Bubonic Plague AIM: Did the plague contribute to the decline of medieval civilization?

DO NOW – Read Introduction In 1347, a disaster struck the European population.  It began when a ship from Genoa in northern Italy docked in the Sicilian port city of Messina. The ship was returning from a trading post in the Black Sea port of Caffa. As the ship lay at anchor, some black rats scurried off it and ran into the city. In this way, the bubonic plague, known as the Black Death, entered Europe.

Symptoms of the Plague Large black swellings in their armpits and groin Sores called boils and dark bruises covered their bodies Burned with fever, coughed and spat up blood

The Plague Spread Quickly About a year before the arrival of the plague ship, travelers had returned from Asia with frightening news. A devastating disease was spreading from China to Central Asia, India, Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt, and Asia Minor. According to these travelers, the disease was wiping out the populations of entire countries.

Why Medieval Towns? Medieval towns provided perfect living conditions for these rats. No sewer systems. People would throw their garbage and human waste out their windows and into the streets. No garbage pickup like modern cities, so garbage would pile up while the rats would feast on it and multiply. Infected ships arrived in Venice, Genoa, and Marseilles. From these ports, the plague spread deeper and deeper inland infecting more people.

Activity – Trace the Spread of the Black Death DIRECTIONS: By studying a map that illustrates the spread of the plague, we can develop conclusions regarding its effect on the civilization of the late Middle Ages.

Directions Add dates next to cities Trace the path of the Black Death according to your directions (on handouts) Now draw a: 1.   Red line connecting one set of numbers 1 to 4 from Messina to Rome. 2. Blue line connecting one set of numbers from 1 to 7 from Messina to Paris. 3. Black line connecting one set of numbers from 6 to 8 from Paris to Hamburg.

Add Dates Trace the Route

Read Quote – What did people think and how did they react to the plague? “Tedious were it to recount, how citizen avoided citizen, how among neighbours was scarce found any that shewed fellow-feeling for another, how kinsfolk held aloof, and never met, or but rarely; enough that this sore affliction entered so deep into the minds of men and women, that in the horror thereof brother was forsaken by brother, nephew by uncle, brother by sister, and oftentimes husband by wife; nay, what is more, and scarcely to be believed, fathers and mothers were found to abandon their own children, untended, unvisited, to their fate, as if they had been strangers. . . .” — Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron

Exit 1. Answer multiple choice question. 2. Complete writing activity