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The Black Death, Public Reaction

60 second histories

This video covers:  A look at people's reaction to the plague and how they dealt with it.

People react to the plague in different ways, some abandon all they have and flee the towns to avoid contact with victims, some shut themselves in their houses whilst others avoid people all together. Neighbour stops visiting neighbour, wives abandon their husbands and worse, even fathers and mothers refuse to see or attend to their children, so terrorised are they by the plague. But those who do walk about the city carry flowers or scented herbs and perfumes believing these pleasant odours will comfort the brain, for they believe the whole air is infected with the smell of the sick and the rotting bodies of the dead. There is little or no authority left as church ministers and executors of the law are either shut up in their houses or dead from the sickness. This disease spreads so quickly that the sick give it to the living; why even to speak or go near the sick brings infection and death.
Eras: 
Medicine & Health
Medieval
Topics: 
Plague
Medicine & health
Character: 
Medieval Monk
Key words: 
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