Talk:Black Death

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Black Death article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find medical sources: Source guidelines · PubMed · Cochrane · DOAJ · Gale · OpenMD · ScienceDirect · Springer · Trip · Wiley · TWL

Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6: 6 months

Medicine Mid‑importance

	Medicine portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Medicine, which recommends that medicine-related articles follow the Manual of Style for medicine-related articles and that biomedical information in any article use high-quality medical sources. Please visit the project page for details or ask questions at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Medicine.MedicineWikipedia:WikiProject MedicineTemplate:WikiProject Medicinemedicine articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article was selected on the Medicine portal as one of Wikipedia's best articles related to Medicine.

Middle Ages Top‑importance

	Middle Ages portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Middle Ages, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the Middle Ages on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Middle AgesWikipedia:WikiProject Middle AgesTemplate:WikiProject Middle AgesMiddle Ages articles
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

European history Top‑importance

	Europe portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject European history, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the history of Europe on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.European historyWikipedia:WikiProject European historyTemplate:WikiProject European historyEuropean history articles
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

Death Top‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Death, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Death on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.DeathWikipedia:WikiProject DeathTemplate:WikiProject DeathDeath articles
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

Jewish history Mid‑importance

	Judaism portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Jewish history, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Jewish history on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Jewish historyWikipedia:WikiProject Jewish historyTemplate:WikiProject Jewish historyJewish history-related articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

History High‑importance

	History portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject History, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the subject of History on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.HistoryWikipedia:WikiProject HistoryTemplate:WikiProject Historyhistory articles
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Economics High‑importance

	Business and economics portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Economics, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Economics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.EconomicsWikipedia:WikiProject EconomicsTemplate:WikiProject EconomicsEconomics articles
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Disaster management Top‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Disaster management, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Disaster management on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Disaster managementWikipedia:WikiProject Disaster managementTemplate:WikiProject Disaster managementDisaster management articles
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

Russia High‑importance

	Russia portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Russia, a WikiProject dedicated to coverage of Russia on Wikipedia. To participate: Feel free to edit the article attached to this page, join up at the project page, or contribute to the project discussion.RussiaWikipedia:WikiProject RussiaTemplate:WikiProject RussiaRussia articles
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

This article is written in British English, which has its own spelling conventions (colour, travelled, centre, defence, artefact, analyse) and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

Black Death was one of the Natural sciences good articles, but it has been removed from the list. There are suggestions below for improving the article to meet the good article criteria. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
June 21, 2005	Peer review	Reviewed
December 15, 2005	Good article nominee	Listed
January 11, 2006	Featured article candidate	Not promoted
February 19, 2006	WikiProject peer review	Reviewed
February 22, 2008	Featured article candidate	Not promoted
September 25, 2008	Good article reassessment	Delisted
February 3, 2018	Featured article candidate	Not promoted
A news item involving this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "In the news" column on October 14, 2011.
Current status: Delisted good article

This article has been viewed enough times in a single week to appear in the Top 25 Report 3 times. The weeks in which this happened:

This article has been mentioned by a media organization:

Fran Allfrey, Lucy Moore, Richard Nevell (May 21, 2024). "Forging the medieval on Wikipedia". postmedieval. Retrieved June 13, 2024. We examine three case studies—articles for the 'Black Death,' the 'Viking Age,' and 'Old English literature'—to explore how the medieval is forged, defined by us as crafted and created, 'on-Wiki.'{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 11 January 2022 and 6 May 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Hdgoble (article contribs).

Improvements to general writing quality

Several poorly written sentences and sections make the article needlessly complex.

Examples (original in italics, revisions underneath):

It is recognised that an epidemiological account of plague is as important as an identification of symptoms, but researchers are hampered by the lack of reliable statistics from this period.

|

Researchers are hampered by a lack of reliable statistics from this period.

A research in 2018 challenged the popular hypothesis that "infected rats died, their flea parasites could have jumped from the recently dead rat hosts to humans". It suggested an alternative model in which "the disease was spread from human fleas and body lice to other people".

|

In 2018 researchers suggested an alternative model in which ""the disease was spread from human fleas and body lice to other people".

The most authoritative contemporary account is found in a report from the medical faculty in Paris to Philip VI of France. It blamed the heavens, in the form of a conjunction of three planets in 1345 that caused a "great pestilence in the air" (miasma theory).

|

Philip VI of France wrote in 1355 that a conjunction of planets had caused "a great pestilence in the air" (miasma theory).

--and so on. It would be worth doing a full pass on this article for clarity and I am willing to do so if allowed. VHarbee (talk) 15:32, 25 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I'd like to add this example which I came across while reading the article, which was both difficult to parse and definitely inaccurate (at least in regards to linked articles).

|

Early Christians considered bathing a temptation. With this danger in mind, St. Benedict declared, "To those who are well, and especially to the young, bathing shall seldom be permitted." St. Agnes took the injunction to heart and died without ever bathing.

|

St. Agnes of Rome lived ~3 centuries before St. Benedict, so the phrase "took the injunction to heart" is definitely false. 64.46.14.251 (talk) 22:19, 6 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 14 February 2024

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

Change "An estimate of the case fatality rate for the modern bubonic plague, after the introduction of antibiotics, is 11%, although it may be higher in underdeveloped regions." to "An estimate of the case fatality rate for the modern plague, after the introduction of antibiotics, is 11%, although it may be higher in underdeveloped regions." (removing the word "bubonic"). The case fatality ratio linked appears to refer to plague in general, rather than just the bubonic form. Wizzeh (talk) 06:02, 14 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Done Tollens (talk) 03:39, 15 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

b 2A00:23C8:CAB:AD00:B7C3:EDB1:9DCE:1FEA (talk) 19:02, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Is there any room (in this article) for a mention of the currently noticeable as well as medically significant genetic changes that were presumably impulsed by Black Death's dramatic toll?

Hello, here is what I am talking about: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05349-x 83.202.216.238 (talk) 08:25, 6 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 13 November 2024

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

The Black Death is known as the deadliest plague which started in 1346 and ended in 1353 5.30.182.159 (talk) 13:40, 13 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. Myrealnamm's Alternate Account (talk) 16:55, 13 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]