HISTORY 345--THE BLACK DEATH/SPRING 2007

Thursday afternoons, 2:30-5:50/Jeanmarie 360

Dr. George Dameron

Department of History/Library 306

Office Hours:  Monday, 1-2; Wednesday, 2-4, and by appointment

Email:  gdameron@smcvt.edu

Website:  http://academics.smcvt.edu/gdameron

 

 

The human and ecological catastrophe of the Black Death in the middle of the fourteenth century was the most serious and devastating epidemiological crisis in world history.  One-third to a half of the entire population of Europe and equally high proportions of people in Asia and North Africa perished.  The threat of limited or world-wide nuclear war after 1945, the AIDS epidemic and hemorrhaghic fevers in the past two decades, and the recent and horrifying ecological and natural disaster in the Indian Ocean in 2004 have invigorated both professional and popular interest in the study of the Black Death and its consequences.

 

The purposes of the course are several: 1) to use the Black Death as a case study to examine both the impact of disease on human history and the consequences of human history on the development of disease, 2) to expose the student to recent research on the impact of the Black Death in medieval Europe, 3) to examine how human societies over time have reacted to cataclysmic epidemiological, demographic, and ecological disasters, 4) to encourage a global approach to the understanding of history, 5) to encourage critical thinking about the past through a careful study of primary sources, 6) to offer the student an opportunity to do advanced research on a topic of his or her choosing associated with the Black Death, 7) to compare and contrast the experience of the Black Death with human encounters with other diseases in history, and 8) to fulfill one of the 4-credit elective requirements in the History major or Medieval Studies minor.

 

Prerequisites

The prerequisite for the course is either History 105, History109, History 111 or Humanities 101, or permission of the instructor.  Except in very unique and exceptional circumstances, students should have Junior or Senior standing.

 

Requirements:

·         participation, involvement, completion of reading assignments, and attendance in weekly seminar meetings (20% of final grade); note:  students who miss a seminar meeting for whatever reason will need to submit a 2-page focus paper on the assigned readings for that day within two weeks of the missed seminar; as a courtesy, students should inform me in advance of any anticipated absence; please arrange all travel arrangements so that you will not miss any scheduled classes;

·         a 12-15 page research paper on any topic associated with the Black Death or its consequences (political, economic, social, cultural) (40% of final grade, due Friday, May 4) (NOTE: for every day the paper is late, half a letter grade will be deducted from the grade).  To provide students with a proper orientation to library resources, we will visit the library on February 22;

·         a 10-15 minute oral presentation to the seminar at the end of the semester summarizing research results on either April 26 or May 3 (10% of final grade);

·         a brief prospectus and annotated bibliography related to the research project (10% of grade) due March 1;

·         two brief essays (2-4 pages) responding to questions related to assigned readings (20% of grade, 10% apiece) due February 1 and February 15.

 

Documented Learning Disabilities

Students with documented learning disabilities should feel free to discuss with me special accommodations regarding assignments of the course. 

 

Course Format.

The seminar will focus on class discussions of the assigned readings and papers, and it will meet weekly on Thursdays, from 2:30 to 5:15 (normally, the seminar will last 2.5 hours, with a 15-minute break in the middle).   However, students should be prepared to remain through the regularly scheduled period, 2:30 to 5:50 pm (especially on the meetings days when we have the film and when students do their presentations).  The study questions posted at the eCollege web site will help guide our discussions.  Every week a student will bring a question or comment on the readings to the seminar to initiate discussion on that day.  During the semester we will have an orientation to the library and to its  online resources available for the research paper.  A bibliography of primary and secondary sources on the Black Death and on disease will be available at the eCollege web site.  Finally, a 96-minute film (Bergman’s The Seventh Seal”) will be shown on March 29, the same day we will discuss David Herlihy’s book.

 

Required texts for purchase:

 

Required readings on reserve (all in Durick) and/or online.  There will one copy of supplemental readings on reserve.  Furthermore, most if not all readings should be available online.

 

COURSE PLAN

 

WEEK 1 (JANUARY 18):  INTRODUCTION AND ORIENTATION TO COURSE

Films and discussion:  “Influenza” and “Great Fever”

 

WEEK 2 (JANUARY 25):  DISEASE AND WHAT IT DOES

Preston, Parts 1 and 2

Engel (on reserve, Circulation Desk), Prologue and chapters 1 and 2

 

WEEK 3 (FEBRUARY 1):  THE HISTORY OF DISEASE

Bollet (entire)

Sources:  Aberth, II.1

**FIRST ESSAY DUE**

 

WEEK 4 (FEBRUARY 8):  PRE-MODERN MEDICINE

Siraisi, chapters 1-4

Sources:  Aberth, II.2

 

WEEK 5 (FEBRUARY 15): PRE-MODERN MEDICINE

Siraisi, chapter 5 to end

Sources:  Aberth, II.3; Horrox, II.4

**SECOND ESSAY DUE**

 

WEEK 6 (FEBRUARY 22):  THE COMING OF THE BLACK DEATH AND THE PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS

Ziegler, chapters 1-9

Sources:  Horrox, I.1, II.5; Aberth II.6 (“Jewish Pogroms”)

**Library visit**

 

WEEK 8 (MARCH  1): THE BLACK DEATH AND ITS ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES

Ziegler, chapters 10-15

Sources:  Aberth, II.4; Horrox, III.6 and III.7

****Prospectus and Annotated Bibliography Due**

 

WEEK 9 (MARCH  8):  THE BLACK DEATH:  THE CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS RESPONSE

Ziegler, chapters 16 and 17

Sources:  Aberth, II.5, II.6 (“The Flagellants”), II.7

 

WEEK 10 (MARCH 9-18):  SEMESTER RECESS

 

WEEK 11 (MARCH 22):  THE BLACK DEATH:  THE CASE OF ENGLAND

 Platt (entire)

Sources:  Horrox, I.2, II.3

 

WEEK 12 (MARCH 29):  RECENT ASSESSMENTS

Herlihy (entire)

Film:  “The Seventh Seal” (1957, Ingmar Bergman)

 

WEEK 13 (APRIL 5

 

WEEK 14 (April 12):  RECENT AND PAST ASSESSMENTS (CONTINUED)

 

WEEK 15 (APRIL 19):  CHOLERA

Johnson, 1-156

 

WEEK 16 (APRIL 26):  CHOLERA (CONCLUSION); SEMINAR PRESENTATIONS

Johnson, 159 to end

Engel, chapter 14 and epilogue (on reserve, Circulation Desk)

First set of student presentations

 

 WEEK 17 (MAY 3):  SEMINAR PRESENTATIONS (CONCLUSION)

Second set of student presentations

Conclusion of course

May 4:  **SEMINAR PAPER DUE**