BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE

THE PLAGUE

The Black Death 1
Intriguing site! Extensive information on the black death, descriptions, how it was best avoided, the people's reactions. Includes effects the plague had on politics, culture, art, and economy. Brings to life the horror that came with the plague. "The sensible thing to do when the plague struck was to get out of town, for people expected the plague would remain local. Aristocrats could do this because they had estates in the countryside. The poor, of course, had nowhere to go, so they remained and died."  "The bubonic plague did not go away. It still exists, everywhere in the world. It is quite common among rodent populations--rats, of course, but squirrels, rabbits and skunks as well. . . .The plague is still very much with us."
The Black Death 2
"The Black Death serves as a convenient divider between the central and the late Middle Ages. The changes between the two periods are numerous; they include the introduction of gunpowder, increased importance of cities, economic and demographic crises, political dislocation and realignment, and powerful new currents in culture and religion. Overall, the later Middle Ages are usually characterized as a period of crisis and trouble. The portrait should not be painted unrelievedly bleak, but the tone is accurate enough and echoes voices from the era itself.
The Black Death did not cause the crisis, for evidence of the changes can be seen well before 1347. But the plague exacerbated problems and added new ones, and the tone of crisis is graver in the second half than in the first half of the century. Standing at the century's mid-point, the plague serves as a convenient demarcation."
Bubonic Plague
How its transmitted ? What happens ? Where does it occurs? What has been the historical and social impact ? These questions are answered and more  here. "About 25% of the population of Europe was killed in the 14th century. That's 25 million people - more than the total population of Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, and Delaware combined. Disease killed three times more people than died in WWI. Before the 1300's, the Plague had been absent from Europe for almost 1000 years. After that time, Plague epidemics occurred almost regularly for 200 years. The Plague changed people's attitudes about life, created new superstitions, and became engrained in folklore in Renaissance Europe."
Bubonic Plague A.K.A "Black Death"
How black death was transmitted, its symptoms, statistics, and medieval superstitutions treatments. Also the MACARONI GAME that gives an experience in the transmission of the bubuonic plague. (Good teaching tool for presentations and good resource for reports.)
Church's Involvement in the Bubonic Plague
"The Middle Ages marked a time of strong religious convictions, and it was during the Bubonic Plague that anger toward the Roman Catholic Church and the persecution of Jews intensified. The church played an important role in the lives of the people of the 13th and 14th Centuries, and it was forced to intervene when Christians demanded help." Maps of routes by which the plague was spread. And another site on this subject HERE.
A General Study of the Plague in England 1539-1640 - Specific Reference to Loughborough
"Throughout the Middle Ages most of populated Britain suffered sweeping ravages of disease and pestilence; individually and collectively these epidemics were referred to as the plague. Examination of the Leicestershire town of Loughborough's Parish Register 1 reveals valuable statistical data, particularly for burials after 1538. . . Offers insight into some of the social effects of the plague. . . Attempt to investigate the local myths and legends has been undertaken. The Plague and how it did spread?
Jewish History Sourcebook:  The Black Plague and the Jews, 1348-1349
How and why the Christians blamed the Jews for occurrence and spread of the Black Death. "Reported that the leaders in the Jewish metropolis of Toledo had initiated a plot and that one of the conspirators was a Rabbi." How some Jews were forced to confess, tortured, and killed.
Plague
"Plagues devastated Elizabethan England. They were a constant threat to the people and the land. The most devastating to England was the bubonic plague. London was afflicted over a dozen times during the 1500's. he bubonic plague originated in Central Asia, where it killed 25 million people before it made its way into Constantinople in 1347. From there it spread to Mediterranean ports such as Naples and Venice. Trade ships from these Mediterranean ports spread plague to the inhabitants of southern France and Italy. It had spread to Paris by June of 1348, and London was in the grips of plague several months later. By 1350, all of Europe had been hit by plague. From this time to the mid 1600's, the disease was seen in England."
Did you know that Elizabeth I, for example, had strict standards and guidelines enforced in order to protect herself and her court from contracting the plague virus. No one from London was allowed into Windsor Castle. Anyone trying to get in was immediately hanged. "
Plague and Public Health in Renaissance Europe
Physicians, writers, poets, and chroniclers wrote about how the plague might have started and how it was affecting the population of Europe. Certain individuals were persecuted because it was believed that they infected the population with the Black Death. To gain a better perspective of the plague, look at all types of facets, science, religion, politics, and economics during that time.  Good stepping stone in exploring the many faces of the Black Death.
Plague-Proof Yourself and Your Family
List of  "helpful" recommendations.  One typical suggestion:  "Go forth barefoot in sackcloth sprinkled with ashes. Weep, pray, tear at your hair, carry candles and relics. Sometimes decorate yourself with ropes around your neck or beat yourself with whips."
Yersinia pestis
Bubonic plague has had a major impact on the history of the world. The plague has killed over 50 million people over the centuries. Scientific overview with microscopic pictures of Yersinia pestis and its manifestations,human symptions(warning graphic). Even thought it was small it had the power to almost exterminate the western world. And here.

