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Black Plaque Dbq

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Submitted By Aceykays
Words 785
Pages 4
In Europe there is a big epidemic that is killing two-thirds of Europe’s population. That epidemic was called the Black Plaque. There were three big responses to the black plaque in Europe and those responses were greed, religion, and scientific reasoning. The first big response to the black plaque was greed. The black plaque allowed people to take money from people after they died, and sought out money from their heirs. Many nurses back then found out they can kill their patients faster, and get there pay quicker if they just killed them off, this is what most nurses did back then, and there greed for money blinded them from their motives for becoming nurses. “The demand for nurses in Barcelona was so great that they were hard to find. Many times all they did was to make the patients die more quickly, because the sooner they died, the sooner the nurses collected the fees they had agreed on.” (Document 11). Another reason was so heirs could get money faster if they killed the people higher up in the family. “About 40 people at Casale in Western Lombardy smeared the bolts of the town gates with an ointment to spread the plaque. Those who touched the gates were infected and many died. The heirs of the dead and diseased had actually paid people at Casale to smear the gates in order to obtain there inheritances more quickly.” (Document 4). The second big response to the black plaque was religion. The black plaque allowed people to move away or get closer to religion, people that got closer, prayed more and performed many ceremonies. One of them believed in a piece of bread touched by a Saint, and gave it to her sick husband. “My husband Ottavio had a malignant fever. We were sure he would die. Sister Angelica del Macchia, prioress at Crocetta, sent me a little piece of bread that had touched the body of St. Domenica. I fed it to my husband and suddenly the fever

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