Download The Plague Video Handout Answers

The Plague Video Handout Answers
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It was a golden age in Europe just before the Plague. Trade, food,
and weather were all good. Then, it got colder, wars broke out,
and plague came.
Mongolia
An infectious disease called bubonic plague, also known as Black
Death.
It came on merchant ships to Sicily in 1347.
First, many thought it was because they had sinned and God was
angry. They tried to fix it by passing laws against certain sins (e.g.
gambling or prostitution) or by trying to punish themselves and
please God (like the flagellant movement). Second, they thought it
might have been caused by three planets lining up, which caused
“bad air” and made the “balances” in the body get out of balance.
They tried to fix it by bleeding, leeches, or using fire to “clean” the
air.
It was fleas that were on the rats. The unclean, crowded cities also
helped it spread as did the peasants living conditions which were
also unclean.
A religious response to the Plague where people would whip
themselves and punish themselves the way Jesus was before being
crucified. They did this to try and please God and have the Plague
taken from them.
Christians viewed non-Christians as the enemy and the Jews were
the most convenient group to blame. So Christians blamed the
Jews for the Plague and thought attacking them would please God
and stop the disease.
It created doubt in the Church which eventually helped lead to the
Protestant Reformation. It created a labor shortage which helped
lead to the development of new technology. It created a surplus of
food that led to specialization and more trade that led to surplus
wealth, which could be spent on luxury goods. It also caused
people to focus on the individual and on living life to the fullest.
All these things combined to set the stage for the Renaissance.
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