INQUISITION AND HERESIES

Brief History of the Inquisition
Full-scale summary by categories. "The Inquisition was one of the great blights in the history of Christianity. No other institution in the history of the Christian Church was so horrible, so unjust, so...un-Christian." Theological foundations, targets, inquisitors, time-line.
Catholics, Heretics and Heresy
Challenging article by Gilles C H Nullens. "Members of different religions have generally regarded each other, at the best, as different but also, very often, as enemies. . . The people who deviated from one religion, those that we know as heretics in general, have been most of the time in History the object of repression. The main religions have not hesitated to use the secular forces to eliminate what they saw as their worst enemies, those coming from within and trying to change the system and put in doubt the leadership in place."
And who were the enemies?  The Cathars,  "members of a definitely heretic sect - destroyed by the Church. The Templars,  a true Catholic Order, "accused of heresy, probably without any real reason ," and suppressed. The Hospitallers, the Knights of Malta, a Catholic Order. "The Rose-Croix and the Rosicrucians that show the link that always existed between Christians and Masons. . . The incredible story of Rennes-le-Chateau. The importance even to day of the Merovingian dynasty."
Conclusion? "Research about heretics like the Cathars or military/religious orders like the Templars and the Hospitallers shows clearly that the present ethnic wars are nothing new. Atrocities like the recent ones in Bosnia and Africa have happened before and probably will again. It also stresses - and this is not an attack against the organised religions - that where religion and states have interests in common, the repression of any deviation can be terrible."
Pre-Inquisition Background - istorical Overview
"The measures for the repression and extermination of heresy culminated in the organized system, known as the Inquisition. Its history presents what is probably the most revolting spectacle in the annals of civilized Europe. The representatives of the Church appear ... in the name of religion applying torture to countless helpless victims ... and pronouncing upon them a sentence which, they knew, involved perpetual imprisonment or death in the flames."  After the Roman Church had consolidated its power in the early Middle Ages, heretics came to be regarded as enemies of society. The crime of heresy was defined as a deliberate denial of an article of truth of the Catholic faith, and a public and obstinate persistence in that alleged error. At this time, there was a sense of Christian unity among townspeople and rulers alike, and most of them agreed with the Church that heretics seemed to threated society itself.
Inquisition
The Galileo Project.  Click on Christianity to reach the Inquisition. Informative background on how the Catholic Church's permanent institution known as the Inquisition was in charge of eradicating heretics. How through the centuries the Church has dealt with the heretics. How the inquisition evolved through the centuries.
The Spanish Inquisition
Inquisition. A Heretic's Final Journey
Very disturbing and descriptive site focusing on torture during the Inquisition. Not for everyone. "(These pages are NOT meant to glorify torture. Torture is abominable; perhaps the vilest of all crimes. The point here is to show the dangers of rampant fundamentalism of ANY stripe- and to reveal parts of history censored out by pious, hypocritical, corporate religionists.)
The use of torture is not confined to the Dark Ages or to any religious sect or government. People are being tortured at this very moment in places all over the world. Those of us living in countries where these practices are forbidden have to appreciate the protective aspect of civilization. Yearnings for "anarchy" or a "Bible based society" might be quelled after reading these descriptions and seeing these images."
Additional links for a more critical look at the Church's participation.
The Malleus Maleficarum
"Published in 1486, the Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of Witches) was the most popular handbook for Witch hunters during the great Witch craze of the 16th and 17th centuries. Indeed, until Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress began circulating in 1678, only the Bible sold better! Written by two German friars, Jacob Sprenger and Heinrich Kramer who were prosecutors of heretics in the Rhineland and Northern Germany. Although their own behaviour inspired protests to the Pope, in 1484 the recently elected Pope Innocent VIII endorsed their activities.
The Malleus Maleficarum gave theological approval to every grotesque superstition concerning diabolism and Witches, and resulted in the torture and death of thousands of innocent people - particularly Women. The book addressed such questions as 'Why is it that Women are cheifly addicted to evil superstitions?", and concluded that "All Witchcraft comes from carnal lust, which is in Women insatiable...wherefore for the sake of fulfilling their lusts, they consort even with devils.'"
The Medieval Inquisition
"Brief history of the medieval Inquisition." Established in the early thirteenth century to combat widespread popular heresy, the Inquisition and its tribunals identified, prosecuted and punished heretics and their supporters. Seen as a symbol of religious and political intolerance against the Protestants, Jews, Catholic heretics and the political order of the Knights of the Templar. Presents the circumstances of the Medieval Inquisition and revisits the horror of the Church inquisition actions. While the church was accountable for the deaths of many, the townspeople also manipulated the Inquisition to their own advantage.  From excellent article by David Burr:  "When medieval people used the word 'inquisition,' they were referring to a judicial technique, not an organization. There was, in fact, no such thing as 'the Inquisition' in the sense of an impersonal organization with a chain of command. Instead there were 'inquisitors of heretical depravity,' individuals assigned by the pope to inquire into heresy in specific areas. They were called such because they applied a judicial technique known as inquisitio, which could be translated as 'inquiry' or 'inquest.' "  Good  scholarly site.