What happened in 1347

The Black Death in Europe from 1347 - 1350 AD resulted in the ma ssacre of large numbers of Jews

 

A violent pestilence ravaged Europe from 1347 AD to 1350 AD. It was called The Black death (Black plague, Great Pestilence) and killed between 30 and 60% of Europe's population (about 25-50 million deaths). It was also an occasion for terrible pogroms that killed large numbers of Jews. Even where records exist, it is impossible to determine what percentage of Jews who died were victims of the plague, and how many died in persecutions and pogroms.

For a long time, the Black plague was thought to have been caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, carried by fleas (xenopsylla cheopis) on the backs of rats in the holds of ships, a disease commonly known as Bubonic Plague, which infected Asia in the 19th century. More recently, it has been suggested that it may have been a plague of viral hemorrhagic fever, similar to Ebola, carried by humans.

The plague started in the early 1330's in China, and it was only a matter of time before the outbreak spread to western Asia and Europe. In October of 1347, several Italian merchant ships returned to Genoa from the Crimea on the Black Sea, one of the key links in trade with China. Many of those on board the ships were already dying of plague. Within days the disease spread to the city and the surrounding countryside. The plague was erratic: it skipped certain towns and areas. Furthermore, it abated in the cold weather of winter.