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Epidemics, like famines and wars, were diffused in the Middle Ages.
Epidemics, like famines and wars, were diffused in the Middle Ages.
They had socio-economic and natural reasons:
They had socio-economic and natural reasons:
- poorness (lack of hygiene and nutrients);
- poorness (lack of hygiene and nutrients);
- the import of diseases from the East through the commercial routes, a propagation vehicle.
- the import of diseases from the East through the commercial routes, a propagation vehicle.
MEDIEVAL EPIDEMICS: DEMOGRAPHY, SOCIETY AND RELATIONSHIPS
MEDIEVAL EPIDEMICS: DEMOGRAPHY, SOCIETY AND RELATIONSHIPS
The Middle Ages is one of the great historical ages: it covers a very long time from the fifth century to the fifteenth century after Christ.
The Middle Ages is one of the great historical ages: it covers a very long time from the fifth century to the fifteenth century after Christ.
Historians have painted it as a dark period that precedes the splendor of the Renaissance; this interpretation has been criticised by historiography in the last decades. In that period, the average life expectancy was around 45 years. It was a period of endemic famines and wars, which affected the demographic rate in all the social classes, even if the social inequality in the dead people was already relevant. Personal, familiar hygiene in urban concentrations, was inexistent; waters were taken from wells in the countryside; the drains of the sewers were almost always in sunlight; houses were unhealthy, malconstructed and at the mercy of the colonization of rats and sewer animals. Nutrition was poor in nutrients, due to chronic poverty.
Historians have painted it as a dark period that precedes the splendor of the Renaissance; this interpretation has been criticised by historiography in the last decades. In that period, the average life expectancy was around 45 years. It was a period of endemic famines and wars, which affected the demographic rate in all the social classes, even if the social inequality in the dead people was already relevant. Personal, familiar hygiene in urban concentrations, was inexistent; waters were taken from wells in the countryside; the drains of the sewers were almost always in sunlight; houses were unhealthy, malconstructed and at the mercy of the colonization of rats and sewer animals. Nutrition was poor in nutrients, due to chronic poverty.
The plague in Europe in the XIV century.
The plague in Europe in the XIV century.
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