1. Ms. Susan M. Pojer Horace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY
The Black Death
Ms. Susan M. Pojer Horace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY

2. The Culprits

3. The Famine of
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 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.

4. 1347: Plague Reaches Constantinople!

5. Septicemic Form: almost 100% mortality rate.
The Symptoms
Bulbous
Septicemic Form: almost 100% mortality rate.

6. Lancing a Buboe

7. 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.

8. Boccaccio in The Decameron
The victims ate lunch with their friends and dinner with their ancestors.

10. Attempts to Stop the Plague
“Leeching”
A Doctor’s Robe

11. Attempts to Stop the Plague
Flagellanti: Self-inflicted “penance” for our sins!

12. The Black Death
The Black Death, or bubonic plague, struck England in
The Black Death was highly contagious and killed approximately one third of the population.
The Black Death caused the end of feudalism.

13. How did the plague affect the feudal system?
Peasants and workers were able to demand more rights and take advantage of opportunities to work due to so much death
Increase in wages for serfs’ labor
Higher demand for work meant the serfs could ask for more money