Black Plague
Bubonic death wave
The Black Plague, also called the Black Death, was the catastrophic pandemic of bubonic plague that swept through Europe and Asia in the mid-14th century, killing an estimated one-third of Europe's population.
The name refers both to this specific historical event and sometimes loosely to any severe outbreak of plague: The Black Plague transformed medieval society.
The "black" likely refers to the dark swellings (buboes) on victims' bodies or to the devastation itself.
- Yersinia pestisBacterium causing plague
- epidemicWidespread disease occurrence
- pestilenceFatal epidemic disease
- diseaseDisorder impairing normal function
- DecameronHundred tales in ten days
Folklore · bring out your dead · medieval literature · bacteria · mortality · flagellants · mass hysteria · Superstition · end of days · Silk Road · social commentary · gravedigger · dance of death · mass graves · bubonic · memento mori · miasma · fleas
- epidemicsepidemic, pandemic, outbreak, disease, cholera
- plague historyYersinia pestis, buboes, mass graves, lazaretto, flagellants
- plaguespestilence, pandemic, epidemic, buboes, contagion
- ReformationMartin Luther, John Calvin, 95 Theses, Protestant Reformation, Luther
Black Plagueperfect health
Complete physical wellbeing
vitality · wellness · flourishing · robust health · longevity
Black Plaguebaby boom
Period of high births
population explosion · Golden Age · renaissance · population growth · post-war boom
black, blacker, blackest, blacken, blackened, blackening, blackness, blackish, blacks