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The Black Death of 1348 to 1350. In Medieval England, the Black Death was to kill 1.5 million people out of an estimated total of 4 million people between 1348 and 1350.

The Black Death of 1348 to 1350

No medical knowledge existed in Medieval England to cope with the disease. After 1350, it was to strike England another six times by the end of the century. Understandably, peasants were terrified at the news that the Black Death might be approaching their village or town. The Black Death is the name given to a deadly plague (often called bubonic plague, but is more likely to be pneumonic plague) which was rampant during the Fourteenth Century. It was believed to have arrived from Asia in late 1348 and caused more than one epidemic in that century - though its impact on English society from 1348 to 1350 was terrible. Up until recently the Black Death was thought to have been caused by fleas carried by rats that were very common in towns and cities.

Whatever the cause of the infection, death was often very quick for the weaker victims. How many famous people passed away due to the Black Death? The Black Death, or the Black Plague or Bubonic Plague, was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, widely thought to have been caused by a bacterium named Yersinia pestis (Plague),[1] but recently attributed by some factors to other diseases. The origins of the plague are disputed among scholars. Some historians believe the pandemic began in China or Central Asia (one such location is lake Issyk Kul)[2] in the late 1320s or 1330s, and during the next years merchants and soldiers carried it over the caravan routes until in 1346 it reached the Crimea in South Eastern Europe.

Other scholars believe the plague was endemic in that area. The 14th century eruption of the Black Death had a drastic effect on Europe's population, irrevocably changing the social structure. It was a serious blow to the Roman Catholic Church, and resulted in widespread persecution of minorities such as Jews, foreigners, beggars, and lepers. More info on: Château de Versailles - Historic building. Lying in the suburbs of Paris, the Château de Versailles was the symbol of the absolute monarchy espoused by Louis XIV and royal palace from 1682 to 1789, when the monarch was forced to return to Paris.

Château de Versailles - Historic building

The first design of the castle was made by Philibert Le Roy and during the next two centuries there were four building enlargements and renewals, when Louis XIV reorganized the government of France and moved there, when the court was fully established on May 6th 1682. The centre of the power was within the palace walls, where the government offices and the thousands of courtiers lived. By obliging the nobility to spend some time every year in Versailles, the king prevented the development of regional powers, and established the etiquette which was rendered famous and copied all around the European court. The Palace. The Hall of Mirrors, the King’s Grand Apartments, the Museum of the History of France.

The Palace

The Château de Versailles, the seat of power until 1789, has continued to unfurl its splendour over the course of centuries. At first it was just a humble hunting lodge built by Louis XIII. But Louis XIV chose the site to build the palace we know today, the symbol of royal absolutism and embodiment of classical French art. In the 1670s Louis XIV built the Grand Apartments of the King and Queen, whose most emblematic achievement is the Hall of Mirrors designed by Mansart, where the king put on his most ostentatious display of royal power in order to impress visitors. The Chapel and Opera were built in the next century under Louis XV. The château lost its standing as the official seat of power in 1789 but acquired a new role in the 19th century as the Museum of the History of France, which was founded at the behest of Louis-Philippe, who ascended to the throne in 1830.