Expert: Maria - 8/24/2006

Question
the bubonic plague known as the black death wiped out what percentage western europes population

Answer
Hello,

The Bubonic plague, also known as the Black Plague,  because of the black spots it produced on the skin,  was caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and spread by fleas with the help of animals like the black rat, as it seems.
This terrible pandemic  struck Europe in the mid-late-14th century (1347–51), killing about a third of Western Europe's population as Medieval medicine had nothing to combat it, of course.


In fact about 25 million people died in about  five years between 1347 and 1352, one-third of Western Europe's people, since estimated population of Europe was 75 million in 1347, when the epidemic broke out, while it was 50 million in 1352, when it ended.

Best regards,
Maria
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Please note that your question refers to the Middle Ages History (from  AD 476 to 1492), not to Ancient /Classical History which is the specific field of this category.