The Black Death

4.0 credits

This course examines the Black Death (1346-53) as an epidemiological, cultural, and historical phenomenon. Analyzing such disparate types of evidence as paleogenetics, chronicles, art, and literature, we will address questions of the plague’s etiology, spread, mortality rate, and social and economic effects. Inspired by our own recent experience with COVID-19, we will also consider cultural reactions to pandemic disease and rampant death, as well as the disparate interpretations and responses of contemporaries and modern observers alike.