The Black Death in the history of western civilization.

ranks as one of the most catastrophic events in the history of western civilization. During the period from 1347 to 1351 as many as 40 million people, a third of the population of Europe, died as a direct or indirect result of the bubonic plague. This demographic catastrophe had far reaching consequences for all Europeans. For example, Europe’s ruling classes were forced to deal with new political and economic realities, such as a perpetual labor shortage that empowered the working classes as never before. The Black Death also had a profound impact on medieval European culture, as the Catholic Church, for one thousand years a foundation of European culture, faced new challenges from those who beleived that Europeans had been abandoned by God. Finally, western civilization saw the emergence of a pessimism that led to an increased emphasis on the supernatural that was manifested in the rise of “Cults of Death” and a focus on witchcraft and black magic. Directions For this discussion, you will be reading one primary source and one secondary source article: Primary source – the Introduction to Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron (here is some additional background on the Decameron) The article you will be reading for this assignment is by Barbara Tuchman, and is entitled “The Black Death.” It is an excerpt from her classic work, A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century. Here is the link to the reading – The Black Death (.pdf format) Please use these study questions as the basis for the online class discussion. You do not have to answer the questions literally, think of them as a study guide to help get you started on the discussion. 1. What was the cause of the plague, and how did it spread? 2. How did people explain the plague and how did they treat its victims? What roles did science and the Church play? 3. How did individuals react to the massive catastrophe? 4. How did the Black Death affect the population of Europe? What impact did it have upon labor relations, productivity, and the economy? 5. What was the human condition after the plague? How did the plague affect the survivors?