Learning: The Bubonic Plague in Europe WH.T2.M6.04

Objective

• WH Standard 3.4: Students will explain the social, political, religious, technological, and economic changes in medieval Europe that created a context for later European

 Task

The Black Death arrived in Europe by sea in October 1347 when 12 Genoese trading ships docked at the Sicilian port of Messina after a long journey through the Black Sea. The people who gathered on the docks to greet the ships were met with a horrifying surprise: Most of the sailors aboard the ships were dead, and those who were still alive were gravely ill. They were overcome with fever, unable to keep food down and delirious from pain. Strangest of all, they were covered in mysterious black boils that oozed blood and pus and gave their illness its name: the “Black Death.” The Sicilian authorities hastily ordered the fleet of “death ships” out of the harbor, but it was too late: Over the next five years, the mysterious Black Death would kill more than 20 million people in Europe–almost one-third of the continent’s population.

• Review the sources provided in the Resources tab.
• Use what you learn from those sources to write a ONE (1) paragraph response in your own words to the following prompt:
  • PROMPT: Explain how the Plague significantly changed European civilization. 
• You may submit as a word document or in the text box.

 Resources

• Reading & Video: The Black Death, History Channel Links to an external site.
• Reading: Plague, Brown University Links to an external site.