NEW MEXICO HIGHER EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

SUSANA MARTINEZ DR. BARBARA DAMRON GOVERNOR CABINET SECRETARY

New Mexico General Education Curriculum Course Certification Form Sample Assessment

Discussion/Web Assignment Nº 3:

Our 3rd discussion assignment for the semester will focus on documents that provide descriptions of the plague of the 1340s-1350s and its effects, and exploring the relationship between the bubonic plague and violent anti-semitism. Follow the link for The Black Death & the Jews to the documents. Also, have a look at Boccaccio’s account of the Plague in Florence. The web addresses for the assigned documents are: https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/boccacio2.asp http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/jewish/1348-jewsblackdeath.html

Review the documents and respond in a detailed and substantive paragraph or two to each of the questions listed below. If possible, the work should by typed or word-processed, double-spaced; if not, you should write legibly. Come prepared to discuss the document and your responses to it on Wednesday, 10 October 2018.

If you have any questions, please see me or Greg.

1) How are we to make sense of the “confession” of Jewish merchant Agimet of Geneva, since we know absolutely that the Bubonic Plague was not in fact caused by poison put in water supplies, but by bacteria spread by fleas and rats? What does this medieval account of the spread of plague tell us about fourteenth century Europeans’ understanding of diseases and their causes? 2) What happened to the Jewish community of the town of Strasbourg? Did their fate seem to be connected to Agimet’s “confession?” Were there reasons—aside from anti-Semitic prejudice—that might have made the Jews of this community convenient targets for mob violence? 3) What do these documents—both Boccaccio’s description and the documents relating to the fate of the Jews—tell us about European society and culture in the fourteenth century? How useful are they in understanding life and death in the Middle Ages?

Essential Skill—Critical Thinking and Information & Digital Literacy

Students will demonstrate critical thinking skills by utilizing original documents to gain a comprehensive understanding of diseases and causes and European society and culture. In addition, students will expand his/her knowledge using resources through the World Wide Web.