Storiascopio · Era 8 of 12 · lower secondary year 1
The Black Death
1347–1352 · Messina, Sicily, then the whole of Europe
In short
In the autumn of 1347 some Genoese ships arrived in Messina from the Black Sea and brought the plague with them. The disease was caused by a bacterium spread by rat fleas, but nobody knew that at the time. In a few years it spread all over Europe and killed about a third of the population, perhaps even more. The writer Giovanni Boccaccio described it in the Decameron, in which ten young people take refuge in the countryside and tell each other stories.
Why it matters After the epidemic there were not enough workers, and this changed the economy, wages and life in the countryside.
Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Black Death”
Where we are in the era “Late Middle Ages”
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about 1050Event 23 of 251429
Your turn
Name ______________________ Class ______ Date __________
When did it happen? Find the date at the top and write it here:
Tell it in your own words: what happened?
Draw the scene below.
storiascopio.com/en/event/the-black-death/ · free worksheet, you may photocopy it for your class