

Ok, so we three survived, what a pleasant lot, a greedy "peasent", a lecherous nun, and an odorous physician.
 
  • #10
wolram said:
Just up on the hill i can see from my window is a church founded by the nights Templar
Google Burton dassett, it is very interesting.
Oooooh, oooh!
 
  • #11
Evo said:
NO FAIR! How did you get "lecherous nun"? :devil:

More importantly, how did you AVOID being a lecherous nun? :smile:
 
  • #12
She was doing an Alfred.
 
  • #13
Then there is this

http://www.search.windowsonwarwickshire.org.uk/engine/resource/default.asp?resource=8889

Chesterton is all so the site of a roman fort on the Foss road, i have found coins on the non scheduled edges.

And there is a stone built windmill on the hill.
 
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  • #14
Kurdt of Gateshead, in the spring of 1348 you are a vile Knight.



You are spared by the Black Death, only to be killed in a freak jousting accident.

Damn! I mean killed fair and square I could handle, but by a freak accident? :cry:
 
  • #15
Kurdt said:
Damn! I mean killed fair and square I could handle, but by a freak accident? :cry:

:smile: That's what you get for jousting with freaks! :biggrin:
 
  • #16
Moonbear said:
:smile: That's what you get for jousting with freaks! :biggrin:

:smile:
 
  • #17
Kurdt said:
Damn! I mean killed fair and square I could handle, but by a freak accident? :cry:

Yes i remember that one, your horse stumbled, the tip of you lance dug into the ground,
the sudden stop catapulted you out of the saddle high into the air, you landed head first ,the weight of the armour driving you waste deep in the ground.
 
  • #18
wolram said:
Ythe weight of the armour driving you waste deep in the ground.

Eww...waste deep! Someone really should clean up after the horses.
 
  • #19
Saved

MIH of Alabama, in the spring of 1348 you are a foul-mouthed Serving wench.

You survive the plague and marry the tavern-owner, whose wife conveniently suffers an agonising death from bubonic plague.
 
  • #20
Math Is Hard said:
MIH of Alabama, in the spring of 1348 you are a foul-mouthed Serving wench.

You survive the plague and marry the tavern-owner, whose wife conveniently suffers an agonising death from bubonic plague.

:smile: How convenient!
 
  • #21
:cry: How come I am a boring peasant?

But! I outlive all of you! mwahahaha.

But I'm a peasant. :frown:
 
  • #22
Was this the documentary that ascribed the mini ice age to the death of half the population of Europe?
 
  • #23
Bring out your dead..

 
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  • #24
Evo said:
:cry: How come I am a boring peasant?

But! I outlive all of you! mwahahaha.

But I'm a peasant. :frown:

You're not just a peasant. You're a greedy peasant. :smile:
 
  • #25
Nope, this is purely the plague, as told by reading actual letters, journals etc.. of those that lived (or died) through it. It's really good.

Ooh, the flagellants have just hit the scene.
 
  • #26
Later on i gave up being a Physician and bought a tavern
 
  • #27
wolram said:
Later on i gave up being a Physician and bought a tavern
A wise move, someone like you would need a wife to spend your money, I mean help you with the business. :rolleyes:
 
  • #28
wolram said:
Later on i gave up being a Physician and bought a tavern

You didn't like that old battleaxe wife anyway. That's why I gave the cart pusher nine pence and threw her on the pile. :devil:
 
  • #29
Math Is Hard said:
You didn't like that old battleaxe wife anyway. That's why I gave the cart pusher nine pence and threw her on the pile. :devil:
:smile:
 
  • #30
Math Is Hard said:
You didn't like that old battleaxe wife anyway. That's why I gave the cart pusher nine pence and threw her on the pile. :devil:

And when we hired that peasant woman we had so much more spare time.
 
  • #31
wolram said:
And when we hired that peasant woman we had so much more spare time.
 
  • #32
wolram said:
And when we hired that peasant woman we had so much more spare time.

:smile:

So, Evo - what kind of snacks did you make up tonight to go with watching the Plague? I can't think of anything suitable.
 
  • #33
If you ever need a suit of armour to decorate the tavern and a skeleton for a retired physician you know who to see.
 
  • #34
Math Is Hard said:
:smile:

So, Evo - what kind of snacks did you make up tonight to go with watching the Plague? I can't think of anything suitable.
Butter Lover's popcorn.

Are you watching it?
 
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  • #35
Evo said:
Butter Lover's popcorn.

Are you watching it?

I have it on, but am not being very good about watching. I keep being distracted by other things. But, mmm...I haven't made myself popcorn in a while...I think I'll make some.
 
  • #36
Math Is Hard said:
:smile:

So, Evo - what kind of snacks did you make up tonight to go with watching the Plague? I can't think of anything suitable.

Carrion pie? the birds are so fat and juicy.
 
  • #37
wolram said:
Carrion pie? the birds are so fat and juicy.

Yikes, Wolly!

The sisters have got me craving popcorn now. But I have none, so I am snacking on some mango and pineapple slices dipped in coconut yogurt.
 
  • #38
hypatia of Florida, in the spring of 1348 you are a heavy-drinking lady of the manor.



You escape the plague, and outlive your husband by thirty years, proving the old adage that men are quitters.

hehheh Pass me another glass of Mead!
 
  • #39
hypatia said:
h
You escape the plague, and outlive your husband by thirty years, proving the old adage that men are quitters.

:smile: The men don't seem to be faring too well here. :smile:
 
  • #40
Huckleberry of PF, in the spring of 1348 you are a lecherous Knight.

You are spared by the Black Death, only to be killed in a freak jousting accident

Damn you Kurdt! You killed me.

I usupect a random element to this test. There seems to be a lot of variety in the results for such a simple test.
 
  • #41
Huckleberry said:
Damn you Kurdt! You killed me.

You killed me first! :mad:
 
  • #42
Bob, in the spring of 1348 you are a greedy Bishop.

You escape God's wrath, survive the plague, and live out your days in the opulent style befitting a senior cleric.
An opulent lifestyle among lecherous nuns? :biggrin:
 
  • #43
wolram said:
Later on i gave up being a Physician and bought a tavern

Yet you never thought to give up being odorous? :confused:
 
  • #44
turbo-1 of Maine, in the spring of 1348 you are a lecherous Thief.

The Black Death is indeed God-sent. You make your fortune ransacking abandoned property, and retire as a sort of proto-Fagin type character.

Hey! Someone's got to take patronize the lecherous nuns.
 
  • #45
Kurdt said:
You killed me first! :mad:
That's what was so freakish, Huck killed you first, you fell to the ground, your lance wedged upward, Huck fell off of his horse and was impaled on your lance.
 
  • #46
It could get terribly complicated if any more knights are discovered. :rolleyes:
 
  • #47
Evo said:
That's what was so freakish, Huck killed you first, you fell to the ground, your lance wedged upward, Huck fell off of his horse and was impaled on your lance.
I'm actually not lecherous at all. I'm just extraordinarily clumsy, but I can see how the two could be confused.
 
  • #48
Evo said:
That's what was so freakish, Huck killed you first, you fell to the ground, your lance wedged upward, Huck fell off of his horse and was impaled on your lance.

Where's arildno to comment on this? :biggrin: :smile:
 
  • #49
Moonbear said:
Where's arildno to comment on this? :biggrin: :smile:
I hope you're not implying I fell off my horse on purpose!
 
  • #50
Nine people played and none personally died the Black Death?

Is the game rigged to make everyone feel lucky or is it just because so many players are located in America vs Europe?

And why do we have no prosititutes?
 

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