TTC Video – After the Plague

A wave of disease and death swept across Europe in the late medieval period, wreaking havoc on virtually every region and municipality. People from all walks of life were infected by fleas, rats, even their own family and friends, and developed a variety of terrifying symptoms: egg-sized lymph nodes, high fever, and delirium, among other troubling afflictions. Extreme suffering befell the continent as adults and children, Catholics and Muslims, lords and common folk alike succumbed to the so-called Pestilence.

But how did Europe’s transformation unfold? What do we know about religious, social, political, and economic life after the outbreak of disease? How did groups on the fringes—women, Jews, Muslims, the poor, the outsiders of all types—fare during this tumultuous time? And what can the art and literature of the Middle Ages reveal about the human spirit in the face of this catastrophe?

Even if they avoided contracting the disease, all Europeans were touched by its lasting effects. A young Geoffrey Chaucer, who came of age as the disease ramped up in England, wrote in the shadow of the Black Death. Without ever mentioning the affliction by name, Chaucer captured a world defined by widespread illness and social upheaval, but also by remarkable human resilience. Witness to a period of profound turbulence and vibrant transformation, the ambitious and incisive medieval writer folded the uncertainties of the age into his stories.

Expand on—and even challenge—what you’ve learned about the Black Death and the medieval period with After the Plague, a 24-lecture course on the impact of the bubonic plague across the continent. With expert Simon Doubleday, professor of history at Hofstra University, explore the trajectory and after-effects of one of the deadliest pandemics in world history. Learn about the disease’s pathology, symptoms, and origins in East Asia. Map its destructive path as it spread from the Middle East and North Africa into Europe. And investigate the social, political, and economic realities of the plague era, discovering how medieval Europeans from Geoffrey Chaucer to peasant revolutionaries made sense of the crisis and how they responded to it. Using firsthand accounts, world-famous literary texts, new scientific evidence, and cutting-edge historical interpretations, dive into a world that is both like and unlike our own: one defined by tragedy, disease, social revolution, and economic discontent, but also by human fortitude, creativity, and strength.

The Not-So Dark Ages

When it comes to medieval Europe, misconceptions abound. Across popular culture and even in some of our most trusted grade school textbooks, the continent is painted as hopelessly backwards—a violent and insular place. Not until the luminous Renaissance period, we are told, did European society begin to flourish culturally, scientifically, and politically.

The reality is far more complicated—and far more interesting. In After the Plague, explore the nuances of the medieval period. Zoom outward to see how interconnected Europe was with other parts of the globe at the time of the Black Death. Shed your assumptions as you dive into medieval innovations in science, medicine, public health, and disaster response that helped prime and prepare medieval Europe for a deadly pandemic. And challenge your preconceived notions of what everyday life was like for women, children, minority groups, and families at the time.

Revolution, Revelation, and Resilience

With a more complex portrait of medieval life before the pandemic, turn your attention to the outbreak of the disease, starting with the medical realities of the plague. Investigate its pathology and uneven spread across time and space. Take note of its symptoms, diagnosis, and population-level impact. Discover how some facets of European life, such as its bustling maritime trade activity, hastened the spread of plague, but also how previous experiences in handling earthquakes, floods, and famines helped Europeans to respond to the pandemic.

Renowned medieval writer Geoffrey Chaucer and his magnum opus, The Canterbury Tales, will tie the lectures together, serving as the course’s common reference point. More than just a history lesson, After the Plague will use the characters, themes, and stories of The Canterbury Tales as tools to excavate a past defined by disease and trauma, but also by resilience and recovery. With this classic of medieval literature as your guide, you will see how the plague impacted various aspects of European life and society, such as

The Economy. How did restricting travel and imposing local lockdowns to stem the spread of disease impact the economy? What effect did the widespread plague deaths of peasant and artisan workers across Europe have on the continent’s productivity and labor supply? And how did commerce and labor bounce back?
Politics and the Law. How did medieval Europeans experience the justice system, and what can we learn from the tales of Robin Hood, who broke laws in pursuit of more equitable ends? And what did the launch of Cola di Rienzo’s Roman Revolution in 1347 and the rise of populism mean for the post-plague political scene in Europe?
Class Conflict. What did class conflict look like in Europe before the French Revolution and widespread industrialization? And what did popular uprisings in the Middle Ages, from the Jacquerie to the Peasants’ Revolt, reveal about class, agency, and the role of violence in the period?
Religion. Before Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to a church door in Wittenberg, effectively beginning the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, what concerns did medieval Europeans already raise about the Catholic Church in plague times? How did they renew and reinvigorate their faith? And how did ecclesiastical and political leadership respond?
The Family. How did the mass death of parents and children alike reshape medieval families? And how did governments step in to help those orphaned by the plague?
Minority Groups. How did the plague affect Jewish and Muslim populations in Europe? How did women of all classes fare after the disease had made landfall on the continent? And how did mystics and doomsayers interpret the new and unstable world around them?
In After the Plague, you will unearth the true impact of the Black Death across Europe. You will understand how medieval men and women confronted multiple traumas, from lethal disease to social upheaval, to violence in the countryside. You will uncover the contradictions and paradoxes of an extraordinary age: its innovations and setbacks, its vibrancy and darkness, its genuine reform efforts and its brutal repressions. And you will have the opportunity to witness the power of human resilience—a timeless quality that materializes in people and populations when they are faced with the toughest of obstacles.

What Will You Learn?
Dive into a world that is both like and unlike our own: one defined by tragedy, disease, social revolution, and economic discontent, but also by human fortitude, creativity, and strength

Discover how some facets of European life, such as its bustling maritime trade activity, hastened the spread of plague, but also how previous experiences in handling earthquakes, floods, and famines helped Europeans to respond to the pandemic

Explore the plague’s impacts across many areas of life, including literature and the arts, the economy, spiritual life, and the search for social justice