The Black Death - New Zealand School History

World History

The Black Death

Why is the Black Death Important? 

Killed over 1/3 of Europe’s population (Between 20 to 25 million people!)

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Greatly impacted the economic, social, cultural, religious, and political make up of Europe

Curriculum Outcome: Describe the Black Death 

Unit Objectives: The student will be able to:

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Apply a modified version of the historical method of inquiry to examine and analyze a primary source painting from the Black Death time period Examine a primary source reading to identify the symptoms and reactions of people to the Black Death Participate in a lecture/discussion/note taking activity about the causes, transmission, reactions, and economic impacts of the Black Death Read and extract important information about the impact of the Black Death on the economy and society of Europe in a homework assignment

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Unit objectives continued:  

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Examine the geographic theme of diffusion by studying the path followed by the plague View and understand a PBS video explaining the historical & scientific research that was used to identify a genetic mutation that protected people from the Black Death and compare/contrast it to other disease Read a scientific article about the spread of the Black Death and AIDS Complete a graphic organizer to compare/contrast the Black Death & AIDS Describe the Black Death on a Quiz

Addressed Standards:      

Social Studies Standards: History 1---Chronology & historical phenomena History 2—Research/examination of primary sources History 4---Content—Transition from Middle Ages to Renaissance—Black Death Geography 1---Movement (Diffusion) Economics---Impact on Economy

Addressed Standards:   

Science Standards 1, 6, & 7 English 1 Health Professions Integration

What were the political, economic, and social effects of the Black Death??

Homework After the Religions Test 

The Black Death Reading Studyguide

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Read and highlight important facts on pages 2,3, & 5 of the handout. Then complete the following questions.

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Read & complete the map activity on page 4.

Day 1 Plan Turn in Homework (Reading Questions)  Warm-up: Primary Painting on the Black Death Examination/Discussion  Think/Pair/Share: “Avoid it like the Plague”  Background of The Black Death  Primary Source Reading & Notes on Black Death  Graphic Organizer notes & Visuals on Black Death  HW: Black Death quote writing assignment

Warm-up: 

Examine the primary source painting and answer the questions.

“The Triumph of Death” Pieter Brueghel (1530-1569)   

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What do you see? Describe the landscape. What kinds of activities are the people doing? What seems realistic?/Unrealistic? How do you feel looking at this painting? What is implied in the painting? What kind of story is the artist trying to tell?

Medieval Art & the Plague

Bring out your dead!

The Danse Macabre 

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Inspired by Black Death, Danse Macabre is an allegory on the universality of death and a common painting motive in latemedieval periods. From the Dance of Death by Hans Holbein the Younger (1491).

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Painted in 1485 by Hieronymous Bosch, Death and the Miser is an allegorical work of art that reflects the impact of religion and disease on European society during the Middle Ages. The painting focuses on an old miser dying in his bed and staring at a shrouded skeleton walking through the door. The same miser is depicted again at the bottom of the painting as a younger and healthier man placing coins into a lockbox.

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The doctor's robe. The nose of the sinister costume was supposed to act as a filter, being filled with materials imbued with perfumes and alleged disinfectants. The lenses were supposed to protect the eyes from the miasmas. Illustration from Historiarum anatomicarum medicarum (1661), by Thomas Bartholin.

“Avoid 

it like the Plague”

Explain the above expression/quote using a Think/Pair/Share.

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Timeline of Black Death

Middle Ages (770 - 1350)771 - 814 Reign of Kind Charlemagne 900 Arab Physician Rhases identifies plague, smallpox, and rabies as infectious. 1096 - 1219 Crusades

1347 - 1350 Black Death 

Renaissance (1350 - 1600) 1450 Gutenberg invents printing press 1492 Columbus discovers America 1503 Leonardo Da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa 1528 Severe outbreaks of plague in England 1563 General outbreaks of plague in Europe After the Renaissance 1665 GREAT PLAGUE OF LONDON

Have you ever sang this nursery rhyme? 

A chilling rhyme would evolve from the symptoms of the dying and sentiments of the living… "Ring around the rosie, A pocketful of posie, Ashes, Ashes, All fall down."

How does it relate to the black Death? 

