- 2 months ago
🌍 *The Curse of the Rat - Dive into the Dark History of the Black Death!* 🌍
Welcome to Moments In Time! In this gripping episode "Curse of the Rat - the Black Death," we take you on a chilling journey back to the Middle Ages, a time when a catastrophic pandemic changed the course of history forever. This gripping documentary reveals how the Black Death, one of the deadliest pandemics known to mankind, wiped out an astonishing one-third of Europe's population in just three short years.
🕰️ *What You'll Discover:*
*The Mongol Siege of Kaffa (1347 A.D.):* Uncover the shocking events that led to the spread of the plague, including the gruesome tactics employed by a Mongol army that catapulted infected corpses over the city walls of Kaffa as a form of biological warfare.
*The Role of the Black Rat:* Learn how the black rat, an unsuspecting stowaway aboard Genoese ships, became a key player in the transmission of the disease across Europe, leading to widespread devastation.
*Origins and Impact:* We delve into the origins of the plague, its rapid spread, and the long-lasting effects it had on society, culture, and the economy of Europe.
🔍 *Key Questions Answered:*
What were the symptoms of the Black Death, and how did it affect those who contracted it?
How did the social and economic structures of Europe change in the wake of the pandemic?
What lessons can we learn from this dark chapter in history as we face modern pandemics?
Join us for an eye-opening exploration of the Black Death, a tale of fear, survival, and the resilience of humanity in the face of unimaginable adversity. This video is not just for history buffs; it’s for anyone curious about the events that shaped our world.
🔔 *If you enjoy exploring historical mysteries and uncovering the untold stories of the past, make sure to hit the "follow" button on our channel.
Welcome to Moments In Time! In this gripping episode "Curse of the Rat - the Black Death," we take you on a chilling journey back to the Middle Ages, a time when a catastrophic pandemic changed the course of history forever. This gripping documentary reveals how the Black Death, one of the deadliest pandemics known to mankind, wiped out an astonishing one-third of Europe's population in just three short years.
🕰️ *What You'll Discover:*
*The Mongol Siege of Kaffa (1347 A.D.):* Uncover the shocking events that led to the spread of the plague, including the gruesome tactics employed by a Mongol army that catapulted infected corpses over the city walls of Kaffa as a form of biological warfare.
*The Role of the Black Rat:* Learn how the black rat, an unsuspecting stowaway aboard Genoese ships, became a key player in the transmission of the disease across Europe, leading to widespread devastation.
*Origins and Impact:* We delve into the origins of the plague, its rapid spread, and the long-lasting effects it had on society, culture, and the economy of Europe.
🔍 *Key Questions Answered:*
What were the symptoms of the Black Death, and how did it affect those who contracted it?
How did the social and economic structures of Europe change in the wake of the pandemic?
What lessons can we learn from this dark chapter in history as we face modern pandemics?
Join us for an eye-opening exploration of the Black Death, a tale of fear, survival, and the resilience of humanity in the face of unimaginable adversity. This video is not just for history buffs; it’s for anyone curious about the events that shaped our world.
🔔 *If you enjoy exploring historical mysteries and uncovering the untold stories of the past, make sure to hit the "follow" button on our channel.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:001347 A.D. A city on the Black Sea.
00:10Something is about to take place here.
00:12An event far more devastating than a single battle.
00:17It was the end of the world.
00:19A sort of fog that sort of rolled across the countryside,
00:22landscape infecting people.
00:25Mongolian hordes descend on Khafa,
00:28a thriving Italian trade center.
00:34Its defenders are no match for the enemy.
00:37But in this battle, the true enemy takes no human form.
00:44Unleashed by nature, fed by ignorance,
00:47a curse is about to plunge a dark age into a black void of despair.
00:52Before it's through with the medieval world,
00:55some 25 million souls will be conquered and consumed.
00:59As Mongol warriors lay waste to the town of Khafa,
01:01a silent killer preys on them from within.
01:05Its victims are riddled with oozing black swords.
01:08The darkened skin and blisters evoke the death of Khafa,
01:10a silent killer preys on them from within.
01:12Its victims are riddled with oozing black swords.
01:14The darkened skin and blisters evoke the name of the infamous killer,
01:21the Black Death.
01:23The disease surfaces in China in the 1330s.
01:25The death of the Munger.
01:26The death of the Munger.
01:27The death of the Munger.
01:28The death of the Munger.
01:29The death of the Munger.
01:42The death of the Munger.
