Laughton 1

Dakota Laughton
Tim Shea
MMW 13, Section C09
Writing Assignment 1
7 April 2015
MMW Topic Research: Assignment 1
Topic 1: The Black Death in Europe and the Christian reaction
Observation 1, George Childs Kohn, Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence from Ancient
Times to the Present: [Religious fanatics asserted that human sins had brought the dreadful
pestilence; they roamed from place to place, scourging themselves in public. (Kohn, 32)]
Commentary: [The religious in Europe community shows that it feels like there is next to no
way to end the plague other than repentance for sins. This idea is seen commonly throughout
most of their reactions to the plague. Through scourging themselves, flagellants sought to not
only get make up for their own personal sins but to obtain forgiveness for others in the idea that
if God forgives their sins, the plague will be lifted. Instead of trying to find physical ways to cure
the plague, religious fanatics would either try to repent or attack those who they believed to be
the sinners.]
Observation 2, Kenneth F Kiple, The Cambridge Historical Dictionary of Disease: [The
most extreme and shocking example of religious reaction to the Black Death was directed against
Jewish Communities in Provence, Catalonia, Aragon, Switzerland, southern Germany, and the
Rhineland. Jews in these areas were accused of spreading the plague by poisoning Christian

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springs and wells. This kind of scapegoating was not unprecedented, but q the violence of the
popular reaction was extraordinary hundreds of Jewish communities were completely
destroyed in 1348 and 1349, their members exiled or burned en mass. (Kiple, 51)]
Commentary: [In the previous quote we saw how the reactions of the religious fanatics were like
when they were mainly focused inward. Through this one we can see how it looked when
Christian religious fanatics looked for another source other than themselves to blame. When fear
took over they quickly succumbed to blaming anybody they could that, in their eyes, opposed
their religion: the Jews. Still they were looking towards the actions of people, whether it be theirs
or somebody elses, as the cause of the Black Death just as the flagellants mentioned in the
previous observation.]
Topic 2: The religious reaction to the Black Death in Islamic lands
Observation 1, Joseph W. Meri, Medieval Islamic Civilization an Encyclopedia: [ Among
religious literature, two assertions tend to be pervasive: (1) the plague is a divine punishment,
and (2) death from the plague is martyrdom. The injustice of the rulers, the lack of religiosity,
and particularly the spread of adultery are often blamed for the outbreak of the plague. (Meri,
236)]
Commentary: In general the Muslims that were living in the Islamic lands did not believe that
the origination of the plague was natural. Instead they gave all account to the gods being angered
with their actions was what caused the plague to originate. This idea closely follows what
Christians believe about the cause of the plague but the idea that dying to the plague is
martyrdom is unique to the Muslims. For this reason the Plague could be seen as something as

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not entirely negative because even if they were being punished for their sins and ended up dying,
they would still be seen as a Martyr in the eyes of their God.
Observation 2, Joseph W. Meri, Medieval Islamic Civilization an Encyclopedia: [There is
little evidence that Islamic communities (where theological teachings combined with the
classical medical tradition to deemphasize contagion as a cause of infection) engaged in largescale social measures to prevent plague, beyond religious ceremonies and occasional public
bonfires to purify the air. (Meri, 51)
Commentary: Because many of the Muslims believed the cause of the plague to be Divine
Wrath, the threat of dying to it became lessened by a large amount. While there was still
repentance in the forms of religious ceremonies, there was no real desire to rid the lands of the
disease. The religious ceremonies could be seen more as a way to seek repentance for their sins
that caused the outbreak of the plague instead of a way to treat the plague. This is most likely due
to even if they attain martyrdom and receive all the rewards that go along with it. Because even
dying to the plague was in fact a positive thing religiously there was no need to get rid of the
plague and the anger of the gods was the only thing that needed to be treated from a religious
perspective.

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Works Cited
Adamec, Ludwig W. "Martyr." Historical Dictionary of Islam. 2nd ed. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow,
2001. 204. Print.
Kiple, Kenneth F. "Black Death." Def. 16. The Cambridge Historical Dictionary of Disease.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2003. 49-52. Print.
Kohn, George C. "Black Death." Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence: From Ancient times to
the Present. Vol. 1. New York: Facts on File, 2001. 31-33. Print.
Meri, Josef W. "Black Death." Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New
York: Routledge, 2006. 113-14. Print.
Meri, Josef W. "The Plague as Divine Punishment and as Martyrdom." Medieval Islamic
Civilization: An Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Routledge, 2006. 236. Print.