I think you will all agree with me if I say that we should feel blessed and lucky to live at this generation where everything is almost available and accessible for the benefit and convenience of mankind. Can you imagine living in a time where there's no internet for the rest of your life? Too sad for those addicted to Twitter and Facebook right? Nevertheless, it is not the worst scenario. Mankind survived for the longest time without the Internet, so we could still handle it if ever. But to live without a cure to a certain illness... to live in a midst of numerous dead just outside your house... to live where seems there's no way to go, and the epidemic of a disease is everywhere. Would you still want to live if it seems there's no way to live anymore?
This is the Black Death
Coming out of the East, the Black Death
reached the shores of Italy in the spring of 1348 unleashing a rampage
of death across Europe unprecedented in recorded history. By the time
the epidemic played itself out three years later, anywhere between 25%
and 50% of Europe's population had fallen victim to the pestilence.(http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/plague.htm)
The plague presented itself in three interrelated forms.
The bubonic
variant (the most common) derives its name from the swellings or buboes
that appeared on a victim's neck, armpits or groin. These tumors could
range in size from that of an egg to that of an apple.
Although some
survived
the painful ordeal, the manifestation of these lesions
usually signaled the victim had a life expectancy of up to a week.
Infected fleas that attached themselves to rats and then to humans
spread this bubonic type of the plague. A second variation -
pneumonic
plague - attacked the respiratory system and was spread by merely
breathing the exhaled air of a victim. It was much more virulent than
its bubonic cousin - life expectancy was measured in one or two days.
Finally, the
septicemic version of the disease attacked the blood
system.
Having no defense and no understanding of the cause of the pestilence,
the men, women and children caught in its onslaught were bewildered,
panicked, and finally devastated.
(http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/plague.htm)
I had the chance to have a short interview with our History Professor at Philippine Women's University- Quezon City Campus, Sir Bob Servi
ño , with regards of the Black Death occurred in time of Boccaccio.
He told me that one of the reason why there was a lot of deadly fleas and other factors that cause of pestilence during the Middle Age is because, during their time, there was no proper waste disposal yet. So their waste were all thrown anywhere, in the canal, backyard, rivers, and streets. And so the pestilence occurred due to the absence of knowledge on the effect of not disposing their waste properly.
Many of the landlords, merchants, and officials where nowhere to find from hiding, migrating to other places far from Italy to avoid the disease. And because of the absence of the landlords, the laborers learned to start business on their own. Like for example, the carpenter whom is a carpenter of his landlord started to be a carpenter for all who needs his work in exchange of money. As well as the others started to create their own business.
So this seems to be the positive effect of the pestilence occurred during their time. It opened opportunity to others.
Another thing was, it is surprisingly that a Giovanni Boccaccio's masterpiece was born during this plague!
The Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio lived
through the plague as it ravaged the city of Florence in 1348. The
experience inspired him to write The Decameron, a story of seven men and
three women who escape the disease by fleeing to a villa outside the
city. In his introduction to the fictional portion of his book,
Boccaccio gives a graphic description of the effects of the epidemic on
his city.
(http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/plague.htm)
I remember what I learned from our Scriptwriting Class. One of the factor that influences a writer is his environment. Base on what he sees and what he feels, he was able to write. Moreover, a writer can see beyond the ordinary eyes could see.
From the book, "Trip To Quiapo", the author Ricky Lee said that, "a writer should see and let others see what he sees."
And as for me, as an aspiring writer, I should see what can't others see and let them see.
Till the next post !
And as you wait for your food to come, do you know that during Boccaccio's time, in 1300's, pastas had the great role to do during the voyages of the explorers? Yes. According to some articles I've found, in the form of "dried pasta" as they call, it was very popular for its nutrition and long shelf life, making it ideal for long ship voyages. Pasta made it around the globe during the voyages of discovery a century later. By that time different shapes of pasta have appeared and new technology made pasta easier to make. With these innovations pasta truly became a part of Italian life. However the next big advancement in the history of pasta would not come until the 19th century when pasta met tomatoes.
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