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The Plague, the Church and Medicine1. In the 14th Century approximately one third of the European population died due to the Black Plague, 25 million in Europe and 60 million in Asia. The thing about the plague wasn’t that it was some kind of super disease, but rather that conditions were just right for the disease to have a disastrous impact. How people lived and what they believed made them particularly vulnerable.
2. Look at Handout 'Be a medieval doctor’. You need to match up the treatments with the complaints from a 1340’s doctor. What do these treatments tell us about medieval medicine? 3. Often the people who decided on treatments and those who were the doctors, were from the Church, but what percentage of people were Christians? Look at Handout 'Religion by the numbers’ and complete the tables and answer the bottom question. 4. Watch the videos on medieval beliefs and the importance of the Church. Copy down the below quote said in the video. “Those that follow the Church’s rules when alive were awarded after death, those who didn’t were punished in hell.” |
A cramped and dirty Medieval town in England.
London and Life Expectancy
1. Look at Handout ‘Cramped London’ - There were a lot of people in London before the plague hit, complete the handout and answer the questions in your workbooks. 2. Watch the video 'Filthy Cities Medieval London' (from 0.00 to 1.45 minutes and 5.45 to 13.46 minutes) which shows how disgusting and cramped London actually was! 3. Look at Handout 'Life Expectancy’ - How long did people live in the middle ages compared to now? Use the attached handout to work out average life expectancy and the contributing factors to this. 4. Summary - Conditions were just right in 1348 for the plague to devastate the population. London was... In terms of medical knowledge and health....People’s religious outlook... |
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Introduction to the spread of the Plague
1. Sing the nursery rhyme 'ring around the rosy'. 2. Watch the video about the meaning behind the rhyme 3. Check out this website which goes through the history of the nursery rhyme in more detail. |
How did the Plague spread?
1. We often say that we can learn lessons from the past that can be applied to the present, but the reverse is also true. In the case of the plague, some recent examples of infection can tell us about the spread of the plague historically. 2. In pairs, each read Handout ‘Article 1 and 2’ on people infected by the Plague. Read one article each and underline 5-7 important facts, then turn to your partner and summarise your article. After this, create a table of similarities and differences between the two cases. 3. Summary - The plague is spread by...This is probably how it happened in the middle ages. 4. In fact, it was not rats who spread the Plague, it was humans. Read the article called 'Black Death Study'. In your summary which you just wrote, add 'however…'. |
Where did the Plague come from?
1. Look at Handout ‘The spread of the Plague’. Analyse the two sources and have a guess where it came from. Look at a map and come up with 3 possible ways it could’ve made it to England. 2. Look at the the spread of the disease from Asia across the continent and then throughout Europe in the two website links below. 3. Watch the video on the Silk Road which connected Asia to Europe. 4. JacPlus 11.5 and read 'human settlement', 'growth of trade', 'outbreak in Asia', 'the siege of Caffa' and 'the spread through Europe'. Answer questions 1-4, 9-10. |
Extra Research
1. Look at the article on the generic profile of the plague. 2. Back in the middle ages human DNA was not immune to various diseases like we are today, just like the indigenous populations around the world during colonization. 3. Check out this website to research about the Plague. |
How did people protect themselves?
1. So 1/3 of the people died of the Black Plague in Europe. If you were alive back then how would you try to treat yourself and your family of the disease? Make a list of 5-10 ways you would protect yourself if you were alive in the 1340's. 2. Look at the 10 various ways they tried to treat themselves. Add these to your list of ways you would protect yourself against the plague. 3. Read JacPlus 3.16.3 'Medieval treatments for the Black Plague'. Add various suggestions to your list of ways people treated the Plague. 4. Look at Handout ‘Plague response sources’. Each type of primary source shows some type of response to the plagues. 5. Do you want to blame others? Read about what people did to the Jews. 6. Summary - Outline 3 ways the medieval population tried to treat people from the Plague. What advice would you give them to get rid of the Plague? |
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Extra Research
1. Watch History Channel - The Black Plague Parody 2. Use this interactive plague website to navigate through a medieval village. |
Impact of the Plague
1. What has been the most devastating event in terms of world population deaths? WW1, WW2, the Spanish Flu or the Black Plague? 2. Look at Handout ‘Plague population impact’ - Compare the stats from the four events. Create a pie chart indicating the world’s population affected by each of the four events. 3. So the population decimation was a huge impact of the Plague, but what other aspects of society and life in the middle ages could have been impacted by the Plague? In pairs, make a list of 5-10 things that changed because of the Plague. Think about society, daily life, opportunities, men/women, rich/poor etc. 4. Read JacPlus 3.16.4 'Effects of the Black Plague'. Add various suggestions to your list of things that the Plague impacted. |
Summary
Write a first hand account about the Plague.
Start with "The year is ___ and my name is _____. We have been struck by a terrible disease people are calling ______..."
Go on to talk about various impacts of the Plague on the people. You can include all topics covered under the Black Plague such as medicine, treatment, life expectancy, crowded London, where it came from and how it got to Europe.
Make your response into a story, with a medieval name and other characters, a scene, and an interesting story line. If you want to go the extra mile, include a friend's story into yours (intertwine both plots)
Write a first hand account about the Plague.
Start with "The year is ___ and my name is _____. We have been struck by a terrible disease people are calling ______..."
Go on to talk about various impacts of the Plague on the people. You can include all topics covered under the Black Plague such as medicine, treatment, life expectancy, crowded London, where it came from and how it got to Europe.
Make your response into a story, with a medieval name and other characters, a scene, and an interesting story line. If you want to go the extra mile, include a friend's story into yours (intertwine both plots)