The Black Death struck Europe with full force in 1347. It stands as the most devastating pandemic in human history, peaking between 1347 and 1351 and wiping out between 30% and 60% of the entire European population.
It is caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, which emerged around 1338 in modern-day Kyrgyzstan (Central Asia). From there, the plague traveled westward along the heavily trafficked trade routes of the Silk Road.
The disease reached the doorstep of Europe via the Black Sea. In 1346, the Mongol army besieged the Genoese trading port of Caffa (in the Crimea peninsula). When the plague began ravaging the Mongol camp, they used catapults to launch infected corpses over the city walls.
Fleeing the siege, Genoese merchants boarded 12 trading galleys. In October 1347, these ships docked at the port of Messina (Sicily). Terrified locals found most of the sailors aboard either dead or dying, covered in black, oozing boils. The ships were cast out, but black rats with infected fleas scrambled ashore.
The plague spread due to overcrowded medieval cities, constant trade (Patrician III (2002)), and lack of sanitation: in 1348 it arrived to Spain, France and England, in 1349 to Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavia, and in 1351 arrive to remote borders in Russia.
People thought that diseases were spread by bad smells and miasmas (foul air). Medical treatments include bphlebotomy (bloodletting) using leeches, lancing buboes and herbal remedies.
The famous leather suit and beak mask were not invented until 1619 by Charles de Lorme.