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Question: Bubonic Plague Death and Bodies Question!?
I would like to know in vivid detail more about the process that followed the deaths of victims of the bubonic plague!. I am speaking of when the plague had set in for years and people were dieing faster than they could be buried!. Can someone describe to me the process in detail and the way in which they disposed of the bodies!?Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Bubonic Plague caused by the bacteria Yersinia Pestis was mainly active in the warmer months of the year - fewer cases in the winter!. The buboes were actually lymph nodes full of plague bacteria and pus!. These could burst open!. The stench must have been horrible, but all medieval European towns all would have had a intolerable stink to those of us today accustomed to clean surroundings!.
The bodies would be collected and carried to mass graves except in those cities where the mortality was so high (greater than 50%) that the corpses had to be left as they were at the time of death!. Isolated houses may have been burned with dead occupants inside, but this could not be done in crowded towns or cities due to the fear of the fire spreading!. The men who did the work would have to be paid very well to perform this unpopular task!. If there was no one to pay the workers to remove the bodies, the work would not be done!. Many of the wealthier people fled the towns and cities to wait out the summer months of peak plague incidence at country manors!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

You will often hear that the Black Death of 1347-1350 killed 1/3 of Europe's population!. That's the CONSERVATIVE estimate!. That is -- it was AT LEAST 1/3!. However, it was possibly as high as 1/2, and large urban areas were almost entirely depopulated!. Florence, for instance, did not reach its pre-1347 population levels until the 18th century!. People were dying in such great numbers and so quickly, that they could not be buried fast enough, and the streets and houses were littered with corpses!. At the same time, panic was so great that in some places, sick people were dumped into mass graves along with bodies, and buried alive!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

The plague didn't last for years!. It was no more than a year at a time in any one place!. There were enough people to dig a big pit at the edge of the time which they tipped all the bodies into!.
Interestingly, analysis of spread and die ratios, plus examination of the bones of plague corpses, suggests that the flea-and-rat scenario that was told us as undoubted truth at school is in fact false!. The plague was far more likely a viral infection!.Www@QuestionHome@Com