01:46slowly it moves west along ancient trade routes here at kafa it arrives like
01:54express mail from hell courtesy of the invaders to make matters worse some
01:59mongol siege meisters now come up with a crude but effective form of
02:03bioterrorism they use mongol catapults to fling their own black death victims
02:09into kafa
02:33the idea is to infect and weaken the italian defenders the enemy surrenders the mongols
02:38win kafa what could be better of course the plan will backfire by handling the corpses
02:46the mongols infect themselves as well but that's another story
03:08so
03:26it's obvious the enemy will stop at nothing to capture the town of kafa
03:38so
03:48during a lull in the battle a group of italian defenders slips out of the fort
04:00mongols
04:09they head for the harbor and one of their own merchant ships
04:19the men escape the mongols but not the bacteria
04:25mongols
04:29some are already infected from simply breathing the contaminated air
04:33these stowaways will take care of the rest
04:38plague infested rats deliver the black death through lethal injection
04:43the deadly venom that infects the rats blood is this innocuous looking bacteria
04:51yersinia pestis
04:53but the fatal link in this chain of rat to human infection is an extraordinary parasite
05:03the flea
05:04the flea
05:06the Romans believed that fleas were created by the action of sunlight on filth
05:10wrong answer
05:13fleas are actually born from eggs laid on the skins of animals like rats
05:18in search of blood an adult flea can jump eighty times its own height
05:27mark horton is a plague hunting archaeologist from england
05:31over the years horton has tracked the path of the black death from italy
05:36into france and britain along the way he's developed a guarded respect for the humble flea
05:43the fleas suck blood from their hosts and that's really how the plague was spread
05:51the flea would go from the rats to the humans and and back again that very action spread the plague
05:58even more rapidly as it as it deposited bacteria these tiny creatures pound for pound must
06:06be one of those deadly animals on the planet
06:12humans are endless reservoirs of blood
06:16infected fleas jump from less juicy rats to people any chance they get
06:23plague carrying fleas easily explain how plague can spread rapidly
06:28not so easy is finding actual plague bacteria in the remains of 14th century victims
06:36horton will look for some at a medieval cemetery in southern france
06:42historical records provide his team some confidence they will succeed
06:49symptoms of modern bubonic plague fit nicely with medieval descriptions of black death events
06:55among them the outbreak that struck the city of kaka during the mongol siege
07:04escaping the mongols by sea the italians are infected one by one as rats and fleas spread the disease
07:11so
07:25soon ships from plague infested regions carry the black death to mediterranean ports
07:31One of them is Messina on the island of Sicily.
07:37Concepts like infection are centuries away.
07:42A plague survivor describes what happens next.
07:46When the sailors reached these places, it was as if they had brought evil spirits with them.
07:53Every city was poisoned by the contagious pestilence.
07:58Men and women died suddenly.
08:00While they hugged and kissed us, they were spreading the poison.
08:16Those not infected by direct contact with the sick would contract the disease when the rats looked for warmth indoors.
08:27Soon, Messina's terrified residents turn on their own.
08:47Priests and nuns are left to care for the sick.
08:50But the courage of the clergy does little to bolster the dwindling faith of the population.
08:58They thought that God caused this.
09:00They thought that God was cross with them for some reason or another.
09:03And the plague came from God.
09:06Tom James is an historian and Black Death expert.
09:10And therefore they set about, in the only way they could,
09:13placating God to get rid of the plague.
09:16A 14th century witness wrote this passage of despair.
09:24God said, I abandon you.
09:32Go into the shadows where there will be perpetual waiting.
09:36May evil spirits arise with the power to devour you.
09:44May you have no escape from this time forward.
09:53January 1347.
09:56The Black Death secures beachheads throughout southern Europe.
10:00Now it races inland.
10:01We know about the plague in Europe from a variety of sources.
10:05We know about it from chronical sources.
10:09But also in Europe we have one particularly wonderful source,
10:13which is Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron.
10:19Written in 14th century Florence,
10:22the Decameron is an eyewitness account of a continent in crisis.
10:25There's an introduction which tells us a tremendous amount
10:39about how families were broken up by the plague.
10:42Sparing no thought for anyone but themselves,
10:51numbers of men and women abandon the city,
10:55their loved ones,
10:56their belongings,
10:58and head for the countryside.
10:59Urban populations hit the road en masse.
11:14Their nostrils assaulted by a scent of rotten eggs and wet leather,
11:18the putrid aroma of the dying and the dead.
11:29In some cases it gave rise to an intolerable stench.
11:37In others it brought spitting of blood.
11:41For others, swelling on the back,
11:44across the chest,
11:45near the thigh.
11:48There was no remedy for the vomiting of blood.
11:51Those who fell into a coma
11:53or suffered a swelling
11:55very rarely escaped.
11:57At the University of Padua,
12:07Dr. Santa Sofia treats black death symptoms
12:09with homespun remedies.
12:12Among them are wads of pig fat applied to boils.
