After the Crusades, trade began to revive in Italy, largely because neither trade nor towns had declined as much there as elsewhere. As trade grew in other countries, fairs were set up as places where merchants could exchange large amounts of goods. In 1346 the bubonic plague, a fatal disease, swept through Europe killing one third of the population. The Hundred Years War, which began in 1337 and was between England and France, brought important developments to European culture.In 1346 the bubonic plague, which Europeans called the Black Death, swept into Europe. It was brought to Genoa, Italy, by infected rats on board a merchant ship from a port on the Black Sea. The plague was transmitted to humans in two forms, the bubonic plague and the pneumonic plague. The bubonic plague erupted when rats infected with a bacterium became infested with fleas. The fleas bit people, and these people soon showed symptoms of the plagueinfected lymph glands accompanied by painful swelling and high fever. Often, black spots broke out on the body, which might have been the reason for the name Black Death. The pneumonic plague, which attacks the lungs, was transmitted directly from one infected person to another. This horrible disease was almost always fatal to anyone contracting it. It is difficult to estimate the total number of deaths throughout Europe. They happened so rapidly that often the survivors could not keep up with burying the dead. Bodies were loaded on carts and dumped in common graves outside the town. Entire villages and towns were emptied. Some estimates say that as many as one-third of Europes population died and as many as 75 million people died worldwide. England lost one-third of its population. These devastating losses disrupted the continents social, economic, and religious institutions. Europe was left in a decline from which it did not recover for 100 years. England did not attempt to enhance its reputation ...
