ONLINE! The Great Black Death

While historians do not believe that history repeats itself, the study of past events does shed light on our contemporary experience. Thus we cannot look at the plague that struck Europe in the mid-fourteenth century—the deadliest pandemic in human history—to help predict the outcome of our current pandemic. Nevertheless, we can understand our own predicament better through the lens of that distant human tragedy. The bubonic plague reached Europe in 1347 and by the time it had run its course, up to 60% of the European population had died. It resulted not only in a devastating human toll, but powerful religious and economic turmoil as well. This course will trace that history, looking at its causes but especially the upheaval in European society that resulted and which still has consequences.