The past, present and future of the bubonic plague

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archaeology, Black Death, Britain, England, health, medieval, Plague, plague of Justinian, WEA

The bubonic plague, which killed around 1/5 of the world’s population in the 14th century, is still around today — but it now claims only a few thousand lives each year. How did that number shrink so drastically? In this TED-Ed Original Sharon N. DeWitte investigates the causes and effects of the black death and explains how knowing this information can help us prepare for any future outbreaks of the disease.

Surviving the Black Death

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archaeology, Black Death, Britain, England, health, Leicestershire, Loughborough, Plague, WEA

Those of you who took the Black Death course may be interested in this recent research on the impact of the epidemic.

Ralph Tailor’s Summer: A Scrivener, his City, and the Plague

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archaeology, Black Death, Britain, education, England, Plague, post-medieval, WEA

Those on the ‘Black Death’ course may be interested in a book by Keith Wrightson called ‘Ralph Tailor’s Summer: A Scrivener, his City, and the Plague‘ (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2011), which has recently been reviewed at the Contagions blog. This focuses on what happens to one man when the plague comes to Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1635-6.

Digital Flythrough the Streets of 17th century London

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archaeology, Britain, Great Fire of London, Great Plague of London, London, Plague, post-medieval

A team of six students from De Montfort University taking part in the Crytek Off the Map project  have built a 3D representation of 17th century London before The Great Fire of 1666. Whilst it is conjectural, they have used street maps of the time and details from contemporary documents like Samuel Pepys’ diary to make it as accurate as possible. It’s a fascinating clip and also very useful for helping to visualise the London of the Great Plague in 1665.

Reading List: The Black Death

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archaeology, Black Death, Britain, education, Great Plague of London, medieval, Plague, plague of Justinian, post-medieval, WEA

Whilst it is not essential to do any background reading before the course begins, you may find it useful to do so. The reading list below contains books that you can read. You don’t have to read all of these. Indeed, we don’t specify any that you must read. Instead, these are readings you can use to gain a preliminary understanding of topics, as well as to study in more depth those parts of the course you are particularly interested in. You may also want to take a look at magazines such as British Archaeology, World Archaeology and Current Archaeology.

GENERAL

Crawford, D. 2009. Deadly Companions: How Microbes Shaped Our History

Scott, S and Duncan, C. 2001. Biology of Plagues: Evidence from Historical Populations

Slack, P. 2012. Plague: A Very Short Introduction

World Health Organisation Plague Manual: http://www.who.int/csr/resources/publications/plague/WHO_CDS_CSR_EDC_99_2_EN/en/

THE PLAGUE OF JUSTINIAN

Harbeck M, Seifert L, Hänsch S, Wagner DM, et al. (2013) Yersinia pestis DNA from Skeletal Remains from the 6th Century AD Reveals Insights into Justinianic Plague. PLoS Pathog 9(5): e1003349.

Rosen, W. 2008. Justinian’s Flea: Plague, Empire and the Birth of Europe

THE BLACK DEATH

Cantor, N. 2001. In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death and the World It made

Cohn, S. 2002. The Black Death Transformed: Disease and Culture in Early Renaissance Europe.

Hatcher, J. 2009. The Black Death: An Intimate History. Phoenix.

Kelly, J. 2006. The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death

Twigg, G. 1984. The Black Death: A Biological Reappraisal

Ziegler, P. 1998. The Black Death.

THE PEASANTS REVOLT

Jones, D. 2010. The Summer of Blood: The Peasants Revolt of 1381

DESERTED MEDIEVAL VILLAGES

Allison, K J, Beresford, M W, Hurst, J G. 1965. The Deserted Villages of Oxfordshire, Leicester University Press.

Miles, D and Rowley, T. 1976. Tusmore Deserted Village, Oxoniensia 4, 309-315.

Rowley, T & Wood, J. 2000. Deserted Villages. Shire

THE GREAT PLAGUE OF LONDON

Porter, S. 2012. The Great Plague of London

Moote, AL and Moote, DC. 2006. The Great Plague: The Story of London’s Most Deadly Year

Pepys, S. 2003. The Diaries of Samuel Pepys. Penguin Classics

Tomalin, C. 2012. Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self