<P> Renewed religious fervour and fanaticism bloomed in the wake of the Black Death . Some Europeans targeted "various groups such as Jews, friars, foreigners, beggars, pilgrims", lepers, and Romani, thinking that they were to blame for the crisis . Lepers, and other individuals with skin diseases such as acne or psoriasis, were singled out and exterminated throughout Europe . </P> <P> Because 14th - century healers were at a loss to explain the cause, Europeans turned to astrological forces, earthquakes, and the poisoning of wells by Jews as possible reasons for the plague's emergence . The governments of Europe had no apparent response to the crisis because no one knew its cause or how it spread . The mechanism of infection and transmission of diseases was little understood in the 14th century; many people believed the epidemic was a punishment by God for their sins . This belief led to the idea that the cure to the disease was to win God's forgiveness </P> <P> There were many attacks against Jewish communities . In February 1349, the citizens of Strasbourg murdered 2,000 Jews . In August 1349, the Jewish communities in Mainz and Cologne were annihilated . By 1351, 60 major and 150 smaller Jewish communities had been destroyed . These massacres eventually died out in Western Europe, only to continue on in Eastern Europe . During this period many Jews relocated to Poland and Russia, receiving a warm welcome from King Casimir . </P> <P> The plague repeatedly returned to haunt Europe and the Mediterranean throughout the 14th to 17th centuries . According to Biraben, the plague was present somewhere in Europe in every year between 1346 and 1671 . The Second Pandemic was particularly widespread in the following years: 1360--1363; 1374; 1400; 1438--1439; 1456--1457; 1464--1466; 1481--1485; 1500--1503; 1518--1531; 1544--1548; 1563--1566; 1573--1588; 1596--1599; 1602--1611; 1623--1640; 1644--1654; and 1664--1667 . Subsequent outbreaks, though severe, marked the retreat from most of Europe (18th century) and northern Africa (19th century). According to Geoffrey Parker, "France alone lost almost a million people to the plague in the epidemic of 1628--31 ." </P>

What did the black plague do to your body