Demographic Crises
Popular Beliefs and Reactions
The trouble with learned opinion is that it comes slowly and it rarely makes much sense to ordinary folks, if they hear of it at all. Nor is their advice practical. Here is an example:
In the first instance, no man should think of death. . . . Nothing should distress him, but all his thoughts should be directed to pleasing, agreeable and delicious things. . . . Beautiful landscapes, fine gardens should be visited, particularly when aromatic plants are flowering. . . . Listening to beautiful, melodious songs is wholesome. . . . The contemplating of gold and silver and other precious stones is comforting to the heart.
The first sentence is great, for I've heard people say things like "if people would quit talking about the recession so much, maybe it wouldn't be so bad." It stems from a very human reaction that winces away from speaking of things that are truly horrible.
The rest of the comments are priceless. I can just envision Joe Peasant being told he should visit fine gardens and listen to melodious songs. I picture him contemplating his gold and silver. To a peasant or urban craftsman, advice like this would just sound like a very bad joke.
Popular Measures
Ordinary folk approached the problem from a practical angle. When they could, they fled. If they had no country estate to flee to, they simply wandered the roads, begging for food and hoping desperately that they would not get sick. Or, if sick, that they would recover. Some did, though no one understood why.
Fleeing or not, ordinary folk knew as well as the learned that the disease came from evil air, so the obvious response was to counter this with good air. Air, like sight, was not regarded as a passive thing but was active. It could invade. It could be attracted or repelled. You had to do something about it.
People burned all manner of incense: juniper, laurel, pine, beech, lemon leaves, rosemary, camphor, sulpher and others Handkerchiefs were dipped in aromatic oils, to cover the face when going out.
The cure of sound was another remedy. Towns rang church bells to drive the plague away, for the ringing of town bells was done in crises of all kinds. Other towns fired cannons, which were new and which made comfortingly loud din.
There was to end of talismans, charms and spells that could be purchased from the local wise woman or apothecary. People were desperate for a cure and would try anything, no matter how outlandish or strange. This was especially so when some person happened to do a thing or carry something and happened to survive. That object or ritual suddenly became a cure, at least locally.
Run Away!
In truth, about the only action that was effective was quarantine—simply staying far enough away that no fleas could reach you. Avoiding the sick was a natural enough instinct.
In Germany, there was a bishop who during mass offered the host at the end of a pole or on a long-handled spoon. The wealthy would flee to the countryside. Pope Clement VI, living at Avignon, sat between two large fires to breath pure air. The plague bacillus actually is destroyed by heat, so this was one of the few truly effective measures taken.