Transcript File - Mr. Harrison`s History/law Site

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/disast
ers/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?
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
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:
Economic Effects:
People abandoned their friends and
family, fled cities, and shut themselves
off from the world.
The economy underwent abrupt and
extreme inflation, the prices of both
goods produced locally and those
imported from afar skyrocketed.
Some felt that the wrath of God was
descending upon man, and so fought
the plague with prayer.
The demand for people to work the
land was so high that it wages rose
Faith in religion , generally, decreased
after the plague
In general, wages outpaced prices and
the standard of living was subsequently
raised.