12:24Meanwhile,
12:24deadly bacteria enter the lymphatic systems
12:27of Sophia's patients,
12:29infecting their vital organs.
12:34Within days,
12:35they die of respiratory or heart failure.
12:38And along with them,
12:40the doctor himself.
12:44In a matter of months,
12:46the black death forces Europe to its knees.
12:48People are dying faster
12:54than the church can bury them.
13:01It must be absolutely terrifying
13:04for people in the 14th century
13:07as the black death spread.
13:09They knew that they were
13:10the next place to get infected.
13:13And because they didn't understand
13:15how it spread,
13:16they were so powerless
13:17to do anything about it.
13:20Decades before the black death,
13:23civil wars in Italy
13:24drive the seat of Catholic power
13:26to France.
13:27By 1348,
13:29Pope Clement VI
13:30now holds the job
13:31of leading millions away from sin.
13:34Saving them from the plague
13:35is another matter.
13:38Short of a miracle,
13:40the black death
13:41will take him out as well.
13:421347 A.D.
14:06It's getting pretty obvious
14:08that the spread of the disease
14:09has to have something to do
14:11with the movement of people
14:12and trade between countries.
14:14But the rulers of medieval Europe
14:16do nothing.
14:18It's business as usual.
14:20But the price of doing business
14:22will soon be paid
14:23in flesh and blood.
14:2675 million people live in Europe.
14:29In less than five years,
14:31one-third of them will be dead.
14:36The black death
14:37has come to France.
14:41That yellow deposit
14:42that we've got,
14:43we're not on yellow here.
14:44And so has Dr. Horton.
14:47At the abbey located near Bordeaux,
14:51Horton's team excavates the graveyard
14:53to see just how hard
14:54the plague hit France.
14:56Is it worth getting the plan out?
14:58In the middle of these earth graves,
15:00we've got this rectangular pit.
15:02Now, that's really unusual.
15:03The fact we found it
15:04in a burial ground
15:06might indicate
15:07that it's a plague pit,
15:09possibly.
15:10They're the victims
15:11of the bubonic plague,
15:12the black death.
15:13And that's what we're going
15:14to try and find out.
15:16Recently,
15:18a French scientist
15:19found possible DNA traces
15:21of plague bacteria
15:22inside the tooth
15:23of a 14th century victim.
15:25The best place
15:27that the DNA is preserved
15:28is actually in the pulp
15:29of the tooth itself.
15:32This is actually very important
15:33because it absorbed
15:34very rapidly there
15:35and, of course,
15:36there's very little risk
15:37of contamination.
15:39Horton's team hopes
15:40to make a second discovery.
15:43Some 200 miles
15:44to the east of his dig
15:45and 700 years back in time,
15:50Pope Clement
15:50literally sweats things out
15:52in his castle at Avignon.
15:59Due to his extravagant lifestyle,
16:01some Catholics
16:02couldn't care less
16:03if he does die.
16:07He was a particularly
16:08jolly pope,
16:09man for lots of parties.
16:10Some people thought
16:10the black death
16:11was caused entirely
16:12by the misbehavior
16:13of Pope Clement VI.
16:14Boccaccio wrote
16:25that plague victims
16:26ate lunch with their friends
16:27and dinner with their ancestors
16:29in paradise.
16:33Pope Clement
16:34held the keys to paradise,
16:35but having dinner there
16:37was a perk he hoped to avoid
16:38as long as possible.
16:40He thought he could avoid plague
16:46by lighting fires
16:48and sitting between them
16:50so that the humors
16:51of the plague
16:52presumably would be
16:53drawn away from him
16:54and disappear up the chimney.
16:59Okay.
17:00This is one for the books.
17:01The Pope actually sat here
17:03for four months.
17:05Now, it's true
17:05he never caught the plague,
17:07but saying the fires did it
17:08is a half-baked theory at best.
17:12Staying away from people
17:12in a rat-free environment
17:13is a better bet.
17:17The black death
17:18kills one-fourth
17:19of Clement's staff.
17:21As a grateful survivor,
17:23Clement does what he can
17:24to help plague victims.
17:27He also shelters Jews
17:28who flee to Avignon
17:30when anti-Semites blame them
17:32for starting the black death.
17:33Spreading as quickly
17:38as the death itself
17:40were countless theories
17:41on its pathology.
17:43On the one hand,
17:45we have the contagionists
17:46who believe the plague
17:47was spread by touch.
17:49The miasma theory
17:51goes along the lines
17:53that the plague
17:54is spread by foul air.
17:56a sort of fog
17:57that sort of rolled
17:59across the countryside,
18:00the landscape infecting people.
18:02To escape from the miasma
18:03was impossible.
18:06Back down!
