The Path of the Black Death

• Satan Triumphant: The Black Death, from lecture note on the History Guide, maintained by Steven Kreis, accessible through a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed Internet Public Library, offers a brief summary of the Black Death in Europe.
• For discussion of the likely social and economic effects of the Black Death read Social and Economic Effects of the Plague accessible through a link from the EDSITEment resource Decameron Web.
• NEH-funded Professor Monica Green (Arizona State University) has put together a syllabus for educators teaching the Black Death and contributed to the Black Death Digital Archive Project. 

NCSS.D1.1.9-12. Explain how a question reflects an enduring issue in the field.

NCSS.D2.His.1.9-12. Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.

NCSS.D2.His.2.9-12. Analyze change and continuity in historical eras.

NCSS.D2.His.5.9-12. Analyze how historical contexts shaped and continue to shape people’s perspectives.

NCSS.D2.Geo.2.9-12. Use maps, satellite images, photographs, and other representations to explain relationships between the locations of places and regions and their political, cultural, and economic dynamics.

NCSS.D3.1.9-12. Gather relevant information from multiple sources representing a wide range of views while using the origin, authority, structure, context, and corroborative value of the sources to guide the selection.

• Prepare a handout for a Description of the Plague. Be sure to remove the first sentence, which ends with the word "Messina," and the sentence beginning "When the inhabitants of Messina discovered," as they reveal that Genoese traders first brought the disease. This witness' account (written ten years after the fact by Michael Platiensis (1357) can be accessed through a link from EDSITEment website Geoffrey Chaucer.
• Students needing general background on life in the Middle Ages can view the exhibit The Middle Ages offered by the EDSITEment resource Learner.org.
• Create three student groups to work on Activity 3, The Dark Path of the Black Death. If desired, and you have sufficient time for more presentations, you can make six groups with two groups assigned to each challenge.
• In this lesson, students use firsthand accounts in learning about the Black Death. Students need to be aware of the effect of point of view and the potential for bias in such sources. EDSITEment resources offer some useful materials designed to help students and teachers work with primary sources.

The following materials from EDSITEment resources may be useful to teachers seeking expert advice on the use of primary documents:

• Using Primary Sources in the Classroom on American Memory
• Document Analysis Worksheets on Digital Classroom
• Making Sense of Evidence on History Matters

Analysis of Primary Sources on The Library of Congress, a link from American Memory, may be helpful to students preparing to interpret primary documents. This succinct but valuable lesson offers three basic steps for analyzing primary sources:

• The time and place rule
• Bias rule
• Questions for analyzing primary sources

Activity 1. Mapping the Black Death

In October of 1347, in Messina, Italy, on the island of Sicily, the plague first arrived in Europe. To introduce this devastating disease, share with your students this background on the Black Death and discuss the following:

• The rate at which the plague spread
• The rapidity of the progress of the disease in individuals
• The high mortality rate in the wake of the disease

NOTE: Details of the symptoms of the disease and the practice of medicine at the time are not the focus of the lesson and should be regarded as an extension for individual research. However, explain to students that most medical authorities agree that the disease called the Black Death was bubonic plague spread by fleas on rats and originated in Asia. Although the exact cause was unknown until much later, the disease was virtually untreatable without modern antibiotics. Students with such interests can conduct their own exploration into what was believed regarding the causes and treatment of the disease at the time, and the probable effect of some of the measures taken to prevent the spread of disease and on hygiene in general. See Extending the Lesson below.

After completing the class discussion on the movement of the plague, have students work independently using the The Path of the Black Death and the downloadable PDF, The Path of the Black Death in Europe.

When students have finished working independently on the map exercise, have volunteers share with the class their answers to the questions.

Now, share with your students the Description of the Plague, which states that the plague arrived at Messina on Genoese ships.

Activity 2. The Immediate Effects of the Black Death

The immediate effects of the plague were devastating. In this activity students will read primary sources in order to gain a better understanding of the spread and effects of the disease. Begin by asking students what answers, if any, primary sources can provide for the following:

1. How virulent was the plague? Did most people who got the plague survive or succumb?
2. Was recovery from the plague even possible?
3. Which particular groups (priests, doctors, merchants, urban versus rural population, for example) or classes of people (working class, craftsmen, ruling class, for example), if any, were most affected by the plague or was it an indiscriminate killer?

Discuss the likely answers to the questions above after students have read one or more additional firsthand accounts of the plague on its path through Europe, such as:

• Boccaccio: The Onset of the Black Death (Florence) from EDSITEment resource Internet Medieval Sourcebook (Boccaccio may not have witnessed the plague firsthand in Florence, but his father was a health official).

Next, discuss the extent of the plague after reading with the class the first two paragraphs of an account contemporary to the plague, Jean de Venette on the Progress of the Black Death (accessible through a link from EDSITEment resource Internet Public Library), starting with the words, "Some said that this pestilence …" (third paragraph) It offers a witness' perspective on the progress of the disease in Europe.

Share the map Spread of the Black Death accessible through EDSITEment resource Geoffrey Chaucer, which shows a more comprehensive view of the extent of the plague.

