Flagellants: Priorities Fail

The Black Plague must have sucked. Big time. It was spread by rats who had fleas that carried the disease, and it spread like a crazy motha. Reaching Europe in October of 1347, it went from Italy to France, and then to Spain by the end of that year. By the end of 1348, it had passed through Germany and into England. Then, in 1349, it hit northern Europe, followed by its spread to Eastern Europe in 1351. All this time, the plague was freakin messin shit up. People had fevers, a lot of ugly swelling, and bleeding BENEATH the skin (yuck). 50 to 60 percent of everyone that got the Plague died. That's a lot, dude. In total, Europe lost 25 to 50 percent of its total population. And all of this mayhem was coming in the 14th century, a time of huge amounts of ignorance to any type of medical knowledge (see "Science Fail").

The Flagellants, however, can give us a laugh or two in this time of suckyness. Their beloved church had no answers for this devastating epidemic, so they decided to go it alone religiously. Their logic was the bomb: Everyone is dying because God is mad at us. Because God is mad at us, we should walk around from town to town half naked and whip ourselves all day long. Couldn't ask for a bigger priorities fail.