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Чума: Как люди выживали во время самой страшной эпидемии в истории Европы / ЧТИВО — Transcript

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0:01The Black Death was a monstrous
0:03epidemic of bubonic plague that claimed
0:06between 75 and 200 million lives,
0:08wiping out more than half to 60%of the
0:10population in Europe. It was considered
0:14the beginning of the apocalypse, a sign
0:16of the imminent arrival of the
0:17Antichrist. Where did it actually come
0:19from, and how did the epidemic develop?
0:22How did people survive during the
0:23plague, and how did they try to treat
0:25it? What do marmots have to do with it?
0:27And has the plague really been
0:28completely defeated? Well, as for
0:30treatment attempts, look at what
0:32doctors began to look like after a
0:34couple of hundred years of fighting the
0:36plague. Jumping ahead, the sinister
0:39beaked mask had a medical purpose.
0:43We'll discuss that a little later, but
0:44for now, let's start from the beginning
0:46. Actually, Europe has always had its
0:48share of epidemics. In the 15th and
0:5016th centuries, England and Germany
0:53were devastated by a deadly disease
0:55called the English sweat or English
0:57fever. Researchers are still debating
1:00what kind of disease it was. During the
1:03Thirty Years 'War, typhus raged in army
1:06camps. And that's not to mention
1:09dysentery and smallpox. A series of
1:12cholera outbreaks began in the 19th
1:14century. Tuberculosis is believed to
1:16have killed around a billion people
1:19throughout its history. But no disease
1:22has caused such fear and panic as the
1:24Black Death, also known as the bubonic
1:26plague. The Black Death peaked between
1:291348 and 1351. During this time, human
1:34losses amounted to, depending on the
1:36region, between two-thirds and
1:38one-eighth of the entire population.
1:40The losses were particularly
1:41devastating in Italy, France, and
1:43England. In England, nearly half the
1:45population died within a couple of
1:47years. During the Middle Ages, plague
1:49epidemics periodically broke out in
1:51India, Central Asia, China, and Egypt.
1:55In Western Europe and the Mediterranean
1:57, the disease had been present since at
1:59least the sixth century, when the
2:01so-called Justinian Plague swept the
2:04world. From Asia, it spread to
2:07Constantinople during the reign of
2:10Emperor Justinian I. Subsequent sources
2:12note outbreaks occurring every 10 years
2:15, and then the plague mysteriously
2:17disappeared for six centuries. But it
2:21returned en masse and devastated the
2:23entire continent. There are differing
2:25opinions about the location of the
2:27first outbreak of the Black Death. For
2:29example, this version: it was caused by
2:31the migration of small rodents in the
2:32Gobi Desert. Mongolian marmots carried
2:36the disease. A large outbreak of some
2:38kind of pestilence, which could have
2:41been the plague, was recorded in 138
2:44near Lake Isyk-Kul. Several years later
2:46, the epidemic affected the Golden
2:48Horde's holdings, the city of Novy
2:50Sarai on the lower Volga, and
2:52neighboring settlements. It can be
2:55assumed that the plague was spread by
2:57nomadic tribes or trade caravans
2:59traveling along the Great Silk Road.
3:02However, the Black Death was brought to
3:03Europe by other merchants from Genoa.
3:06During the late Middle Ages and
3:08Renaissance, they owned colonies in
3:10Crimea, which allowed the Ginosian
3:12Republic to dominate Black Sea trade.
3:15These trading outposts linked two
3:18continents. From the east, they
3:20supplied silks, spices, furs, caviar,
3:23and fish. And from the west, they
3:26brought jewelry and various finished
3:27goods, which were then distributed
3:29throughout the Azov region of Rus' and
3:30Asia. A significant portion of the
3:34Ginosian economy was also provided by
3:35the trade in human beings. Who were
3:38these? They were slaves of Slavic
3:40origin, bought from the Turks and
3:42Tatars. For transport, the slaves were
3:44packed into the holds of ships, along
3:47with ship rats and fleas. And no one at
3:50that time understood that these rats
3:52and fleas could carry disease. In 1346,
3:56an outbreak of plague occurred in the
3:58Azov region, and Ginosian ships carried
4:01it to Europe. By 1347, the plague had
4:04reached Constantinople, then Missina in
4:07Sicily. No international trade was
4:11worth the horror that began in this
4:13prosperous Sicilian city. News spread
4:17quickly. When Genoese ships attempted
4:20to return to their home port, the
4:22Genoese drove them away, firing
4:23catapults from the shore. Wandering
4:26Genoese galleys with infected crews
4:29found refuge in Marseille. But the
4:32French also quickly came to their
4:34senses and expelled the infectious
4:36guests, but the spread of the disease
4:38was already unstoppable. Soon, the
4:43Black Death swept across Europe, from
4:45Portugal and Ireland to Moscow. It was
4:48a true pandemic. What did it look like?
