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The Black Death: A Pandemic of the Middle Ages
An overview of the Black Death: what the disease was, when it struck Europe in the mid-1300s, how many died, and why the death estimates remain uncertain.
Faith and Health
The Black Death
The plague of the 1300s and its effects on society.
Flagellants and the Black Death
How flagellant processions arose during the plague years, what the penitents did, why Church leaders turned against them, and what is uncertain about the movement.
The Black Death: A Pandemic in Medieval Europe
Follows how plague spread across Europe in the mid-1300s, from Mediterranean ports along trade routes and rivers, and what we can and cannot say about its path.
The Black Death: A Pandemic that Changed History
How large was the Black Death's toll? A look at the sources historians use to estimate plague mortality, why figures vary, and how reliable the records are.
The Black Death: A Pandemic that Changed Medieval Society
How the labor shortage after the Black Death affected wages, rents and old obligations, and why historians disagree about how much really changed.
The Black Death: A Pandemic that Shaped History
How medieval people explained and tried to treat the plague, from physicians' theories and early quarantine to prayer, processions and flagellants.
The Black Death: A Pandemic that Shaped Medieval Society
Fear and scapegoating during the Black Death, including violence against Jews and others, and how town councils, rulers and the Church responded.
The History of the Black Death in Europe
A region-by-region look at the plague's arrival in Europe, from Italian ports to Iberia, the British Isles, Scandinavia and the east, and why its effects varied.
The History of the Black Death: A Study of the Impact on Medieval Society
A clear overview of the plague's social and economic effects on peasants, towns and the Church, with notes on what historians still cannot say for certain.
The History of the Medieval Plague
Plague across the whole medieval period: the Justinian plague of the sixth century, the Black Death, and the repeated returns of the disease afterward.
The Impact of the Black Death on Medieval Society
The long-term aftermath of the plague: effects on wages, land, religion and social order, and the points on which historians continue to disagree.
The Medieval Period of the Black Death
A period-level view of the fourteenth century: famine, war, plague and recurring epidemics, and how daily life in the plague years was reshaped.
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Monasteries and Orders Monks, monasteries and the military religious orders. Medicine and Healing Doctors, herbs, theories and beliefs about illness and magic. Philosophy and Theology How medieval thinkers joined faith and reason. Inquisition and Heresy How medieval church courts pursued heresy, and what the records really show. Saints and Mystics Holy men and women, visionaries and a martyr. Theologians and Reformers Thinkers who shaped and challenged Church teaching. The Church and Its Power How the medieval church was organized and how it used its influence. Afterlife and Purgatory What people believed about death, heaven, hell and purgatory. Sin, Salvation and Virtue Medieval ideas about sin, salvation, providence and the virtues. Jews in Medieval Europe Jewish communities, scholarship, restrictions and expulsions. Pilgrimage, Relics and Shrines Holy journeys, saints bones and the shrines that drew travelers.