In the Middle Ages, people tried to save themselves from the plague primarily by prayer, sometimes by flight and even by self-flagellation. None of the medicines of that time helped, the disease did not spare anyone: neither those praying, nor those who abstained, nor those who scourged themselves. Where did this general epidemic come from, which brought the threat of extinction to the peoples of Europe? How was it so widespread?
When in 1347 the Golden Horde Tatars laid siege to the city of Kafa in Crimea (today it is Feodosia), plague patients appeared among them. Khan Janibek could not have known that the infection comes from plague fleas, carried by rats that lived in ports and on sea ships. But he realized that if the defenders were infected with the plague, then neither guns nor victims among his soldiers would be needed - the inhabitants would surrender without a fight. And he ordered his soldiers to catapult the corpses of those who died from the plague through the fortress walls.
But the Genoese who defended the city dumped the corpses into the river. The river flowed into the sea, into the very bay in which Janibek's ships were stationed, and the disease again returned to his troops. People died in thousands. Janibek persisted and ordered to "shoot" the dead again and again. And he achieved his goal: an epidemic broke out among the Genoese. They did not know how to get rid of her, and began to leave Kafa.
Janibek entered the deserted city filled with corpses and rats. Nothing else is known about his fate. He could hardly save himself from illness in the plague city. The Genoese expelled by him fled to their native places: to Genoa, Venice, Florence, to Central Europe - and carried the plague virus with them.
The epidemic developed rapidly and covered vast territories. In 1348 she reached Paris, soon found herself in the ports of southwestern England, and in 1349 she appeared in London. Nobody knew how to treat this disease. The great Nostradamus recommended drinking plenty of water, preparing some kind of medicine. He himself escaped, but his entire family died.
According to data that have come down to our time, from 1347 to 1352 from the plague killed 20-25 million people, which was almost a quarter of the entire population of the European continent.
Today we know that the development of the plague, like other infectious diseases, was facilitated by the complete unsanitary conditions in the cities of the Middle Ages, the lack of sewage systems. Many drank water from contaminated sources; boiling water was not yet widespread. The sewage was poured directly into the streets. In places of their accumulation, carriers of the infection of rats immediately appeared, in whose fur fleas swarmed. Getting on human skin, plague fleas carried the disease with them. Those who drank wine, ate fried meat and trusted in the Lord were saved.
It is assumed that the plague originated in the hot countries of Asia. It spread by caravan routes in China and India, but sailors from southern countries carried it even more actively. Plague fleas “inhabit” the furs of exotic animals. But nevertheless, the main carriers of the infection were rats, which chose ports and ships as their main habitat.
Promotional video:
There was no way to cure the plague in the Middle Ages. Since the 13th century, healthy people tried to protect themselves from the sick, created quarantine zones, where no one was allowed. And only in the late XIX - early XX century was it possible to create an anti-plague vaccine. The disease was stopped by anti-plague serums and antibiotics. Nevertheless, outbreaks of plague are noted in our time in the countries of Asia, Africa and South America.
