The Black Death: New Lessons from Recent Research

Revisit the past to examine what the medieval experience of the Black Death can teach us about our own world and the science of disease.

Overview

Course No. 30400

Professor Dorsey Armstrong presents 7 lectures revealing:

• How DNA analysis and rat/flea biology challenge old assumptions
• The Mongol-grain trade connection to plague transmission
• The genetic “big bang” that increased Yersinia pestis lethality
• Parallels between medieval and modern pandemic responses

From transmission myths to survivor societies, this course applies 21st-century science to history’s deadliest pandemic.

Video Lectures

Part 1: Scientific Reassessments

1. Reassessing the Black Death (21 min)
   How modern research overturns traditional plague narratives.

2-3. Transmission Realities (17-26 min)
Rat/flea behavior studies, human-to-human spread mechanisms.

Part 2: Historical Context

4-5. Origins and Spread (26-31 min)
Mongol expansion, grain trade networks, bacterial mutation.

Part 3: Aftermath

6-7. Survivor Societies (22-24 min)
Psychological trauma, economic upheaval, new social systems.