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The symptoms of the disease included a rosy red rash in the shape of a ring on the skin (Ring around the rosy). Pockets and pouches were filled with sweet smelling herbs ( or posies) which were carried due to the belief that the disease was transmitted by bad smells. The term "Ashes Ashes" refers to the cremation of the dead bodies! The death rate was over 60% and the plague was only halted by the Great Fire of London in 1666 which killed the rats which carried the disease which was transmitting via water sources.

The English version of it “Ring a ring of roses, A pocket full of posies, Atishoo, atishoo, We all fall down.” 

The English version of "Ring around the rosy" replaces Ashes with (Atishoo, Atishoo) as violent sneezing was another symptom of the disease and was closely followed by 'falling down' or sudden death.

Let’s examine this Primary Source 

With a partner read the account of the Black Death written by Michael Platiensis in 1357.

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Find out the symptoms of the Black Death and how it affected people

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Then complete the chart

Symptoms of the Plague Infection spread to everyone who had intercourse (came into contact) with the diseased  Pain throughout whole body  Boils on thighs and upper arms  Vomiting of blood  Infection spread to people who touched or used the things of the diseased 

The Symptoms Bulbous

Septicemia Form: almost 100% mortality rate.

Reactions to the Plague      

Men hated others because of disease Father would not tend a son with disease People confessed sins and drew up last will & testament Ecclesiastics, lawyers, & attorneys refused to enter the homes of the diseased Relatives of dead would not enter homes of the dead Servants were paid high wages to bury the dead

More Reactions… Servant shortage because they died from the disease  Groups of people (Messinians) emigrated or moved to try to escape plague  Many people hoped the Saints would deliver them from the disease—wanted relics & bones of Saints brought to their towns 

More Reactions…  People

made pilgrimages hoping God would help them  Buried bodies outside of town walls  People in Catania would not help the people trying to escape the disease  All ecclesiastics given the priestly powers of absolution of sins

Attempts to Stop the Plague

A Doctor’s Robe

“Leeching”

Attempts to Stop the Plague

Flagellanti: Self-inflicted “penance” for our sins!

Attempts to Stop the Plague Pograms against the Jews

“Golden Circle” obligatory badge “Jew” hat

Graphic Organizer of the Black Death

Day 1 Homework  

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Examine a primary source quote Boccaccio said that the victims, "ate lunch with their friend and dinner with their ancestors in paradise." What did he mean in this quote? Your answer should be at least five sentences.

“3,2,1” Exit Slip   

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3 things you found out 2 interesting things 1 question you still have Complete paper and hand in as you leave class

Day 2 Plan 

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Warm-up: Respond to the statistic Think/Pair/Share Video: “The Mystery of the Black Death” & studyguide questions Article: “ Black Death and AIDS” HW: Venn Diagram on the Black Death & AIDS

Respond to this statistic 

“Every 25 seconds another person in Africa gets infected with HIV”

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Write down your thoughts…What are some similarities between the Black Death & AIDS?

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View the PBS special

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Answer the questions

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Discuss as a class

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List 4 ways in which people tried to prevent/control the Plague.

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Quarantined Towns Quarantined Houses once a family got sick Doctors wore masks

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What is the great mystery concerning the Plague?

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gave some people the power to survive this deadly plague

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Why was the town of Eyam, England chosen to solve this mystery? Town was quarantined but ½ of the people survived; some who had the plague even survived Genes (DNA) of those people’s descendants can be tested

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How is the plague like/not like Anthrax? Animal anthrax shared symptoms with the plague Differs in that it was transmitted through the air, kills in 48 hours

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Explain the importance of the following people in solving the mystery of the Plague. Elizabeth Hancock—all six members of her family died; she nursed them but survived Steve Crohn---partner of a homosexual who died of AIDS; high risk behavior that did not lead to AIDS Margaret Blackwell---she had the plague but survived

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What is Delta 32? How does it stop the spread of the Plague and Aids? Delta 32 is a genetic mutation that could block the plague from entering the blood cells; created resistance Genetic mistake that gave some people protection from the plague Delta 32 ---genetic resistance to AIDS

Day 2 Homework 

Use information from the video: “The Mystery of the Black Death” & studyguide questions and the article: “ Black Death and AIDS” to Complete the Venn Diagram or the compare/contrast chart on the Black Death & AIDS

Exit Slip Day 2 

1.What is significant about the Delta 32 discovery?

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2.What role did primary resource research play in the Delta 32 discovery?