18:09With death inevitable,
18:11some decide
18:12to live for the moment.
18:14People were being immoral,
18:17they were dancing,
18:18they were wearing
18:19immoral clothes.
18:21Clearly, there was
18:22a widespread feeling
18:23that the world
18:24was coming to an end
18:25that everybody
18:26would be dead.
18:34Those unconvinced
18:35the end was near
18:36carried on life as usual,
18:39but nothing was usual anymore.
18:42It was in places like this
18:43that the black death
18:44was able to spread
18:46across Western Europe.
18:47Every ten miles
18:49were market halls like this,
18:50and every week
18:51the people would come
18:53and buy and sell
18:54their wares.
18:55You can just imagine
18:56the rats scurrying around
18:58on the floor,
18:58the fleas on the rats
18:59jumping onto the cloth,
19:01the textiles,
19:02the fruits,
19:02and so forth,
19:03infecting the population.
19:05And it was because
19:06of this system
19:07of weekly markets
19:08that enabled the black death
19:10to spread across Western Europe
19:12with deadly speed.
19:16Still others
19:17shun contact altogether,
19:19pulling up in their houses
19:20like hermits.
19:21But nothing
19:22puts a dent
19:23in the plague.
19:27Soon,
19:28whole families
19:29turn on each other.
19:31The healthy
19:31reject the sick.
19:37As the population
19:38weakens and dies,
19:40social services
19:40collapse
19:41and law and order
19:43disappear.
19:43to help the suffering
19:58masses gain absolution
19:59for their sins,
20:00Pope Clement calls
20:01for religious processions
20:03and rites of atonement.
20:08Terrified zealots
20:10take it a step further,
20:11according to one eyewitness.
20:15Men and women alike,
20:18many barefoot,
20:19others wearing hair shirts
20:21were smeared with ashes
20:22as they processed
20:24with lamentations
20:25and tears
20:26and with loose hair.
20:32They beat themselves
20:33with cruel wits
20:35until the blood came.
20:36The renegade brotherhood
21:00believe the black death
21:02is God's punishment
21:03for their sins,
21:04and attempt to literally
21:06beat the evil
21:07out of their bodies.
21:16Blood rained down,
21:19spattering the walls
21:19nearby.
21:21I have seen
21:22when they whipped
21:23themselves,
21:24those bits of metal
21:25penetrated the flesh
21:26so deeply
21:27that it took
21:28more than two attempts
21:30to pull them out.
21:31in just seven months,
21:57the dead
21:58overrun France.
21:59The Pope
22:07consecrates
22:08the River Rhone
22:09as an emergency burial ground.
22:10The lucky victims
22:37are hauled off
22:38to overcrowded graveyards.
22:39In 1348,
23:02French monks
23:03and burial crews
23:04work overtime
23:05in countless church graveyards.
23:06At the same time,
23:10France is under attack
23:11by England
23:12as the Hundred Years' War
23:14drags on.
23:14At the abbey today,
23:27archaeologists connect the dots
23:31between social upheaval
23:32and plague.
23:34If you think about the plague,
23:37it tends to break out
23:40nowadays
23:40in parts of the world
23:41which are dislocated
23:43where people
23:44are already starving,
23:45places like Ethiopia,
23:46for instance,
23:47in recent years
23:48that appeared in Vietnam
23:49during the Vietnam War.
23:50So we shouldn't be surprised
23:52that the plague spread
23:54across Western Europe
23:55at that time.
23:56As the Black Death
23:59continued to spread,
24:01a certain mineral
24:02was in hot demand.
24:04It's common lime,
24:05the white stuff
24:06you mix into your garden.
24:08In medieval times,
24:09it was thought
24:10that lime
24:11could prevent the plague
24:12from spreading.
24:14For Horton,
24:16it's a dead giveaway
24:17when you're looking
24:17for plague victims.
24:18And I'll tell you
24:20what's really interesting,
24:21Sion,
24:22is what's that little
24:23white line
24:24coming out
24:25in front of Ruth?
24:26You can see how it's
24:27set against the side
24:28of the pit.
24:30Ruth,
24:31is that white stuff,
24:32is it lime,
24:33by any chance?
24:35Yeah,
24:35just up against it.
24:36That's really good
24:37because they buried
24:39the dead with lime
24:40when you had
24:40disease victims like this.
24:48What have we got here?
25:03I think that's
25:04the top of a skull,
25:05don't you?
25:08That's the first skull.
25:12That means it's not
25:12a pit of rubble.
25:14It looks like a big pit
25:15full of bodies.
25:17I wonder how many
25:17we're going to get.
25:18Horton and company
25:32uncover two skeletons.
25:34But did they die
25:36at the time
25:36of the Black Death?
