The Great Death

“It is impossible for the human tongue to recount the awful truth… . The victims died almost immediately. They would swell beneath the armpits and in the groin and fall over while talking. Father abandoned child, wife husband, one brother another; for this illness seemed to strike through breath and sight… . In many places … great pits were dug and piled deep with the multitude of dead. And they died by the hundreds, both day and night”

THE BLACK DEATH

By the end of the lesson we should know…

The ways people tried to cure and prevent the Black Death

By the end of the lesson we should have discovered for ourselves…

The Symptoms of the Black Death

By the end of the lesson we might have worked out…

What people thought caused the Black death

BUBONIC

PNEUMONIC

SEPTICEMIC

A SYMPTOM is…

a sign that you have a certain illness

The word investigation means…

trying to work out details about something by carefully looking

at evidence

The word ‘natural’ (in this context) means…

Something that can be explained through

‘common sense’

reasoning

The word SUPERNATURAL means…

Something that cannot be explained, usually involving

gods or spirits

Whips: Flagellants used them to whip

themselves to say they were sorry

to God for their sins

Church bells: Rang continuously to push

away bad air

Ply well the scourge for Jesus’ sake,

 And God through Christ your sins

shall take . . .          Had it not

been for our contrition          All

Christendom had met perdition.

Evidence box #2

Sweet smells (rosemary, lemon): To burn

Sweet smells (herbs, pomanders): To carry with you

Strong smells: To bathe in

Abracadabra! Magicians write it to ward off the evil eye!

Amulets, emeralds & charms:

To stop curses

Frogs & chickens:

Put on buboes to drain poison

Urine: Drank it as a “cure”

Leeches:

To suck out bad blood

Clay & violets: Ointment applied to cuts

Herbs: To help you purge

‘bad humours’

Tree resin, roots of lilies

& human excrement (poo),

Onions, butter, yeast & figs

Smear onto buboes & then lance them!

Roasted shells, marigold,

ale & treacle

chopped up snake & wine

Potions for drinking

Bread, fruit & vegetables: Avoid

food that goes bad easily and

smells bad such as meat and fish

Orange with cloves: Carry around with you (if you are rich!)

Can you remember what all of these are used for?!