4:51We have firsthand testimony. Almost a
4:54full block. One of the most famous
4:57books of the Renaissance, "Precameron"
4:59by Javani Bacchu. The plot is simple. A
5:02group of friends are relaxing at a
5:03country house in the countryside and,
5:05to pass the time, tell various funny
5:07stories, mostly about love. But there
5:09is a twist. It's 1348. They've left
5:11their native Florence for the
5:13countryside because the city is ravaged
5:14by the plague. Bacachi writes that
5:17neither doctors 'advice, nor prayers,
5:19nor quarantine, nor the extermination
5:21of rats, cats, and pigeons can save the
5:23inhabitants of Florence from death.
5:25Most sick people die in terrible agony
5:27within three days, and the plague
5:29itself is highly contagious. It's
5:31transmitted not only through contact
5:32with the sick but also through their
5:34belongings. The streets are littered
5:36with corpses. The dead are buried in
5:38mass graves. The living react in
5:40different ways. Some lock themselves in
5:42their homes, while others, on the
5:44contrary, go wild, casting aside all
5:46morality. There's no one to care for
5:49the sick. And sometimes people abandon
5:52sick relatives to their fate, fearing
5:54infection. Those infected with the
5:57plague developed swellings under their
5:59arms and in their groins, which, as the
6:01bakacha put it, grew to the size of an
6:03egg or even an apple—plague buboes.
6:06The swellings then spread to other
6:07parts of the body, and the skin became
6:09covered with purple and black spots. In
6:12short, it was gloomy. Not everyone had
6:14the opportunity to leave the cities and
6:16retire to country palaces, as the
6:18heroes of Docamiron do. Incidentally,
6:20the writer himself lost some of his
6:22family to the Black Death. Because of
6:24its rapid spread, contemporaries
6:26compared the plague to a fire spreading
6:28from one house to another. This was a
6:31very terrifying and understandable
6:33image for people of that time. Entire
6:35cities burned down. The all-consuming
6:38fire from heaven mentioned in the
6:40Revelation of St. John the Evangelist
6:42immediately came to mind. Well, that is
6:44, in the Apocalypse. Another comparison
6:47for the plague, often used, was a hail
6:49of arrows sent by a punishing deity.
6:52This image has been known since
6:54antiquity. For example, in the Iliad,
6:56Apollo strikes his army with arrows
6:59that bring disease and death. In
7:01Christian Europe, plague arrows
7:03symbolized God's punishment for sins.
7:08Poor sinners also had intercessors,
7:09such as the Virgin Mary, who spreads
7:11her protection over them, and plague
7:12saints. Saint Sebastian was considered
7:16one of the main protectors from the
7:17disease by association. The martyr,
7:21executed by the Romans for his faith,
7:22became the personification of the fight
7:24against the piercing arrows of the
7:26plague. A few lucky ones managed to
7:29survive, especially in sparsely
7:30populated areas. For example, there are
7:33documents about English peasants who
7:35returned to work just a month after
7:37contracting the Black Plague. This
7:40information was recorded because the
7:42feudal lord was concerned about when
7:44the peasants would be able to work his
7:46land again. But this case is
7:48exceptional. Chronicles are full of
7:50references to people dying right in the
7:53streets, unable to reach home. The
7:55French monk Jean Devinette wrote about
7:57the epidemic of 1348. People were sick
8:01for two to three days and died quickly,
8:03leaving no signs of the disease on
8:05their bodies. Those who were in good
8:08health one day were dead and buried the
8:11next. It's important to note that
8:14plague, caused by the Yersinia pestis
8:16bacillus, exists in two main forms:
8:18bubonic and pneumonic. Speaking of
8:21plague without signs on the body, the
8:23monk most likely means the pneumonic
8:25form. But the bubonic form was even
8:29more terrifying. After a short
8:32incubation period of two to eight days,
8:34fever, chills, weakness, and headache
8:37set in, and the lymph nodes swelled,
8:39turning into plague bumps called buboes
8:41. In the later stages, these could
8:45develop into open, festering ulcers.
8:47All of this, of course, brought to mind
8:49the plague of Bath. Due to the rapid
8:51mass mortality, there was no time to
8:53bury people with full ritual observance
8:55, something completely unthinkable in
8:57medieval Europe. In those days, every
9:00respectable, God-fearing person
9:02belonged to a specific church. They
9:05knew which priest would administer the
9:07last sacrament and could hope to have
9:08their coffin carried with candles and
9:10chanting. Now, all this had become a
9:13luxury. There weren't enough priests
9:15for everyone. Gravediggers, recruited
9:17from among the Cathars, dragged the
9:18body to the nearest church and sent it
9:20to the first grave they found. Even
9:22consecrated earth in the cemetery was
9:24in short supply, so bodies were simply
9:27piled on top of each other in huge pits
9:29. This deviation from religious custom
9:31was no less frightening than the buboes
9:33. It seemed as if the last days had
9:35arrived, just as they were battling the
9:37plague. Not that city authorities and
9:40doctors didn't try to help the
9:42population, but fleeing dangerous areas
9:44was considered the best course of
9:45action. Scientists from the French
9:48Sarbonne, for example, recommended
9:50fleeing as quickly, far, and for a long
9:52time as possible when the Black Death
9:54struck. Wealthy nobles could afford to
9:57transport their belongings by cart.
