Wednesday, May 18, 2011

What were the carriers of the plague and how did they get spread across Europe?

What is something I can improve on in my blog?

What was your favorite thing about my blog?

What was daily life like in Medieval Europe?


  Daily life in Medieval Europe was pretty similar to our life today. For games/entertainment they played chess, tossed pebbles or as they call it potsherds. They also played dice, checkers, and a game of backgammon. They had lots of fun playing games.

  For religion in Medieval Europe, they chose to use the Orthodox religion from the Byzantines. They followed every rule, and book that involved that religion. The people also took the Cyrillic alphabet from the Byzantines as well.

  The women of Medieval Europe had a similar "job" to do like the women of Sparta. The womens' social status was based upon how much land you owned. Womens' work included the following: cleaning the house, cooking meals, taking care of medicine, watching the vegetable gardens and the land, and raising children. So the women of Medieval Europe was very similar to the women of Sparta.

  Medieval food was a good, and balanced diet. Their meals consisted of grains, pulses, vegetables, olives, wild greens, and fruit. They ate the pulses and vegetables acording to whatever season it was. They mainly had 2 meals a day and that was a light breakfast, and a evening meal; which was close to dinner time. They did not have big meals just things that would hold them until the next day or meal.

 In Medieval Europe, slaves were called laborers. Like any other slave or laborer, the person was either short-term or long-term. They could pay off their by working it off, or paying it to the rightful owner.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Where did the plague come from?



 The plague started in the 1340’s and carried on for many, many years. They say it started in Europe, and went to Asia pretty quickly. Many people died of the plague quickly because they did not think that it would happen to them, or their friends and family. People did not take the precautions to make sure that their food and doors were sealed so rats and fleas couldn't get to them.

 The plague spread because of fleas, and fleas on rats. So the fleas were the main cause of it spreading so vigorously and killing many people. The fleas clung onto the rats and when the rats needed places for their nests they of course, went to ships. The ships probably had food and items for trade on them so the fleas were more than happy to get into that. When the food and items for trade were distributed, the plague spread even more rapidly! The fleas would cling on to people and bite them and then move from person to person. So you can say that the plague came from Europe if you are talking about a specific continent; but if you wanted to know a specific object or thing, the plague came from flea and fleas on rats.


What were some symptoms of the plague?

 It took awhile for the symptoms of the plague to show up. Some simple signs would be nausea and headaches. Once the plague has fully set in then you start to get black, boil-like bumos on your body. The first one normally appears on your armpit. The boils soon cover-up most of your body.

 Another symptom of the plague would be blue or black blotches on the skin; something like rashes. If a person started to notice these symptoms on their body they were  required to see a doctor for immediate medicines and tests. The docotors do all they can, and pretty soon the person dies within 48 hours (2 days).
 

What was the best treatment for the plague?

 Treatment for the plague didn't come out until years later. Once the doctors noticed that it took awhile for the plague to actually show some symptoms, they began to isolate people with the plague from others. In each city, or town, by law the doctor is required to take the person away if they have the plague and take blood tests of the people whom they live with.

 If one of the family members happens to have the plague, they are given immediate anitibiotics, and are as well isolated like the others. In other cases if you have taken your blood test and it shows that you don't have the plague, you are still given antibiotics just in case.

Monday, May 16, 2011

How did they try to stop the plague from spreading?

  The plague spread so rapidly that pretty much everyone had it. The doctors tried really hard to keep the people who had the plague, away from people who didn't. If someone if your family figured out that they had the plague, they were immediately taken away and everyone in the household was tested to make sure they didn't have it either. Most people in the household did end up having it; they just didn't show any signs of it yet.

  Another way they tried to prevent the plague from spreading is by eliminating all the rats, which eliminated the fleas. The tried to get rid of the rats by cleaning up all the areas of wastes or garbage so the rats wouldn't have a nests or places to live. They called this Enviromental Sanitation. The next step is to keep the food away from places where the rats and fleas could get into it.  The steps toward the Enviromental Sanitation process took awhile because alot of people didn't catch on fast enough.