The Black Death

Catalog description

Investigates the 14th-century plague of the Black Death and the social and cultural upheaval it caused in medieval Europe and around the world. From the global spread of yersinia pestis in the Middle Ages to its 1348 arrival in Europe, the medical history of the plague serves as a lens through which to understand premodern--and modern--societies during times of pandemic crisis. An interdisciplinary examination of primary and secondary sources integrates the science of the Black Death within the complex religious, political, gender, and economic histories of early Europe.