Photo caption

The spread of the Black Death, 1346-1351.

Wikipedia Commons

In Florence, Italy, after the plague subsided, an attempt was made to calculate the effect on the population. Share the very brief description The Death Toll, keeping in mind that the count may be exaggerated; modern demographic studies estimate the population of Florence in 1300 at 120,000 and by 1427 the number of people counted had fallen to around 37,000. However accurate the estimates are, it is undeniable that Florence suffered a huge, swift population loss. Then share with the class and discuss the Social and Economic Effects of the Plague. More information about the impact of the disease in rural areas can be found in this article from the Smithsonian Magazine. 

NOTE: Precise population figures were not always kept in medieval towns and cities. Undoubtedly, the devastation of the plague and the need to dispose of bodies quickly adds to the difficulty we have now in determining precise mortality rates.

Activity 3. Predictions About the Effect of the Plague

Now the class is ready to make some predictions as to the likely secondary effects of the plague. Write their predictions on a chart or on the board for future reference. Earlier in the 14th century, Europe had experienced widespread famine due to population growth and overuse of the land. Lead a discussion with the class about what students predict about the likely effects of the plague experience and a large decrease in population in mid-14th-century Europe. How do the following dimensions of society change?

1. rules and regulations governing such matters as sanitation and the conduct of business
2. hospitals and medical knowledge
3. attitude of the working class toward the ruling class, and the ruling class toward the working class
4. population in cities versus population in rural areas (Note: Though proximity may have led to greater mortality in cities, the period after the plague saw a movement of people from the country to the city.)
5. labor supply and wages
6. land usage and food supply (Note: Before the plague there had been insufficient land to produce enough food for the population, leading to famine.)
7. food prices 
8. price of goods 

Next, have students read the first six paragraphs of the analysis In the Wake of the Black Death (stopping after the sentence, "Everywhere their rents were in steady decline after the plague" at the end of paragraph six) accessible through a link from Internet Public Library. If desired, read additional secondary accounts on the effects of the plague such as Economic Disruption and the remaining paragraphs of Population Loss both accessible through a link from EDSITEment-reviewed website Geoffrey Chaucer.

Divide the class into three groups. Present the following assignments [found in the Student Study Activity for Groups 1, Group 2, and Group 3—or PDFs] to the groups. Each is designed to present insight into one aspect of the effect of the plague on life in Europe in the late 14th Century. In general, students should approach their reading of each primary source using the following general questions as a guide:

• What does the document state?
• What elements within the document have likely connections to the plague and its effects? In what way?
• In what ways, if any, does the document differ from other first- or secondhand accounts the class has read?
• What possible sources of bias or unintentional inaccuracy should be taken into account?
• The directions and questions for each group are found in the downloadable PDF, "The Effects of the Black Death."

When the groups have completed the assignments from the PDFs, have each group stage its interview(s). Ask audience members to summarize the likely connections between the plague and the documents/events highlighted by each presentation. As a class, look back at and evaluate the predictions the class made. Refashion each by consensus into a statement about what actually happened.

The Black Death in Europe in the mid-14th Century devastated the population, which was a terrible tragedy. Survivors found themselves in a changed world. Compare and contrast the likely ways in which the lives and attitudes of a peasant and a member of the ruling class would have been different after the plague than if the plague had never happened. The student should pick two or three aspects of life that might have changed. In the body of the essay, discuss each aspect in a paragraph or more, highlighting the differences for the peasant and for the member of the ruling class. To support the argument, the student should use information from the primary sources the class has encountered.

Students who want to know more about medieval healing practices can begin to explore their interest through the EDSITEment resource Learner.org. This website offers an exhibit on the Middle Ages, including a self-guiding, interactive activity on Health featuring Try Your Hand at Medieval Medicine. The home page of Health also offers links to web sites with further information. If desired, students can report back to the class what they have learned.

Is plague still contractible? Do people in the United States contract plague? Data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) show that it has occurred recently. 

Recommended Websites

• Learn how the Black Death impacted children from the website Children & Youth in History
• Explore the state of medieval medicine from and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and current information about plague transmission and treatment from the National Human Genome Research Institute and the Center for Disease Control (CDC)
• Read statistics of Black Death fatalities from the University of Michigan's journal Fragments 
• Analyze medieval and early modern images of disease compiled by National Public Radio (NPR)
• Learn about infamous plagues throughout history from National Geographic and the plague's impact on Western medicine from Harvard University
• See and transcribe a 14th-century chronicle detailing the Black Death at the British Library
• View a word bank of critical terms followed by a detailed article about Black Death from Utah State University
• Uncover the plague origin of Ring around the Rosie with the Library of Congress

Transcribed and edited primary accounts from Internet Medieval Sourcebook

• Boccaccio: The Onset of the Black Death
• How Many Of The Dead Died Because Of The Mortality Of The Year Of Christ 1348
• The Jacquerie (1358)
• Ordinance of Labourers
• Peasants' Revolt 1381
• Pistoia, "Ordinances For Sanitation In A Time Of Mortality"
• The Statute of Labourers