The

Black Death
The Black Death was a devastating plague that swept across Europe, North Africa
and Asia during the fourteenth century. As contacts expanded, individuals and
communities were no longer living isolated and thus disease began to spread more
easily.

It was a major crisis in history that caused an immense loss of life and hastened
significant economic and social changes in the late Middle Ages.

Overarching Question

Describe the living conditions of the fourteenth century in

Europe.
In order to answer the overarching question, you must work through the
following activities/check list.

Activity One: Complete the source activity. Be sure to read through each source
carefully. These sources will be used as your evidence/examples throughout
your response.

Activity Two: View the following clip, The Deadly History of Public Health
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rXqwLks7zw). Compile a list of notes
that focus on health and hygiene during the Middle Ages.

Activity Three: Complete the reading attached, Living Conditions. Extra

reading from the textbook, page 298.

Activity Four: Individually, you are to answer the overarching question. Make
sure you tie in all of the aspects reflected upon above. Remember to use the
PEEL structure.

Activity One:

Read the following sources and complete the following:
- For each source, list words that describe how people lived during this period.


[There was] filth running in open
ditches in the streets, fly-blown
meat and stinking fish,
contaminated and adulterated ale,
polluted well water, unspeakable
privies and epidemic disease
which were experienced
indiscriminately by all social
classes.

Source A- Conditions in Bristol,
Britains second largest city.

The streets and lanes are foul with

human faeces, the air of the city
poisoned to the great danger of men
passing.

Source B- King Edward III letter
of complaint.
Without running water or
bathrooms, personal hygiene was
poor as people rarely bathed and
their clothing was often visibly
dirty. Rats and other venim such as
lice and fleas flourished in these
unsanitary conditions and shared a
close relationship with people.

Source C- Ken Webb, Cambridge

Two
out of every 10 babies died in

first 12 months of life. Many
the
Source Bd- ied
children
King
before
Edward
they Iw
II ere
letter
five
years
old. People who reached the
of complaint.
age of 20 would probably lie until
they were 40. Wealthier people
could live up to 10 years longer.

Source D- Retroactive1

Activity Three:

Living Conditions

Some 650 years ago, European cities, towns and villages were different places in
which to live. Populations were growing rapidly, with medieval towns and cities
becoming very congested and unhealthy. People emptied their garbage and dirty
water into the narrow unpaved lanes. Sanitation was very basic, with streets
often used as open sewers, which eventually seeped into sludge choked rivers
and streams. Peasants had baths only once or twice a year. Wealthy people
might bathe more frequently, as they had servants to heat and carry the water
from the kitchen stove to the bathtub.

People did not live very long in the medieval era. Life Expectancy was very low;
barely 30 years on average. This was due in part to the high number of children
dying in infancy, along with deaths in child-birth and high toll brought about by
infectious diseases spreading rapidly in overcrowded conditions.