July 6 – Some important events on this day.
1189 👉🏼 Richard the Lionheart is crowned King of England, upon the death of King Henry II
1348 👉🏼 Papal bull of Pope Clement VI issued during the Black Death stating Jews not to blame and urging their protection.
The Black Death was the single worst pandemic in the history of the world. Peaking between 1347 and 1351 in Europe, estimates of the death toll vary widely, but is generally believed to have killed between 50 to 125 million people. The Black Death was essentially the spread of the disease known as plague (which is sometimes used to refer to the pandemic itself), caused by the Yersinia pestitis bacterium which was carried by the fleas on black rats.
The infection is believed to have originated in China or Inner Asia. Carried along the Silk Road trading route, it destroyed the army of the Mongol ruler Jani Beg, who was besieging the Genoese town of Kaffa in the Crimea. Attempting to weaken the defenders, he flung infected corpses at the Genoese inside the city. Infected sailors went back to their hometown in Genoa, Italy, thus beginning the European outbreak.
The bubonic plague (a distinct form of plague) would cause large swolen spots under the armpits and on the legs, neck and groin; this was followed by vomiting of blood and acute fever. Bubonic plague had a fatality rate of around 80%.
The Black Death had a vast effect on European society. Jewish people were persecuted relentlessly by many during the outbreak, as rumors spread that Jews had deliberately poisoned wells combined with a deep reservoir of medieval antisemitism. On February 14, 1349, several hundred Jews were burned to death in the city of Strasbourg.
Since around half of Europe’s population was wiped out in an exceptionally short period of time, labor suddenly became extremely scarce, and wages for peasants much higher. Tensions around this would be one of the causes of the Peasant’s Revolt in England in 1381.
Recurrences of the plague happened throughout the centuries. Europe’s population did not recover to pre-Black Death levels for 200 years and some places that were extremely hard hit took until the 19th century to recover.
1415 👉🏼 Bohemian religious reformer Jan Hus is burned at the stake in Constance, Germany
1573 👉🏼 Córdoba, Argentina, is founded by Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera
1785 👉🏼 US Congress unanimously resolves the name of US currency to the “dollar” and adopts decimal coinage
1885 👉🏼 Louis Pasteur successfully give an anti-rabies vaccine to 9-year-old Joseph Meister, saving his life
1916 👉🏼 2nd of 4 fatal Jersey Shore shark attacks occur at Spring Lake when Charles Bruder (27) bled to death, 5 days after the 1st
1923 👉🏼 The Central Executive Committee accepts the Treaty of Union, signed in Moscow in December 1922, and the Russian Empire becomes the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
1967 👉🏼 Nigerian Civil War erupts as Nigerian forces invade the secessionist state of Biafra
1970 👉🏼 California passes 1st “no fault” divorce law
2016 👉🏼 Pokémon Go, the real-world mobile game by Niantic, is first released