1. Today’s Goals
Know what the plague actually was and how it entered Europe.
Know how the plague changed Europe and even our world today.

2. The Black Death Other Names it is known by: The Plague
The Black Plague
The Bubonic Plague

3. Deadly diseases in the 21st Century
HIV Virus
Small Pox
Anthrax
Ebola Virus
Influenza
Plague

4. Small Pox Pictures (1)

5. Small Pox Pictures (2)

6. There were two types of plague in 1347-50.
Bubonic Plague
Pneumonic Plague

7. Bubonic Plague Infection collected in the lymph glands.
Large walnut-size boils formed usually around the neck, armpits, and groin area.
Death occurred in three days from infection.

8. Modern Pictures of Bubonic Plague (1)

9. Modern Pictures of Bubonic Plague (2)

10. Pneumonic Plague Infection occurred in lungs. Difficulty breathing
Coughing up blood was common.
Death occurred in two days from infection.

11. Where did plague begin? Lake region of Central China.
An unknown event may have caused the plague bacteria to spread out the area.

12. How is plague spread? Plague was carried by rats.
Plague was spread by fleas.
People’s of Europe lived in very squalid conditions and personal hygiene was not a priority.
View video clip.

13. How did plague enter Europe?
Plague spread from China to India then to the Middle East.
Italian merchants in the Crimea contracted the plague in Caffa.
The merchants then sailed to Sicily where the rats left the ships and spread plague into Europe.

14. A side note: Biological Warfare
Trebuchet’s were used to catapult bodies over Caffa city walls, infecting the enemy army and civilians.
Video clip

15. The human toll.
1/3 to ½ of Europe’s population was destroyed by plague. 25 million dead.
Many in Europe thought that plague was the end of the world.
If this were to happen in American Fork & the world today. How would it affect you, your community, and your country?

16. The human toll (2) In 14th century Europe
Parents abandoned infected children.
People fled their homes.
People turned to the church for help.
Doctors refused to help patients.
Clergy refused to perform last rites on dying victims.

17. The human toll (3)
Over one million people fled to Rome. Only one in ten survived plague in Rome.
Those living in cities and towns were more likely to become infected.
Gravediggers were busy day and night.

18. The Jewish connnection.
Jews throughout Europe were blamed for plague (poisoning water supplies) and many were burned at the stake.
Europeans ignored the fact the Jews lost their families too due to plague.

19. Effects of the plague Feudalism fell apart.
Why do you think this happened?
Most of the landowners had succumbed to plague.
The serfs and peasants now demanded a wage for their work and in many cases assumed land for their own.
The Hundred-Years War between Britain and France.
Advent of the gunpowder cannon made feudal warfare obsolete.

20. Effects of the plague (2)
The Church lost much of its hold over people.
Loss of clergy and wealth to plague.
People were unhappy with the church’s inability to deal with the plague.
Economic system was in shambles. It took over 100 years for Europe to recover.
Medical knowledge advanced with permissions by the Church to perform autopsies.
Smaller outbreaks of plague persisted even to this day.

21. Plague prone areas in the world today.

22. A child’s game Ring-a-ring o’roses A pocket full of posies,
A-tishoo! A-tishoo!
We all fall down.

23. The Pope and the Emperor.

24. Orchestra of the Dead.