THE BLACK DEATHThe Great Plague that changed
European History
The Triumph of Death
Painting was by Pieter Brueghel the Elder
Allegorically depicts the Black Death’s many devastating effects on life in Europe
Slide #1
A deadly plague in Europe—1346-1352 Bacteria carried by fleas who lived on
black rats Appeared in three forms:
Pneumonic: attacked the lungsSepticemic: appeared in bloodstreamBubonic: caused buboes on the body
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Across Asia and into Europe Italian merchant ships brought rats
to Europe First appeared in Sicily
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People were ignorant of its causeBlamed the stars, God’s anger,
and Jewish communities They tried ineffective cures
pomanders, flagellation, repentance of sins, flowers and herbs, chopped snake and molasses, etc
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Rumors were spread that Jewish people poisoned the wells of medieval areas.
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Killed one third of Europe’s population
LABOR SHORTAGE Peasants revolted and
demanded more freedom Working class moved to cities
to earn a better wages
Feudalism declined!
Slide #11 The Dance Macabre: a new art form influenced by the Black Death
Exit Ticket
Could a disease like the Black Death happen today? Yes? No? Why?
Giovanni Bocaccio
Wrote a book called The Decameron—setting was the time of the Black Death
From the introduction…. “…rather it was come to this, that a dead man then was of
no more account than a dead goat would be today.” “…such terror was struck into the hearts of men and
women by this calamity, that brother abandoned brother, and the uncle his nephew, and the sister her brother, and very often the wife her husband.”
“…everyone felt doomed and had abandoned his property, so that most houses became common property…”
“Although the cemeteries were full they were forced to dig huge trenches, where they buried the bodies by the hundreds.”