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

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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.”