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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

emotional response, Late Medieval plague, Black Death, weltanschauung

College

Humanities

Department

English

Abstract

The Black Death and subsequent outbreaks of bubonic and pneumonic plague in late medieval Europe violently jarred the European mind-set. Particularly damaging were the intense emotions fostered in the hearts and minds of common Europeans during this pivotal period. By studying the emotional responses to these plague episodes, we may gain a deeper understanding of the medieval European weltanschauung, for the emotionally-charged documents of the plague period reveal much about the values and conventions of medieval society. From these documents we may reconstruct, to an extent, the collective and individual mind-set of plague-stricken Europe.

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