The Black Death is the most mysterious disease in history. From 1348 to 1352, it turned Europe into a death trap, and this road of destruction destroyed one third of Europe's population, totaling about 25 million people! In the next 300 years, the Black Death will continue to visit towns in Europe and Asia, threatening those who survived the robbery. Although it is impossible to accurately count the number of deaths in Europe, the records left by many towns have witnessed amazing losses: 1467, 127000 Russian deaths, 1348 German chronicler Lubeck recorded 90000 deaths, with the highest number of deaths per day as high as 1500! In Vienna, 500-700 people die every day. According to the records of Russia-Smolensk, 1386 only 5 people survived!
650 years ago, the Black Death spread all over Europe, which was the most horrible plague in European history. One of the most important figures in the history of European literature, Boccaccio, the pioneer of Italian Renaissance humanism, wrote decameron in 1348- 1353, which is a masterpiece with the theme of plague. The introduction talks about the serious epidemic in Florence. He described how the patient suddenly collapsed in the street and died, or died in his own house until the body smelled rotten, and the neighbors didn't know what happened next door. Travelers see barren villages, open wine cellars, ownerless cows wandering in the streets, but no sign of local residents.
Me! cB！ The Xz disaster was called the Black Death at that time, but it was actually a plague. The symptoms of plague were first recorded by a Florentine named Boccaccio in 1348. The initial symptom is a lymphatic lump in the groin or armpit, and then a bluish-black herpes appears in the arms, thighs and other body parts, which is the origin of the name of the Black Death. Few people are spared, almost all patients will die within 3 days, usually without fever symptoms.
The Black Death first appeared in a small town in Central Asia in 1338, and spread to India in the south around 1340, and then spread westward to eastern Russia along the ancient trade route. From 1340 to 1345, the Russian steppe was shrouded in the shadow of death. /kloc-in the winter of 0/345, the Tatars attacked Faka, the territory of Genoa, and the siege could not be stopped. The Tatars became angry and threw the bodies of the Black Death patients into the city. As a result, the plague prevailed in the city, most of the residents of Faka died, and only a few fled to the Mediterranean region. However, they are accompanied by a terrible epidemic.
1347, the iron hoof ravaged by the Black Death first crossed Constantinople, the largest trading city in Byzantium. By 1348, the Black Death broke out in Spain, Greece, Italy, France, Syria, Egypt and Palestine. 1352, the Black Death attacked Moscow, and even the Grand Duke of Moscow and the Orthodox Patriarchate capital died one after another. The Black Death has spread to all levels of society, and no one can escape the reality of death.
Soon, this cruel phenomenon has been everywhere in Europe. In Marseille, France, 56,000 people died of the plague. In Perpignan, only one of the only eight doctors in the city survived the plague. The situation in avignon is even worse. 7,000 houses in the city were destroyed by the epidemic. A church in Paris handled 4 19 wills in 9 months, 40 times more than before the outbreak of the plague; In Belgium, the bishop became the first victim of the plague. Since then, the death knell has been wailing for the new dead. Even the famous hundred-year war between Britain and France in history was forced to stop temporarily because of the outbreak of plague.
/kloc-at the end of 0/348, the plague spread to the hinterland of Germany and Austria. Wherever the god of plague went, thousands of people were swallowed up by the plague. In Vienna, 960 people died in one day, and one third of the clergy in Germany were killed by the plague, so many churches and monasteries could not be maintained.
In addition to the European continent, the plague also crossed the English Channel through fleas from mice on sailboats and spread to the smallest villages all over Britain. The rural labor force has been greatly reduced, and some tenants in the manor have even died. People living in medieval towns in England lived in high density, with piles of garbage and sewage. To make matters worse, they know almost nothing about infectious diseases. At that time, the way people handled the bodies of the deceased was also very simple, and the workers who handled the bodies themselves did not have protection, which contributed to the spread of the disease. In order to escape death, people tried various methods. They prayed to God, ate delicious meat and drank good wine ... The doctor tried to cure or alleviate this terrible symptom. They used all kinds of drugs and tried all kinds of treatments, from laxatives, emetics, bloodletting therapy, fumigation, burning lymph nodes or putting dried toads on them, and even taking a bath with urine, but death kept coming to the world. Some people who are deeply bound by religion think that this is a divine punishment caused by the fall of mankind. They marched in European towns, beating each other with iron-tipped whips and humming, "I am the most guilty." In Mainz, Germany,1.20 thousand Jews were burned alive as the disseminators of the plague, and in Strasbourg,1.60 thousand Jews were killed. Only a few sober people realize that animals may spread diseases, so they focus their hatred on domestic animals such as cats and dogs. They killed all the livestock. The streets are full of rotting bodies of cats and dogs, and the rancid smell is suffocating. From time to time, a flustered domestic cat jumped over the dead body, and a group of people with cloth wrapped in their noses and mouths chased after them with wooden sticks. No one will pity these weak creatures, because they are regarded as the disseminators of the plague. However, people who are worried are not without gains. It has been found that isolation can effectively stop the spread of plague. Besides, they also know the function of disinfection. By the time the Black Death broke out again in Britain 300 years later, the isolation measures had developed to a quite perfect level, which effectively prevented the spread of the disease.
