Black Death: The Plague

Between 1347 and 1350, a devastating outbreak of bubonic plague, the Black Death, swept across Europe, wiping out nearly half the population and radically altering the political and economic landscape. This collection of primary source documents, which includes "Dance of Death" illustrations, first-hand accounts, contemporary medical advice, and a plague banner, shows students the dramatic impact the bite of a tiny flea had on fourteenth century Europe. This portfolio includes Reproducible Student Activities, including vocabulary, writing, research, and creative thinking exercises, and a teacher's response key. A translation and transcript pamphlet aids student comprehension of the primary source documents. Students also benefit from the comprehensive timeline, which lists events from 542 to 1665, and a map that charts the path of the plague. 4 Illustrated Broadsheet Essays: * The Plague Reaches Europe * Trying to Defeat the Plague * The Church and the Plague * The Rebirth 9 Primary Source Documents: * "Miracle in Rome," illuminated page from a fifteenth-century Book of Hours * Fourteenth-century English Inquisition Writ * Report on a fourteenth-century English Inquisition * The Lubeck "Dance of Death," 1463 * Italian plague banner, 1464 (Reduced facsimile) * Excerpt from A passing gode lityll boke necessarye & behoveful agenst the Pestilence, 1485 * "The Doctor's Visit," engraving from Johan de Ketham's Fasciculo Medicinae, 1495 * Two seventeenth-century plague crosses * Map: The Path of the Plague, 1347-1350