“I, Nathanael Paul Jackson, never in all my years believed I would see such an act of God’s anger against mankind as I did between the years of 1348 and 1349. No one knows the exact cause or even how the plague was spread. The air and waters were infected with some sort of pestilence, as if God, Himself did it. No one was immune from the plague. It did not discriminate, rich and poor alike; man, woman and child could become its next victim at any time. Within two to three days of showing signs of being infected with the disease, the person was dead. Swelling in the armpits and groin was a sure sign of death for that person…
Everyone dealt differently with the disease. I was a twenty-seven year old common blacksmith’s assistant with a wife and child, living in Paris, France when this devastation arrived. When this punishment struck, but not before it took the life of our only child and we had to bury him with our own hands, we fled to the country to try and survive. Some …show more content…
Cities were left in ruin as a result of entire families either dying or running off in hopes of survival. Exquisite houses as well as dainty shacks were left behind with most of the possessions’ still there. Wealth was no longer a concern, people just wanted to survive. Furthermore, fields were left unharvested considering there was no one to do the work and harvest anymore. Churches were left without priests because they did not want to become ill or knew they would no longer have the parishioners to support them since so many were dead. After the epidemic abated priest and workers who could be found, wanted excessive pay increases to do the work, realizing how valuable they now were. People went from not being concerned with their wealth to hanging onto it because food was now so scarce and precious to them. Others who survived turned to all sorts of pleasure, feeling they were blessed to have escaped the epidemic.