European Renaissance
A Rebirth From Out of the Dark Ages
The Black Death...
Stats like the following indicate the extreme situation regarding mortality rates:
Cairo: 10-15K people/day
Gaza: 22K/6 months
Aleppo: 500/day.
*Three types:
1. Bubonic Plague: swelling in neck, armpits, groin; tumors the size of eggs to apples; life expectancy from onset: 1 week; carried via bacteria on fleas on rats
2. Pneumonic Plague: more violent, attacked respiratory system, spread via the exhaled air of victims, life expectancy after onset: 1-2 days
3. Septicemic Plague: attacked blood system
People didn't know the origins and didn't have any defense against the diseases.
Symptoms: headaches, weakness, aches and chills, and painful, swollen lymph nodes, especially in the upper leg and groin; disease attacked the nervous system--victims began to slur their speech and stagger; anxiety, bad odor; mortality rate--60%.
The disease spread from east to west via the sailors on trading ships. (The Mongols catapulted dead bodies into the city centers and sailors transported the disease back to Europe.)
Moderm estimates are that 25M of 44M. The climate had gotten colder and harvests were terrible, leading to a low food supply. The population of Europe was as high as it had been in years. The disease and the food supply led to a decimated population that would not reach previous numbers until the beginning of the 16th century.
The reduced population led to a recovery in which the population of Europe had a surplus of food; and as a result, people had "leisure time" and they were able to specialize their skills and enjoy some leisure activities (art, music, theater, etc.,) ushering in the Renaissance.