LAST BLOG!!!

"Neither physicians nor medicines were effective. Whether because these illnesses were previously unknown or because physicians had not previously studied them, there seemed to be no cure. There was such a fear that no one seemed to know what to do. When it took hold in a house it often happened that no one remained who had not died. And it was not just that men and women died, but even sentient animals died. Dogs, cats, chickens, oxen, donkeys sheep showed the same symptoms and died of the same disease. And almost none, or very few, who showed these symptoms, were cured. The symptoms were the following: a bubo in the groin, where the thigh meets the trunk; or a small swelling under the armpit; sudden fever; spitting blood and saliva (and no one who spit blood survived it). It was such a frightful thing that when it got into a house, as was said, no one remained. Frightened people abandoned the house and fled to another." -Marchione di Coppo Stefani

This year we learned about the plague and I wouldn't say it was the most important thing I learned about, but it was by far the most interesting thing I learned about. So in these next few paragraphs I am going to give a brief description of the plague and how it started, then I will explain why this topic was so intriguing to me.

The plague, also known as The Black Death, started in 1347 A.D. in England, and was said to have been one of the worst natural disasters in history. It swept through Europe devastated cities causing death and hysteria. One third of Europe's population had withered away. The root of all this chaos were oriental rat fleas which were bared on the backs of black rats.

"According to a traditional story, the plague came to Europe from the town of Caffa, a Crimean port on the Black Sea where Italian merchants from Genoa maintained a thriving trade center. The Crimea was inhabited by Tartars, a people of the steppe, a dry, treeless region of central Asia. When the plague struck the area in 1346, tens of thousands of Tartars died. Perhaps superstition caused the Muslim Tartars to blame their misfortune on the Christian Genoese. Or perhaps a Christian and Muslim had become involved in a street brawl in Caffa, and the Tartars wanted revenge. In any case, the Tartars sent an army to attack Caffa, where the Genoese had fortified themselves. As the Tartars laid siege to Caffa, plague struck their army and many died. The Tartars decided to share their suffering with the Genoese. They used huge catapults to lob the infected corpses of plague victims over the walls of Caffa. As the Tartars had intended, the rotting corpses littered the streets, and the plague quickly spread throughout the besieged city. The Genoese decided they must flee; they boarded their galleys and set sail for Italy, carrying rats, fleas, and the Black Death with them."

In conclusion, I think the reason for why I liked studying this topic so much was because it's just so gory and gross and things like that are always fun to learn about. So I would like to end by saying thank you Mr. L for giving us such a great year and for being such a great class advisor to us.Haha! See ya Next year!