25:40What's really interesting
25:42is they're in this
25:42big, thick deposit
25:43of lime,
25:44which is about
25:45the most corrosive
25:46and nasty substance
25:47known to man.
25:48at that date.
25:49And this must have been
25:51because the bodies
25:52were nastily diseased.
25:56Dr. Horton's
25:57first challenge
25:58is to establish
25:59that the skeletons
26:00are from the right
26:01moment in time.
26:05To do this,
26:07particles of carbon
26:08in the lime
26:08will be used
26:09for radiocarbon dating.
26:10And, of course,
26:12that will give us
26:13an almost precise date,
26:14as accurate a date
26:15as we could hope for,
26:16for the point
26:17at which the lime
26:17is laid in the grave
26:19and therefore
26:19for the burials
26:20themselves.
26:27We've got
26:28at least two burials
26:29here,
26:29but the bone
26:29seems to be
26:30in pretty bad condition.
26:32So I'm not quite clear
26:33how good
26:34a picture
26:35we're going to get
26:36at the skeletons
26:36at the end of the day.
26:37That's great.
26:45Try and keep
26:46the lime
26:47as best you can.
26:51Next,
26:52Horton and colleague
26:53Kate Robson-Brown
26:54must establish
26:55the two individuals
26:56in the grave
26:56actually died
26:57of the Black Death,
26:59a tricky proposition
27:00seven centuries
27:01after the fact.
27:02It's vaguely
27:03an antimicrobial position
27:04if you've got
27:04the mandible.
27:06Yes.
27:07Is that it?
27:08Is that an ulna
27:09underneath the skull?
27:10Yeah,
27:10I think that's an ulna.
27:12And then you've got
27:12maybe a humerus
27:13that's moved.
27:15Maybe it's the right
27:16humerus that's moved down.
27:18There's no vertebrae
27:18showing up.
27:19No.
27:20The only way
27:21to find conclusive proof
27:23that plague killed
27:24these people
27:24is a very special
27:26type of DNA analysis.
27:32While the bacteria
27:33doesn't survive
27:34in the skeleton,
27:35the DNA of the bacteria
27:37can get absorbed
27:38into the bone structure.
27:43What we want to do
27:44is to take a little bit
27:46of molecular biology
27:48and try and find out
27:50whether or not
27:51the bacteria
27:52thought to be
27:53responsible for plague,
27:54Yersinia pestis,
27:55is actually present
27:56in the teeth and bones
27:58of those individuals.
28:01Lab analysis
28:02of the samples
28:02begins after
28:03they cross
28:04the English Channel.
28:07The same path
28:08the Black Death
28:09followed seven centuries ago.
28:12Back then,
28:13the British believed
28:14the sea
28:14and the Navy
28:15would protect them
28:16from any invasion.
28:19They were dead wrong.
28:21To better understand
28:33the mechanics
28:33of plague contagion,
28:35pinpointing where
28:36it first came ashore
28:37in England
28:37is vital.
28:44The trail begins
28:45at a seaport
28:46on the French coast,
28:47which was then
28:48an English possession.
28:49These walls
28:53were built
28:54by Edward I
28:55in the end
28:56of the 13th century
28:56as a port
28:57to control the trade
28:59of the Grand Estuary
29:00here in western France.
29:02And it was here
29:03that much of the
29:04Gascon wine
29:05was exported to England.
29:07And it's as close
29:08as we can get
29:09to the place
29:09in which the Black Death
29:11might have spread
29:12from France
29:13to England.
29:15The evidence
29:16points to Southampton,
29:18still a thriving
29:19seaport today.
29:24The ships
29:25coming from France
29:26would have sailed
29:27up Southampton water
29:28here with their
29:29cargo of wine
29:30and other merchandise.
29:33The English gentry
29:35had developed
29:35a taste for the grape.
29:37The attraction
29:38turned out to be fatal
29:39as the public houses
29:41filled with wine
29:42and brimmed with death.
29:44to handle the
30:00incoming cargo
30:01storage rooms
30:02are built
30:03throughout the harbor area.
30:04here we are
30:08in one of the
30:09medieval cellars
30:10of Southampton.
30:12And from here
30:12the wine brought
30:13from France
30:14would have been
30:15spread outwards
30:16into the countryside,
30:17into the towns,
30:18across the estates
30:19of the bishops,
30:20bringing with it
30:21the terror
30:22of the Black Death.
30:23for amongst the barrels
30:25in the ships
30:26came the rats.
30:27And how do we know
30:28that the rats
30:29came with them?
30:30Because in the
30:31archaeological record
30:32we've found
30:33bits of rat bone.
