In October 1347, twelve Genoese trading ships docked at the Sicilian port of Messina after traveling from the Black Sea through the Mediterranean. However, many of the people onboard were either dead or covered in oozing black boils. Local authorities quickly ordered the fleet out of the harbor, but by that time, the sickness, called the Black Death, had already started to spread in the town. Over the next five years, the plague killed between 30 and 60 percent of the total population in Europe, as governments struggled to contain the problem.
Italian City-States Enacted Public Health Protocols
In the early months of 1348, the infection reached the Italian mainland and spread through the busy trade routes. Italy’s port cities faced the first wave of the malady and had to act without any prior experience. Officials in Venice soon formed a health committee on 30 March, 1348 to oversee the disposal of dead bodies. The group organized the transport of corpses to isolated islands like San Marco in Boccalama where workers buried thousands of victims in deep mass graves.
At the same time, the Venetian Great Council, the main governing body of the Republic of Venice, began searching for ways to manage ships that arrived with sick passengers. Some historians date the start of public health protocols to those frantic months in Italy, as in May 1348, the leaders of Pistoia released a set of ordinances designed to control the spread of the sickness.
Labor Reforms Emerged in England
Across the English Channel, King Edward III faced a massive labor shortage as the plague decimated the peasantry in 1349. Farm laborers soon began demanding higher wages as demand for the few workers available increased. To rein in the situation, the King issued the Ordinance of Labourers on 18 June, 1349 to freeze pay at pre-plague levels. The law forced every able-bodied person under the age of sixty to work for anyone who required his or her services. Landowners welcomed the help but the poor felt the weight of the new royal restrictions. As a result, many workers simply ignored the rules and moved to different villages for better pay.
Two years later, the English Parliament passed the more formal Statute of Labourers in 1351. The document added specific monetary penalties for anyone who accepted wages higher than those of 1346. It also punished masters who paid too much to their servants and workers. Local courts soon spent much of their time prosecuting thousands of common workers for taking extra pennies. Over time, however, the laws were scrapped as workers organized protests and fought back, eventually leading to labor reforms.
The Development of Quarantine and Isolation Policies
As the second wave of the plague returned in later decades, governments across Europe developed more sophisticated containment measures. In 1377, the officials in the port of Ragusa established a 30-day isolation period for arriving travelers. They called the practice a trentina and forced visitors to stay on nearby islands or in designated health centers. Eventually, the city of Venice extended the waiting time to forty days by the early 15th century.
The longer period became known as a quarantine and served as a blueprint for other European ports. Soon, governments built large complexes called lazarettos to house the sick and those suspected to be ill. The buildings often featured high walls, barred windows, guard towers, and strict entry controls.
Governments Had to Deal With Radical Religious Movements
Governments in Europe also had to deal with the religious movements that emerged during the height of the Black Death. Groups of flagellants traveled from town to town and whipped themselves to seek God’s mercy. Many local councils initially allowed the groups to enter because the people saw them as holy men. However, the Pope and various kings soon realized that the roaming fanatics also caused social unrest and disorder. By 1349, King Philip VI of France and other leaders began banning the flagellant processions from their territories. They feared that the groups would challenge the authority of the Church and the State.
Governments Scrambled to Quell Uprisings Against the Jewish Community
In many parts of Europe, people blamed Jewish communities for poisoning the town wells and causing the Black Death. Consequently, violent mobs frequently attacked Jewish neighborhoods in cities like Strasbourg, Mainz, and Cologne in the 1340s. The situation prompted some rulers such as Pope Clement VI and King Casimir III of Poland, to protect the victims from the angry crowds. Casimir III even invited Jewish refugees to settle in Poland and help rebuild his kingdom. On the flip side, many local mayors and town councils did nothing to stop the hostilities. Such actions represented a dark period in the history of European government responses.
