The “Black Death” and the “Great Pox”: the Medieval Understanding of Diseases
The Europeanhistory knows several examples of huge, devastating pandemics, like the Great Death (plague) or the Great Pox (syphilis). Both scientists and ordinary people often could not understand the cause of the disease or methods of infection because of the science’s development level. They tried to explain the situation with the aid of available knowledge. These approaches sometimes led to treatments that promoted the spreading of the infection rather than stopping it.
The Black Death is a significant example of such misunderstanding. In the 14th century, when the plague came to the Europe, Catholic and Christian priests stated the disease was sent by the God …show more content…
Doctors and common citizens understood people with active symptoms of the disease can infect others. That is why such patients were isolated in their homes or specific building. The plague led to the appearance of the term and practice of the quarantine. The word meant a 40-days isolation experienced by patients and ships from suspicious countries. But at the same time many people believed the religion can protect them (at least at the beginning of the pandemic), and gathered in churches; but crowds only promoted the spread of the disease. Medieval scholars also suggested the airborne transition of the plague as the contagion process was described as “instantaneous death occurs when the aerial spirit escaping from the eyes of the sick man strikes the healthy person standing near and looking at the sick” (History.com Staff, …show more content…
This attitude appeared as people often explained events they could not understand as the sign of the God’s anger. It was also obvious that syphilis appeared after an intercourse, a potentially sinful action. Scholars and citizens in the 14th and 15th centuries did not know the original cause of syphilis, the bacteria Spirochaeta pallida. But, unlike the plague, they understood the major way of its transmission. To protect people from the infection authorities tried to tighten the control over brothels, public baths and other institutions that promoted sexual relations. While people did not know the reason of syphilis, they had hypothesis about its origin. Two Spanish physicians Fernandez de Oviedo and Ruy Diaz de Isla believed the disease was brought to Europe by Christopher Columbus (Tampa, Sarbu, Matei, Benea & Georgescu, 2014). This hypothesis was supported by reports about the presence of the disease in North America and the fact it appeared in Europe soon after the