Lecturing with Chapter 12

This was the week for fourteenth-century disasters. I managed it as follows:

1. Europe Before the Great Plague
--Great Famine—population pressure, bad weather, cattle murrain, royal exactions, etc.
--quick survey of pre-1348 challenges for papacy, monarchies, intellectuals, and towns

2. During the Plague
--What was it? I told the usual story; then elaborated on Sam Cohn’s critics; then used the most recent DNA reports (see http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/01/health/01plague.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=yersinia&st=cse) to concede the bubonic fight; I then discussed Mike Baillie’s recent arguments, based on ice cores and dendrochronology, about comets and cosmic impacts.
--What did it do? All the usual gory stuff. I put Boccaccio’s description to good use.
--How did people react? I discussed hyper-religiosity (esp. flagellants) and attacks on Jews, lepers et al.

3. After the Plague. This was basically a (possibly misguided) romp through the later middle ages. I covered these topics:
--recurrences of plague
--low population
--mentality—fashion, excess, death, and the like
--improved opportunities for peasants and wage-earners
--manorial reaction
--mercantile reaction and then expansion
--woes in the Church

Good stuff, but everyone is exhausted. One of my student students nodded off today. Sigh.