Frq #2

Why School Should Start Later
“Adversities do not make a man frail; they show what sort of man he is (Thomas Kemp).” I will be writing about the turmoil of the fourteenth century, urban life, and medical practices and how the adversities of the fourteenth century affected them.
The 14th Century was a time of turmoil at forces beyond human control. Two great natural disasters struck Europe in the 14th Century. One was climatic "the Little Ice Age."In France, crops failed after heavy rains in 1315, there were widespread famine, starvation, disease, reports of cannibalism, and epidemics.The second was the Black Death. In October 1347, Genoese trading ships put into the harbor of Messina in Sicily with dead and dying men at the oars. The diseased sailors showed strange black swellings about the size of an egg or an apple in the armpits and groin. The swellings oozed blood and pus and were followed by spreading boils and black blotches on the skin from internal bleeding. The sick suffered severe pain and died quickly within five days of the first symptoms. As the disease spread, other symptoms of continuous fever and spitting of blood appeared instead of the swellings or buboes. These victims coughed and sweated heavily and died even more quickly, within three days or less, sometimes in 24 hours. Depression and despair accompanied the physical symptoms.
The hardships of the fourteenth century affected urban life. The authorities tried to keep thing cleaner by enacting regulations against litter in the streets, and closed all unhealthy places such as bath houses which leaded to a descent in personal hygiene. The number of people dying also made economic difficulties which made a development in sex roles and gave women more opportunities to be employed and gave them chances to run businesses and for widows to take their late husband’s craft.
The difficulties of the fourteenth century also changed medical practices. Before the plague physicians were trained purely...