Lesson Objectives
We aim to understand the …
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Importance
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of
the
black
death
Lesson Objectives
The importance of the Black Death– What were the medical
ideas and practices at the time of the Black Death.
All will be able to… describe and explain
the nature of the Black Death and how it
spread (D)
Most will be able to… describe and explain
Medieval ideas on causes and 'cures' of the
Black Death (C)
Some will be able to… assess the impact of
the Black Death on attitudes to medicine
and disease (A)
What is it…
Get your phones out… You have a couple
of minutes to come up with definitions for
the words below – Write them down!
PHONES AWAY
So what was the Black Death ?
• Why would an epidemic like the Black Death travel much
faster in the 21st century ?
So what was the Black Death ?
• So we know that people in medieval times lived in small
villages. So epidemics of diseases didn’t usually spread over
the whole country. TILL…
1348
A disease reached England that had already
killed thousands of people in Europe…
ABOUT …
1/3
1.5m
Of the population dies
in an outbreak of the
bubonic plague known
as the Black Death.
Would go on and kill 1.5m out of 4m
between 1348 and 1350… How might
peasants react?
In 148# Character summarise the details of the black
death.
Use page 8 to help you…
- What is it?
- When was it?
- Who died?
Bonus points for Bubonic Plague –
Epidemic – 1348 - Buboes
Flow Chart – Rerragaen em ?
Flea drinks rat
blood that
carries the
bacteria.
Human is
infected.
Flea bites
human,
regurgitates the
blood into to
open wound.
Bacteria
multiply in the
flea’s gut
Create your
own flow
chart in your
books.
Gut clogged
with bacteria
What was to blame?
Religion was a very important part of people’s lives
because it provide explanations for so much that
happened…
-
Bad harvests.
Deaths of animals.
Someone becoming ill.
Why?
Why were religion and medicine
so closely linked…
What have they
got in common?
Doctor, Doctor…
Treatments for the bubonic plague were …not very effective.
Mainly because they did not know the true cause of the
plague.
Divide the list of treatments on page 9 into…
Those aimed at curing the plague.
Those aimed at preventing the plague.
EXT: Come up with your
own Dr Dr joke… Please be
funny…
Flagellation
Questions.
• Explain why people might go to a priest rather than a
doctor?
• Why did the plague spread more rapidly in towns than in the
countryside?
How…
• Label your own Plague Doctor…
Plague Doctors…
-
Visited victims to verify whether they were afflicted.
Mostly unqualified, qualified doctors left the city…
Wore a hat to show he was a doctor.
Wore a mask to protect the face.
Crystal eyes to protect eyes.
Beak stuffed with spices to purify air.
A wooden stick to push away victims.
Leather gloves to protect the hands.
Gown and boots.
Consequences
Think about who people turned to and who they didn’t…
Who was worst hit…?
Who did they blame?
• People lost faith with the medical profession and turned
back to superstitious and religious explanations of the
disease.
• A third of the population died with the towns being worst
hit because people lived so close together.
• People became less tolerant as they became more
frightened – minority groups like the Jews were falsely
blamed for the black death.
5–5–1
Summarise today’s topic in 5
sentences.
Reduce to 5 words.
Now to 1 word.
Keep It Simple Stupid
1
2
Y
B
8
3
4
6
7
5
G
R
Unusual positing of the planets Mars,
Jupiter and Saturn.
Poisonous fumes from Volcanoes and
earthquakes.
Bad Air (Miasma) from decaying
refuse, spread through the air.
An imbalance of the Four Humours.
Activities of groups of outsiders, such
as strangers or witches (in Europe
Jews were blamed).
Holding a piece of bread against
buboes and then burying it in ground.
Fasting and praying.
Eating cool things
Carrying herbs and spices to smell.
Walking in procession to a church, saying
prayers and whipping each other.
Cut open the buboes and drain the pus.
Tidying the rubbish from the streets.
Lighting a fire in the room.
Keeping the air moving by rining bells or
keeping birds flying around the room.
Not letting people enter the town or
village from other places or leaving the
area