Day 3 Plan     

Warm-up: Examine Primary Source Quote of Poet John Donne. Review of Black Death Reading Studyguide Impact of Black Death Think/Pair/Share Review of Venn Homework: Study for Black Death Test

Warm-up: 

Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

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Poet John Donne wrote these lines in his "Meditation XVII" as the feared Black Death ravaged his native London in 1624.

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What did he mean by this quote?

Let’s discuss the study guide answers

What were some of the symptoms of the Black Death?  

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Black, egg-sized lumps, oozing blood & pus, formed in the armpits & groins; Boils & blacked spots dotted bodies; Foul smell—wounds, blood, sweat, & breath; Black skin & tongue; some coughed up blackened blood; intense pain; quick death

Illustration of the Black Death from the Toggenburg Bible (1411).

Why did the city officials try to keep the trade ships out of Messina? 

To keep the disease from spreading to their city

What happened when people fled towns and cities infected with the Black Death? 

They spread the illness further & faster.

What caused the Black Death or bubonic plague? 

It was caused by bacteria, which developed in the blood of a certain flea. The fleas spread the disease to rats. The fleas bit the rats by inserting a pricker into the rat to feast on its blood. With the inflected flea’s stomach blocked, it would regurgitate the rat’s blood along with the plague bacteria.

The Culprits

How was the bubonic plague spread to humans? 

A bite from an infected rat or flea could then pass the infection to a human. Farm animals, such as sheep and hogs also contacted the disease and spread it to their masters.

Where did the bubonic plague start? How did it spread to Europe? 

It probably began in China, and then spread to central Asia, then to India and Persia. Then to Syria, Egypt, and Asia Minor (Turkey). Trade ships and land caravans from the East spread the disease to Europe. Also central Asians warriors may have also brought the disease to Europe when they invaded in 1346.

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The Black Death spreads in Italy

The Black Death spreads in France

How was the bubonic plague used as a war tactic? 

Warriors loaded bodies of dead in catapults and flung them over the walls into the city of their enemies.

How did people try to escape the Black Death? 

They fled the infected cities and towns. People stayed to themselves, refusing to come into contact with outsiders, even their own servants. Family members abandoned one another.

How did the Black Death nearly drive some people insane? 

Many danced wildly in graveyards hoping to drive away the evil spirits that brought the disease to their town. Also hoped to keep dead from arising to spread the disease. Many danced themselves into exhaustion or died of self-induced fear.

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Flagellants practiced self-flogging to atone for sins. The movement became popular after general disillusionment with the church's reaction to the Black Death.

How many people died from the Black Death? 

20 million or 1/3 of Europe’s population

Activity 

Pass out color cards at the beginning of class. Have students put them on their desk. After this questions, have students move with their cards to the center of the room. Then have 1/3 of the students ,indicated by their card color, move to the side of the room. Examine the remaining number of students to illustrate the great loss of the Black Death.

What are some reasons why the Black Death killed so many people in Europe?   

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People tried to flee it and ended up spreading it faster & further People did not know what caused it—ineffective treatments Very contagious disease Very quick disease—most people died within three days Doctors caught it from patients Priests caught it from people Farmers caught it from livestock Cities—filth—rats were common—rats carried the disease

Negative Effects of the Black Death   

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Jews were blamed for plague and killed Brought out the worst in people People farmed less, produced fewer goods, and became less enterprising--economies plunged into chaos Food grew scarce Prices rose causing inflation Scarcity of labor

Positive Effects of the Black Death  

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Worker shortage caused worth of labor to increase Peasants gained economic power Peasants escaped feudal services Serfs gained freedom Peasants became landowners Survivors were wealthier and bought more

More Positive Effects…  

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Inflation declined Business flourished, great trading centers were established in towns and cities Increase in profits New banking industry, accounting firms & large international trading companies improvement in standard of living

Peasant Living Increased

Think/Pair/Share   

Evaluate which effect had the greatest impact Explain your reasoning Use the Think/Pair/Share to record your answers

Something to think about…. 

What other measures might have been taken under 14th century conditions had the transmission of the plague through fleas and rats, as well as by direct human to human transmission, been known?

Black Death & AIDS 

How are they alike?

Black Death & AIDS 

How are they different?

Exit Slip Day 3 

1. List 2 positive effects of the Black Death

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2. List 2 negative effects of the Black Death.

Day 3 Homework 

Study for the Black Death test!

Can we apply the Black Death to our essential questions? 

Are we who we were?