HISTORY
The Black Death
TERM 3: FOCUS ON HN370
Wednesdays
Gillian Kenny
The Black Death of 1347-9 was the worst disaster in recorded medieval history. Disease and despair disfigured the face of European society. Tens of millions of people died – perhaps as many as 50 or 60 per cent of the total population in areas from which records survive. Many communities were wiped out and few were spared. It spread terror across Europe and was merciless in its progress. This course will use documents written at the time of the Black Death to illustrate the terror that the period instilled in people. People thought the end of the world had come. One such was Friar John Clynn of Kilkenny whose last written words were
'I leave parchment for continuing the work, in case anyone should still be alive in the future and any son of Adam can escape this pestilence and continue the work thus begun'.
The course will also consult the work of modern historians on the plague to assess long term effects. The emphasis will be on the Black Death itself, its nature, origins and immediate impact but time will also be spent considering the longer-term effects of the devastating mortality on both the people and the institutions of European society.
| BELFIELD | ||
| 6 Wednesdays | April 17, 24, May 1, 8, 15, 22 | 7.30pm - 9.30pm |
| FEE: €115 | Print Open Learning Application Form 2012.13 or ring (01) 716-7123 for Laser/credit card payment |
Tutor Bio
Gillian Kenny is a graduate of UCD and TCD where she completed her PhD in Medieval History. She is currently working on a comparative social history of Ireland, Wales and Scotland during the later medieval period.
Provisional list of key topics to be covered
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Europe, c. 1300: Famine and War
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Origin of the Plague
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The Plague in Southern Europe
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The Plague in Northern Europe
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Contemporary Descriptions of the Plague
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The Consequences
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Recurrences
Who is the course for?
This course is for people who wish to familiarise themselves with the causes and consequences of the greatest demographic catastrophe of recorded history. This course provides an introduction for people to one of the most traumatic but also most important episodes in European history.
Reading List:
The following is a selection of recommended texts for those interested in reading further around the course content. We advise that you do not buy books in advance of the course as your tutor will discuss the list and suggest the most relevant reading for particular interests.
David Herlihy, ed. Samuel K. Kohn, Jr., The Black Death and the Transformation of the West. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1997.
Rosemary Horrox, ed. and tr., The Black Death. Manchester Medieval Sources series. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1994.
The Black Death. The Impact of the Fourteenth Century Plague, ed. Daniel Williman. Binghampton, New York, 1982.
William H. McNeil, Plagues and Peoples. Doubleday, 1976.
J.F.D. Shrewsbury, A History of Bubonic Plague in the British Isles. Cambridge, 1970.