30:35Here is the skull
30:36of a medieval
30:37black rat
30:38from precisely
30:39this period
30:40of the Black Death
30:41and it's from
30:42these little creatures
30:43and the fleas
30:44in their fur
30:45that hopped
30:45onto the humans
30:46and spread the plague
30:48that the Black Death
30:49came to England.
31:00Ideal breeding habitats,
31:02the cellars send
31:03the 14th century
31:04rat population
31:05through the roof.
31:09By 1350,
31:11the Black Death
31:12advances inland
31:13at a rate
31:13of 4 to 10 miles
31:14per month.
31:17Before it's over,
31:18half the nation
31:19will die.
31:27In Bristol,
31:28one eyewitness
31:29describes the devastation.
31:32The most lamentable plague
31:34penetrated the coast
31:35through Southampton.
31:37It came to Bristol
31:38where almost the whole
31:39strength of the town
31:40perished.
31:48Few kept to their beds
31:50more than two
31:51or three days
31:52or even half a day.
31:54In Hertfordshire,
32:08a desperate monk
32:09scratches this message
32:11into a wall
32:11at Ashwell Church.
32:121350.
32:21Miserable,
32:22wild,
32:24distracted.
32:25The dregs of a people
32:27alone survive
32:28to witness.
32:33Adding to the monks
32:34despair as a curse
32:36as a curse from above.
32:37I'm not referring
32:38to an angry god here.
32:40I'm talking about
32:40something almost
32:41as forbidding.
32:42The English weather.
32:44The summer of 1348
32:45feels like the winter.
32:47And the winter of 1348
32:48is even worse,
32:49according to eyewitness
32:50John Redding.
32:51rain poured down
32:57in the south
32:58and west country
32:59from midsummer
33:00to Christmas,
33:01scarcely stopping
33:02by day and night,
33:04but still drizzling.
33:08Cold temperatures
33:09and constant rain
33:11drive people indoors.
33:12But the rats
33:14come inside too,
33:16setting up a kind
33:17of Black Death
33:17megabomb.
33:21When the weather
33:22finally clears,
33:23tens of thousands
33:24of English victims
33:25are dead
33:25or infected.
33:34As in Europe,
33:36the Black Death
33:37shockwave erodes
33:38the humanity
33:39of the people.
33:41Some communities
33:42attempt to seal
33:43themselves off
33:44from the outside
33:44rural.
33:46Travelers from
33:47plague-stricken regions
33:48are denied entrance
33:49into Gloucester.
33:51An eyewitness
33:51wrote this account.
33:55The people of Gloucester
33:56denied admission
33:57to people from Bristol,
33:59believing that
34:00the breath of those
34:01who had lived
34:01among the dying
34:02would be infectious.
34:07Hardly anyone
34:08dared to have
34:09anything to do
34:10with the sick.
34:11They fled
34:11from the things
34:12left by the dead,
34:13which had once
34:14been precious
34:15but were now
34:16poisonous to help.
34:19Mobs also
34:20prevent the clergy
34:21from carting the dead
34:22from the countryside
34:23to village cemeteries.
34:25Those who succeed
34:26in consecrating victims
34:27quickly follow them
34:29to the grave.
34:29At the peak
34:37of the Black Death,
34:38a priest's life
34:39expectancy
34:40is three weeks.
34:48Not all clerics
34:49are heroic.
34:53The fortified ramparts
34:54of his palace
34:55did little
34:55to calm the nerves
34:57of the Bishop
34:57of Bath and Wells.
35:04The Bishop
35:05was so terrified
35:05of the plague,
35:06he fled his palace,
35:08abandoned his flock,
35:09and hid away
35:10in a country retreat.
35:11What took root
35:26in the country
35:27will soon flower
35:28in Europe's
35:29most overcrowded
35:30and filthy metropolis,
35:32the city of London.
35:33Flashback
35:46to January 1349.
35:49London is a city
35:50of crowded beds,
35:51open sewers,
35:52and terrified people.
35:54Imagine being
35:55in their shoes.
35:56You know the Black Death
35:57is on the way.
35:58It's already infested
35:59the English countryside.
36:00There's no place to go.
36:02But King Edward
36:03is also stuck here.
36:04He takes one look
36:05at the open sewers
36:06and realizes
36:06that London
36:07has become
36:08a rat's paradise.
36:16The king fires off
36:17a written complaint
36:18delivered to the
36:21Lord Mayor of London
36:22by royal messenger.
36:24The streets and lines
36:27through which people
36:28have to pass
36:29are foul with human feces,
36:31and the air of the city
36:32poisons
36:33the great danger
36:34of men passing,
36:35especially in this time
36:37of infectious disease.
36:38Any plague would travel
36:51like wildfire
36:52through the city.