The Black Death completely changed the history of Europe and even the world. It brought death to everyone without prejudice. The dead aristocrats in the whole family left a lot of barren land. Because there is no labor force, their wages should be raised, and farmers have income to buy idle land. As a result, many of them became land-owning new noble, and the serf class collapsed. In China, the Beijing soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were being attacked by the plague and could not resist the attack of Li Zicheng's elite division. Because of the invasion of the Black Death, people learned a lot of hygiene habits, which completely improved the sewage system in Europe. To this day, people are still lamenting the spacious sewers in London, England. In addition, cremation began to become the most important way of funeral; The fireplace originally located in the center of the room was moved to the wall; The room became stronger and began to use plaster or stone instead of wood blocks.
The Black Death completely shook the shackles of religion, humanism began to recover, and the seeds of the Renaissance began to breed. In artists' works, religious images no longer dominate the world. Pessimism and depression, atonement and death became the important themes of this period, and the Gothic style was displayed in the later period.
More importantly, due to the Black Death, universities announced the suspension of classes, and the government did not allow people to travel far from home. It was during this period that a young man named isaac newton founded a very important mathematical discipline-calculus by solving infinite proportional series.
For many years, people have never stopped studying the Black Death. However, the latest research results have different views on the origin of the Black Death. The latest research results of British scientists show that the origin of this disaster is probably because a small comet exploded after entering the earth's atmosphere, which caused dust to cover the sky and triggered a global "nuclear winter", which indirectly caused crop failure, famine and plague. Researchers at the University of Liverpool believe that by studying the mode of transmission of the Black Death, it can be concluded that it was not bubonic plague, but was caused by a virus similar to Ebola, and it spread directly from person to person. People infected with this virus may die within 24 hours, with a mortality rate as high as 50%-90%.
If Wokuotai had not died, the plague would not have been brought to Europe, priests and nuns would not have died, and priests and nuns would not have doubted the existence of God. Without doubting the existence of God, there would be no Italian Renaissance. Without the Renaissance, Spain and southern Europe would not be strong, and there would be no Spanish armada. Spain and Italy are not strong enough. Anglo-Saxon will be strong 200 years earlier, Germanic will control Central Europe, and Austro-Hungarian Empire will not exist.
Beecher Cave Monastery is one of the famous monuments in Kiev, covering an area of 28 hectares. There are many churches and museums (including ancient treasures museum, books and book printing museum, Ukrainian national decorative art museum, etc.). ), among which the cave church has the longest history. Built in 105 1 year, it consists of two caves (2m high and 1.2m wide), which are 400m apart and extend to Dnieper River respectively, with a total length of over 500m. A shallow cave with a height of 1m, a length of 2 m and a depth of 0.5 m was dug in the two walls of the cave. It was originally a temple, and later celebrities and famous monks were buried. The mummy of the priest 1 1 is preserved here. After the priest died, the body was kept in the cave. Due to the special climatic environment in the cave, these bodies naturally dried into mummies. Mummies are regarded as miracles and the embodiment of God's power, so monasteries are well known. There are now 125 mummies preserved in caves.
/kloc-In the 20th century, the cave church was once the religious and cultural center of Eastern Europe, where there were icon studios and writing rooms to translate scriptures into the Slavic language of the church and foreign literary works. 1240 during the Mongolian invasion, the cave church was used as a refuge for Kiev citizens. /kloc-in the 0 th and 8 th centuries, the tsar imprisoned political prisoners here. Before the October Revolution, Orthodox Christians from Russia and Eastern European countries came here to worship, and many celebrities lived in caves and churches to write. In addition to the cave churches, there are also some churches in Bissell Monastery, such as Lebedev Savior Church (built in 1 1 century, where Yuri, the founder of Moscow, was buried), Life Arrival Church (built in12nd century) and Ascension Church of Our Lady (built in17th century, destroyed in World War II, and now being built. The bell tower of the monastery is 96.5 meters high, which is the highest in Europe. It is 29 meters in diameter, 8 meters wide at the bottom, 4 floors, golden roof, with a lamp and a cross at the top. There are 9 clocks in the bell tower, and there are 4 existing ones. Kiev Grottoes Monastery was listed on the World Cultural Heritage List by UNESCO in 1990.