What was the Black Death?

The Black Death was the most catastrophic pandemic in human history. The disease — bubonic plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, transmitted through flea bites and possibly respiratory droplets — arrived in Europe in October 1347 when Genoese trading ships docked at Messina, Sicily, carrying sick and dying sailors. Within five years, it had killed between one-third and one-half of Europe's entire population.

The plague had originated in Central Asia, traveling westward along the Silk Road trade routes and aboard merchant ships. It struck Constantinople, then spread rapidly through Italy, France, Spain, England, Germany, Scandinavia, and eventually reached Russia. Victims developed swollen, blackened lymph nodes (buboes), high fever, and usually died within days. The speed and lethality of the disease overwhelmed medieval medicine, which had no understanding of germ theory.

The social and economic consequences were revolutionary. With a third of the workforce dead, surviving laborers could demand higher wages and better conditions. Serfdom weakened across Western Europe as lords competed for scarce labor. The English Peasants' Revolt of 1381 was directly connected to post-plague labor tensions. The Church's prestige suffered as it proved powerless to explain or prevent the catastrophe. Scapegoating was rampant — Jewish communities were massacred across Germany and Eastern Europe.

Many historians see the Black Death as a decisive turning point between the medieval and modern worlds. By destroying the old feudal order, it inadvertently created the conditions for rising wages, social mobility, technological innovation, and the economic changes that would eventually lead to the Renaissance and early capitalism.