36:53If you can imagine
36:5460,000 to 80,000 souls
36:57crammed into the square mile
36:58of the city,
36:59you would have to think
37:00very, very narrow alleyways,
37:02people living cheek by jowl,
37:04very, very high population density.
37:05Barney Sloan
37:09manages archaeology projects
37:10at the Museum of London.
37:13Today, he reveals
37:14a special collection
37:16average visitors
37:17never see.
37:17This is the storage area
37:21for all of the excavated skeletons
37:23from the whole of greater London,
37:25archaeologically excavated.
37:26There are something like
37:2718,000 individuals
37:29stored here.
37:31We're keeping them here
37:32so that we can
37:33do analysis on them.
37:35This one is a burial
37:37from one of the Black Death Claves.
37:40Many of these 18,000
37:46died of the Black Death.
37:49Sloan is certain of that
37:51because he uncovered
37:52at least 1,000 of them personally.
37:55About 250 meters
37:57from the world-famous
37:58Tower of London,
38:00Sloan made his historic find.
38:03It was here
38:03that 15 years or so ago,
38:05under these buildings,
38:06we excavated
38:07the 1,000 or so burials
38:08from the Black Death Cemetery.
38:10There are probably hundreds
38:11still under there somewhere.
38:15It was the first
38:17mass plague pit
38:18ever uncovered.
38:20Sloan was stunned
38:21by the sight.
38:23The actual digging up
38:26of corpses
38:27piled five high
38:29and along huge,
38:31great trenches
38:31really does sort of
38:32bring to bear
38:34on your mind
38:35what must have been
38:36a huge panic
38:37in a terrifying time.
38:38along with the human skeletons
38:45were those of the creatures
38:47who brought death
38:48to countless doorsteps.
38:50So we could actually speculate
38:52that this little beastie here
38:53may have been
38:54one of those
38:55responsible for actually
38:57spreading the plague
38:58around London.
38:58by January 1349,
39:13half of London's population
39:16is dead.
39:17Giant emergency burial sites
39:19are created
39:19like this one
39:20at the Charterhouse Monastery.
39:22Here's how one eyewitness
39:23described it.
39:24A great plague
39:28in the year of our Lord
39:291349
39:30this churchyard
39:32was consecrated
39:33and within the bounds
39:35of the present monastery
39:36were buried
39:38more than 50,000
39:40bodies of the dead.
39:42God have mercy.
39:43Medieval grave workers
39:50considered it their right
39:52to pocket any valuables
39:53found on the deceased.
39:55But Sloan has found
39:57that during the Black Death
39:58the diggers kept their hands
40:00on their shovels.
40:02Found on one corpse
40:04is a small fortune in coins.
40:05which meant that they
40:07didn't really want
40:08to search him too closely
40:09and it gives an image
40:12of what it must have been like
40:13to have the job
40:15of burying these people
40:16at the time.
40:24After killing half of London
40:25and one third of all Europe
40:27the Black Death
40:29seems to disappear.
40:32By 1350
40:33England's population
40:35of infected rats
40:36and people
40:37reach a peak
40:38and the epidemic
40:39peters out.
40:43There's probably
40:44two reasons
40:45why the Black Death
40:46outbreak
40:46came to an end.
40:48One is that
40:49the population
40:50that survived
40:51had some form
40:52of natural immunity
40:53to the bacillus.
40:56The second is
40:57that the rats
40:59that were carrying
41:00the plague
41:00themselves died.
41:03On the upside
41:08as the human population
41:10heads for the basement
41:11the lives of those
41:12left standing
41:13greatly improve
41:14with labor scarce.
41:21Wages are high enough
41:22to allow peasants
41:22to buy their own land.
41:25Others find themselves
41:26on the gravy train
41:27through the untimely deaths
41:29of relatives.
41:30these are the people
41:32of course
41:32who are benefiting
41:33most clearly
41:35from inheriting
41:36the wealth
41:37of people
41:37who have died
41:38in the plague.
41:40While survivors
41:42do better
41:42English architecture
41:44suffers.
41:45The edifice
41:46of today's
41:47Winchester Cathedral
41:48is a mixture
41:48of elaborate
41:49pre-plague stonework
41:50mixed with
41:51very simple lines
41:52after the Black Death
41:54wiped out scores
41:55of master craftsmen.
41:56suffering even more
42:00than its façade
42:01is the medieval
42:02foundation
42:03of the church
42:04itself.
42:07Up to that time
42:08ordinary people
42:09had accepted
42:10unquestionably
42:11the doctrines
42:11of the church
42:12but then
42:13this great cataclysm
42:14took place
42:14and they said
42:15well you know
42:15what power
42:16does the church
42:17have to look
42:17after me
42:18anew
42:18it really
42:20set the seeds
42:21for rational ideas
42:23rational thoughts
42:24perhaps the beginning
42:24of the renaissance.
