The Black Death 1347 - 1351
Learning goals By the end of this lesson, students will be able to: understand the causes of the Black Death describe the methods used to combat the plague identify the effects of the plague on Europe in the Middle Ages
Warm-up Talk to your elbow partners and come up with as many ‘household remedies’ as you can in 1 minute… Ready? Go!
“The victims ate lunch with their friends and dinner with their ancestors.” Boccaccio in The Decameron
Bring out your dead! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grbSQ6O6kbs
The Plague Arrives - Historians think that the plague arrived in England during the summer of 1348. During the following autumn it spread quickly through the south west. Few villages escaped. Churchyards were full with bodies. - The plague spread quickly during the winter of 1348-1349 to the north of England. By 1350, nearly the whole of Britain was infected with the plague. - By the end of 1350, nearly 2.5 million people were dead!
The Culprits http://www.awesomestories.com/disasters/black-death/what-is-black-death
The Famine of 1315-1317 By 1300 Europeans were farming almost all the land they could cultivate. A population crisis developed. Climate changes in Europe produced three years of crop failures between 1315-17 because of excessive rain. As many as 15% of the peasants in some English villages died. One consequence of starvation & poverty was susceptibility to disease.
1347: Plague Reaches Constantinople!
What were the symptoms of the plague?
Septicemic Form: almost 100% mortality rate. The Symptoms Bulbous Septicemic Form: almost 100% mortality rate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septicemic_plague
From the Toggenburg Bible, 1411
Medieval cure number 1 “The swellings should be softened with figs and cooked onions. The onions should be mixed with yeast and butter. Then open the swellings with a knife.”
Medieval cure number 2 “Take a live frog and put its belly on the plague sore. The frog will swell up and burst. Keep doing this with further frogs until they stop bursting. Some people say that a dried toad will do the job better.”
The Disease Cycle Human is infected! Flea drinks rat blood that carries the bacteria. Bacteria multiply in flea’s gut. Human is infected! Flea bites human and regurgitates blood into human wound. Flea’s gut clogged with bacteria.
Medieval Art & the Plague An obsession with death.
The Danse Macabre
Lancing a Buboe
Attempts to Stop the Plague “Leeching”
Attempts to Stop the Plague Flagellanti: Self-inflicted ‘penance’ for our sins!
Attempts to Stop the Plague Pogroms - violent riot or protest against the Jews “Golden Circle” obligatory badge “Jew hat”
Medieval Art & the Plague
Death Triumphant !: A Major Artistic Theme
The Mortality Rate 35% - 70% 25,000,000 dead !!!
What were the political, economic, and social effects of the Black Death??
Effects of the Plague on Europe Social Effects: People abandoned their friends and family, fled cities, and shut themselves off from the world. Some felt that the wrath of God was descending upon man, and so fought the plague with prayer. Faith in religion , generally, decreased after the plague Economic Effects: The economy underwent abrupt and extreme inflation, the prices of both goods produced locally and those imported from afar skyrocketed. The demand for people to work the land was so high that it wages rose In general, wages outpaced prices and the standard of living was subsequently raised.