Black Death

Rank the catastrophes from 1 to 5. 1 is the most important.

EXPERIENTIAL

You will take the role of a member of a family living in medieval Europe during the 1300s. You must travel among the various towns and avoid contracting the bubonic plague, a deadly illness that is sweeping the continent.

• Move your desk into teams of fourEach team will represent a familyEach member of the team must remove a card from the envelope providedIf you remove a card showing a skull and crossbones, report to the teacherWhen the music plays, move to the next city. Return your original card to the envelope before you move to a new town.

• If you have already contracted the plague, place the card you were given by the teacher in the envelope at the new town. Then lie in the graveyard (i.e. ground) to show you were killed by the plague.Repeat the processGood luck!

Where did the plague come from?

Arrived from Asia in 1347 via Genoese boats carrying rats with infected fleas

BUBONIC

People bitten by fleas

• Died within 2-3 Days

PNEUMONIC

Tramsitted through coughing

• Died with 2-3 Days

The Cycle

The Symptoms

Boccaccio

The Decameron

The victims ate lunch with their friends and dinner with their ancestors.

Attempts To Stop The Plague

Leeching

A Doctor's Robe

Flagellants

Hedonism

Enjoy life as long as possible

Asceticism

Denial of all things sinful

Pogroms Against the Jews

A Little Macabre Ditty

“A sickly season,” the merchant said,“The town I left was filled with dead,and everywhere these queer red fliescrawled upon the corpses’ eyes,eating them away.”

“Fair make you sick,” the merchant said,“They crawled upon the wine and bread.Pale priests with oil and books,bulging eyes and crazy looks,dropping like the flies.”

“I had to laugh,” the merchant said,“The doctors purged, and dosed, and bled;“And proved through solemn disputation“The cause lay in some constellation.“Then they began to die.”

“First they sneezed,” the merchant said,“And then they turned the brightest red,Begged for water, then fell back.With bulging eyes and face turned black,they waited for the flies.”

"I came away," the merchant said,

"You can't do business with the dead.

So I've come here to ply my trade.

You'll find this to be a fine brocade..."

AND THEN HE SNEEZED!!!!

Effects

Economic

Technological

Social

A Holy War

An Empire Strikes Back

Men of Cloth, Men of Letters

The Plague

11 min

9 min

The Vikings

10 min

8 min

• Flu Pandemic
• Tsunamis
• Climate Change
• Asteroid/Comet Impact With Earth
• Nuclear Terrorism

Black

Death

Bulbous

Wealthy people quarantined selves in countryside (inspired by Boccaccio and Chaucer

The Crusades

The Greatest King

10 min

The Sacking Of Rome

The Waning Empire

Common Thread of Christianity

8 min

10 min

5 min