42:27And as the authority
42:29of the church
42:30fell
42:30the validity
42:32of science
42:33ascended.
42:37At the apex
42:38of this revolution
42:39are DNA labs
42:40like this one
42:41at the University
42:42of Manchester
42:42Institute of Science
42:44and Technology.
42:48Here human remains
42:50of suspected
42:51plague victims
42:52are analyzed
42:52in hopes of
42:54isolating the DNA
42:55signature
42:55of Yersinia pestis.
42:59Bone and tooth
43:00samples
43:00are processed
43:01and mixed with chemicals
43:03to separate out
43:04genetic material.
43:05Okay Kate
43:18let's have a look
43:19and see what's there.
43:20Kate Robson-Brown
43:21is here
43:22to observe
43:22Dr. Robert Solera's
43:24analysis of samples
43:25from the burial pits
43:26in France
43:27as well as England.
43:29How many specimens
43:30does this gel represent?
43:32There were four
43:33next to the size marker
43:34the one
43:35just on the right
43:36of that
43:37is from France
43:38and the other three
43:39are from Hereford.
43:41And none of them
43:42are showing any
43:43plague DNA?
43:44No unfortunately not.
43:45After months
43:46of hard work
43:47and weeks
43:48of waiting
43:48for test results
43:49no trace
43:51of the bacterium
43:52is found.
43:53So do these results
43:55mean that
43:56this individual
43:57definitively
43:57did not
43:58have the plague?
44:00Not necessarily no
44:01it could simply
44:01be a question
44:02of poor DNA
44:02preservation.
44:03it's still quite
44:04possible
44:04that that person
44:05died of plague.
44:08Confirming the true
44:10cause of the Black Death
44:11is only a matter
44:12of time.
44:17Scores of samples
44:18remain to be studied
44:19including those
44:20from a subsequent
44:21outbreak that occurred
44:22in the 17th century.
44:27Again
44:27the Black Death
44:29would pit the humanity
44:30of a people
44:30against the innate
44:32will to survive.
44:35300 years
44:36after the Black Death
44:37first swept
44:38through Europe
44:38it resurfaces
44:40here in northern England.
44:43The self-sacrifice
44:44of the people
44:45in the village of Eme
44:46continues to inspire
44:47visitors
44:48from around the world.
44:49the world.
45:07I'm not going to say
45:07to be safe
45:08but I'm not going to say
45:08here in the village of Eme
45:09to be found in her
45:10so that there's a
45:10other place
45:10with an angel
45:10that will give you
45:11to the government
45:12to the people
45:13who are willing to
45:13take care of the people
45:13and to be seen
45:14as well.
45:14I'll be aware
45:15of the people
45:16and to get
45:16back to you
45:17so I'm not going to say
45:17According to legend, in 1665, the town's tailor received a bolt of cloth from London.
45:39It was damp, but when he spread it out to dry, something was waiting for him.
45:44Plague-infested fleas.
46:09Family after family succumbed to the plague.
46:12But instead of turning on each other, the villagers looked inward for strength.
46:22They put themselves under total isolation, according to local historian John Clifford.
46:58They put their neighbors, where food could be left for them.
47:02The grateful residents of Eme left coins in these holes.
47:06The holes were then filled with vinegar as a disinfectant.
47:12Nearly 30% of the villagers died.
47:15But the Black Death never spread beyond Eme.
47:23Had this spirit of self-sacrifice prevailed 200 years earlier,
47:26it's possible humanity may have been spared its greatest disaster.
47:30Roughly 33% of Europe's population, some 25 million people, died in the 14th century outbreak.
47:40Three times more people than World War I, some six centuries later.
47:50Without modern treatments, if medieval Europe's disaster struck America today, the total population of the mid-Atlantic states would die.
48:00And in spite of new drugs, the bubonic plague, the bubonic plague is not through with us yet.
48:10200 million people have been killed by the plague in the last 2,000 years.
48:16In 1994, it surfaced in India.
48:34Within months, 700 were infected, and many died due to delays in treatment.
48:40Today, archaeologists and biologists agree that the plague is still out there,
48:50waiting for its next opportunity to strike.
48:53If we can understand the past, we can understand the present,
48:59and in some ways predict the future.
49:01There may be some new virus that suddenly evolves
49:04that can have devastating impacts on the population.
49:07And if we can study using archaeological evidence,
49:10then it may well help us control them in the future.
49:16Hopefully, in a world of miracle drugs, satellite communications, and compassion,
49:23the Black Death has seen its final victory.
49:28a nightmare for us.
49:35Transcription by CastingWords
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