famine were common and as the prosperous years came to a close, economies were in recession at the onset of the Black Death. Europe, on a whole, would take a step backward.

There have been plagues throughout recorded history, but none were of the magnitude nor had the far reaching effects that the Black Plague had. Its namesake came from symptomatic hemorrhages that turned black. Though most people associate the Black Death with the middle ages, forms of the Bubonic Plague have been known in China as early as 224 BC. The Black Death embarked on a journey as an epidemic in the Gobi

Desert in the 1320s. By 1400, China's population of 125 million had been reduced to 90 million. Southwest Asia and Europe followed suite with strikingly similar losses in their population base. In 1347, the Kipchaks who were nomads from the Euro-Asian Steppe were thought to deliberately infect a European city with the disease. The Kipchaks had

laid siege to a Genoese trading post

result of the priests trying to fulfill their duties and becoming infected, but also by those who sought to stay away. When recognizing what was happening around him, Pope Clement VI realized that nothing would be gained from his death and sought refuge in his chambers spending days sitting between two roaring fires on either side of him. One note of consolation to the medical field, was all this was done on the advice of the Papal physician. He survived as well as most of the upper class did by simply having the means to do so. People recognized the loss of the cleric alongside the peasant, lady of the court, and child. It did not distinguish evil from good, but took the lives of all. Overall there was a negative effect on the popularity of the church. A struggle between faith and reason developed giving rise to religious, social, and political unrest. Religious reformer John

The Plague still maintains its identity today. Cases are still reported throughout the world. Thankfully, rarely in North America. Mortality has dropped from the 70 to 90% experienced in the 14th century to 3 to 5 % today. The loss of life in those four short years of history was immense. A plague of the proportions that struck Europe

Plague was God's wrath on a wicked Man. Many said they were doomed by their own wickedness. There were also others who believed themselves condemned and in today's wording "Partied Hard" with the thought, since tomorrow we die, let us eat, drink, and be merry.

would be compared to the effects of a nuclear war today. A thought that chills my bones to the core. Just imagine how a government of today's society would react to a disease with no cure that spread with the same rapidity and executed with the same effectiveness. The answer lies just one unknown virus away in our own evolution cycle. Will humanity survive?

Wycliffe, in England and John Huss, in Bohemia were leaders of a couple of many sects that challenged Catholic Church's behavior and doctrine. Although decades later, these complaints eventually led to the formation of the Protestant Church.

Some topics in this essay:
Starting Sicily, Protestant Church, Clement VI, America Mortality, Flagellants Flagellants, English Parliament, Catholic Church, , Gothic Art, Publishing Company, black death, triumph death, medical knowledge, lower class,