Announcements

The latest news from the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Department

Winter 2024 Course
MRST 110 Medieval and Renaissance Culture
Plague: A Medieval Pandemic

Professor Melissa Vise (History)
MWF 1:30-2:30 pm

Between 1347 and 1352 a pandemic spread across Europe that ultimately reduced the population of the continent by at least one third. Even worse, the same disease hit repeatedly and decimated each of the next four generations. This Introductory Seminar will utilize an interdisciplinary approach to explore the causes, experiences, and consequences of this disease, colloquially referred to as ‘The Pestilence' or ‘The Black Death.' These explorations will allow us a window into some of the deepest tensions in the medieval world. Our attempts to understand these tensions will reveal just as much about the people of the Middle Ages as about those who now tell their stories: us.