9:59This resulted in massive traffic jams
10:02at the city gates. The poor had nowhere
10:05to flee and nothing to buy. Friends, a
10:11very brief announcement. On August 29th
10:13, the last Saturday of this summer, we
10:15will traditionally hold our magazine's
10:17festival, Chtivy Fest. What is it, if
10:19you haven't been? Very briefly. It's a
10:21music stage with top artists. It's a
10:25dialogue zone, where I interview
10:27interesting people. It's a gastronomic
10:30zone, with all sorts of cafes and
10:31restaurants where you can eat and drink
10:33. And a pop culture zone, where
10:35stand-up comedy will take place. You
10:37can find the full lineup and buy
10:39tickets to the festival at the link in
10:41the description. In 1377, quarantine
10:47was first invented in Ragusa, Italy.
10:50Then, gradually, a system of health
10:52certificates emerged. But all this was
10:54of little help. It happened that
10:56infected cities were surrounded by the
10:58army, and then anyone who didn't make
11:00it in time was too late. The so-called
11:02miasma theory prevailed in medicine at
11:04the time. It was believed that the
11:07plague, like other diseases, was
11:08transmitted by the vapors emanating
11:10from dead bodies, so efforts were made
11:12to dispose of corpses and waste, and to
11:14ventilate rooms. Strong odors, such as
11:17frankincense, various aromatic herbs,
11:19or musk, were also believed to protect
11:22against the plague. Therefore, savvy
11:25citizens would venture out onto
11:26plague-ridden streets, doused with a
11:28bottle of perfume, with an amulet
11:30around their neck and flowers in hand.
11:33For the same reason, fragrant herbs and
11:35concoctions were placed in the beaked
11:37masks of plague doctors, who visited
11:39the homes of the sick in thick black
11:41robes and carrying a cane. They used
11:44this cane to touch the particularly
11:46contagious. They also used it if street
11:49riots broke out. Doctors attempted to
11:52cut out and cauterize the buboes on the
11:53sick. It's clear this was of no use.
11:57Various mixtures of minerals, plants,
11:59and animal fat were also used. The
12:02infected were sent to infirmaries and
12:04fenced-off plague barracks. The fate of
12:07the sick depended greatly on the
12:09specific institution. In some places,
12:11like Venice, doctors and priests worked
12:13in the infirmaries, trying, if not to
12:15cure, then at least to alleviate
12:17suffering. In others, there was no care
12:19at all, and quarantine was the
12:20preferred method. So many preferred to
12:23flee or die rather than end up in a
12:25plague barrack. Some scientists
12:27suggested that miasma-infected air
12:30alone wasn't enough to cause the plague
12:33. Supposedly, human fear was a second
12:36component of contagion, drawing poison
12:39directly from the air. So, by the
12:41standards of the time, these attempts
12:44to create wildfire made purely medical
12:46sense. People believed that if they
12:48weren't afraid and somehow distracted
12:50themselves, the disease wouldn't stick.
12:52The atmosphere in plague-ridden cities
12:54was putrid in every sense. Corpses lay
12:56in the streets, uncollected. Looting,
12:59looting of boarded-up houses, riots,
13:02and pogroms were rampant. Villages were
13:04no better. There were no doctors at all
13:06. Entire regions died out, and
13:09contemporaries describe how premature
13:11cows wandered through fields amid
13:13unharvested crops. The Black Death went
13:16down in history as the plague itself,
13:18but it returned later, too. It flared
13:21up here and there, at intervals of
13:2310-12 years. For example, the last
13:28major plague catastrophe struck England
13:31in 1665-166. This episode is called the
13:35Great Plague of London. Daniel Defoe,
13:39author of Robinson Crusoe, dedicated
13:41his historical novel, "A Journal of the
13:44Plague Year," to the epidemic that
13:46killed approximately 20%of London's
13:48population. The first anti-plague
13:52vaccine, however, only appeared in
13:541897. It was created by Vladimir
13:55Khavkin, a native of the Russian Empire
13:57and a student of the famous Ilya
13:59Mechnikov. In the 20th century,
14:02antibiotics made the plague curable—
14:03well, with diagnosis, of course. Large
14:06outbreaks became unlikely thanks to
14:08medical surveillance. Plague
14:10vaccination is now recommended only if
14:12you're in a high-risk group. However,
14:15you still shouldn't eat marmots in
14:17Mongolia. If you had any such plans,
14:19you should abandon them. Over the past
14:2210 years, about 10 people have become
14:24infected and died this way.

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