Wednesday, July 8, 2020

A Brief Chat About the Black Death

There's a large amount of debate over why the Black Death came in such strength in Europe in the period of 1346 to 1353.  Number of deaths?  Generally estimated in a range of 25k and up to 200k.

The other day, I sat reading a historical piece which talked about this Catholic Church 'order' (a papal decree) in the summer of 1233.

The Pope at the time....Gregory IX had decided  (based on evidence) that Satan was half-cat or took the form of a cat on occasion.

I know....it's one of the silly things that the Catholic Church attached itself onto in this period.

So what came out of this order?  Well....throughout central Europe....wild-cats or feral cats were eliminated. 

Up until that point, they controlled the mice/rate problems that existed.   So as the years passed from 1233, fewer and fewer cats were around.  A hundred years later, mice and rats had freedom to roam and pass the Black Death around.

You can look back over history and find little moments like this....where stupidity ruled, and caused mankind to suffer. 

1 comment:

bob searcy said...

eh , the old ' unexpected consequences ' . unexpected by the privileged twats who prescribed it -- not all that unexpected by the population who suffered their delusions of grandeur .