You receive another request for help. This time you’re being asked to identify a problem and let people know what to expect in the future. Stefano Buonaiuti of Italy is in distress. What is this “pestilence” everyone is talking about? Where did it come from? What’s going to happen to Europe? Stefano has even begun to believe that no one will survive, and life as he knows it will come to an end. Your mission is to research his problem, find out what it is, what caused it, and send him a message in a time capsule letting him know what the future will bring. Read what Stefano Buonaiuti has to say about the disease:

In the year of our lord 1348 there occurred in the city of Florence a great pestilence, and such was its fury and violence that in whatever household it took hold, whosoever took care of the sick, all the carers died of the same illness, and almost nobody survived beyond the fourth day . . . Such was the fear that nobody knew what to do: when it caught hold in a household, it often happened that not a single person escaped death. . . .

At every church, or at most of them, pits were dug, down to the water-table, as wide and deep as the parish was populous; and therein, whosoever was not very rich, having died during the night, would be shouldered by those whose duty it was [and be] thrown into this pit. The next morning there would be very many in the pit. Earth would be taken and thrown down on them; and then others would come on top of them, and then earth on top again, in layers, with very little earth, like garnishing lasagna with cheese.

[Source: Stefano Buonaiuti (1327-1385)]

Now, read these secondary sources to find out more about the disease that ravaged Europe:

Out of the Middle Ages

The Black Death

Use the sources above to investigate what is going on in Florence, and write a short summary of your findings in about 200 to 250 words. You may want to create an outline to guide you. Think about these questions:

What is the name of the pestilence?
Where did it come from?
What caused it?
Where did it spread?
What are the short-term effects?
What are the long-term effects?
Write down your summary to put in a time capsule for Stefano.