A Chronology of the Black Death(1347–1363)

1347 Plague comes to the Black Sea region, Constantinople, AsiaMinor, Sicily, Marseille on the southeastern coast of France, andperhaps the Greek archipelago and Egypt.

1348 Plague comes to all of Italy, most of France, the eastern half ofSpain, southern England, Switzerland, Austria, the Balkans andGreece, Egypt and North Africa, Palestine and Syria, and perhapsDenmark.The flagellant movement begins in Austria or Hungary.Jewish pogroms occur in Languedoc and Catalonia, and the firsttrials of Jews accused of well poisoning take place in Savoy.

1349 Plague comes to western Spain and Portugal, central and north-ern England, Wales, Ireland, southern Scotland, the Low Coun-tries (Belgium and Holland), western and southern Germany,Hungary, Denmark, and Norway.The flagellants progress through Germany and Flanders beforethey are suppressed by order of Pope Clement VI.Burning of Jews on charges of well poisoning occurs in manyGerman-speaking towns, including Strasbourg, Stuttgart, Con-stance, Basel, Zurich, Cologne, Mainz, and Speyer; in response,Pope Clement issues a bull to protect Jews.Some city-states in Italy and the king’s council in England passlabor legislation to control wages and ensure a supply of agricul-tural workers in the wake of plague mortality.

1350 Plague comes to eastern Germany and Prussia, northern Scot-land, and all of Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, Sweden).King Philip VI of France orders the suppression of the flagellantsin Flanders.The córtes, or representative assembly, of Aragon passes laborlegislation.

179

1351–1352 Plague comes to Russia, Lithuania, and perhaps Poland.

The córtes of Castile, the parliament of England, and King JohnII of France pass labor legislation, but the córtes of Aragon re-vokes it.

1354 King John II of France passes labor legislation.The Jews of Catalonia and Valencia draw up a takkanoth, oraccord, with King Pedro IV of Aragon in order to obtain a bull ofprotection from Pope Innocent VI.

1358 Rise of the Jacquerie, a peasants’ revolt, in France.1361–1363 Plague breaks out again in Europe.

180 CHRONOLOGY

Questions for Consideration

1. Where did the Black Death originate? How was it first communicatedto Europeans?

2. If you were a doctor making a diagnosis, how would you characterizethe symptoms of the Black Death, based on the chroniclers’ accounts?Is it possible to detect the true presence of bubonic or pneumonicplague?

3. What advice given by medieval physicians to ward off or cure theBlack Death seems to you to have been most beneficial? What wasleast effective, or even harmful?

4. To what extent did doctors rely on empirical observation in responseto the challenges posed by the Black Death? To what extent did theyrely on tradition or authority?

5. Which aspects of the social or psychological response to the BlackDeath seem similar to our own response to modern “plagues,” such asthe AIDS epidemic? Which aspects are different?

6. Compare the supposedly eyewitness testimony of Giovanni Boccaccio(Document 16) with the later, fifteenth-century reflections of al-Maqrızı(Document 19). Which is a more accurate reflection of the new socialand economic realities created by the plague? What are the advan-tages and disadvantages of each kind of source?

7. Who, precisely, enacted the economic legislation of various Europeancountries in response to the Black Death, and why? How else mightlandlords have responded to the economic challenges posed by theplague? Based on the evidence from England (Document 22), how didlaborers respond to this legislation, and how effective was it?

8. Chroniclers commenting on the social and religious context of theBlack Death report that the disease was both caused by and resultedin a moral decline in society. Which, if any, is true, and why?

9. Did medieval people lose their faith in God as a result of the BlackDeath? Defend your answer. Did their religious response have anypractical effect? How well did the Church and its priesthood respondto this crisis (Documents 25 and 26)?

181

10. What was uppermost in the mind of Libertus of Monte Feche (Docu-ment 27) as he lay dying from the plague?

11. Compare the Christian and Muslim responses to the Black Death(Documents 23, 24, 28, 29, and 30). How were they similar and differ-ent? What tensions did each community experience during the plague?Would they respond in the same way to an apocalyptic crisis today?

12. What kind of emotion vis-à-vis the Black Death did the flagellantsinspire in onlookers and in themselves? Was it elation, relief, fear, ter-ror? Based on the chroniclers’ accounts, why did Pope Clement VIsuppress the flagellants on October 20, 1349?

13. Why were Jews targeted as scapegoats during the Black Death? Howdid medieval Jews and some Christians refute the accusation of wellpoisoning (Documents 36, 39, and 40)? How closely, if at all, do thepogroms of 1348–51 resemble the Holocaust of the 1940s?

14. Compare Documents 35 and 38 with respect to the Jewish pogroms inSpain. What does this tell us about how historians should approachoriginal sources? Consider the origins, credentials, and general relia-bility of each document and of its respective author.

15. Why is the Dance of Death considered such a suitable artistic expres-sion of the Black Death? What connection do you think the Dance ofDeath has to the actual epidemic of the plague?

16. Look at the pictures of the tombs of François de la Sarra and of Arch-bishop Henry Chichele (Documents 44 and 45). Are the worms enter-ing or leaving François’s corpse? Should one “read” downwards orupwards on Chichele’s double-decker monument? Why do you thinkChichele had his cadaver image made and erected in a public placenearly twenty years before his death (in 1443)? How does the poem ADisputacioun betwyx the Body and Wormes (Document 46), act as acommentary on Chichele’s tomb?

17. Consider the totality of Europeans’ response to the Black Death,including medical, social, economic, religious, and artistic responses.Was it characteristic of a “medieval” or “Renaissance” outlook? Shouldit be taken as evidence of a decline or rebirth of culture and society?

182 QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION

Selected Bibliography

GENERAL WORKS

Aberth, John. From the Brink of the Apocalypse: Confronting Famine, War,Plague, and Death in the Later Middle Ages. New York: Routledge,2000.

Biraben, Jean Noël. Les hommes et la Peste en France et dans les payseuropéens et méditerranéens. 2 vols. Paris: Mouton, 1975–1976.

Bowsky, William M., ed. The Black Death: A Turning Point in History?New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971.

Cantor, Norman F. In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death and theWorld It Made. New York: Free Press, 2001.

Cohn Jr., Samuel K. “The Black Death: End of a Paradigm.” The AmericanHistorical Review, 107 (2002): 703–38.

———. The Black Death Transformed: Disease and Culture in EarlyRenaissance Europe. London and New York: Arnold and Oxford Univer-sity Press, 2002.

Dols, Michael W. The Black Death in the Middle East. Princeton, N.J.:Princeton University Press, 1977.

Gottfried, Robert S. The Black Death: Natural and Human Disaster inMedieval Europe. New York: Free Press, 1983.

Herlihy, David. The Black Death and the Transformation of the West.Edited by Samuel K. Cohn Jr. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UniversityPress, 1997.

McNeill, William H. Plagues and Peoples. Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1976.

Ormrod, W. Mark, and Phillip G. Lindley, eds. The Black Death in England.Stamford, Lincolnshire.: Watkins, 1996.

Platt, Colin. King Death: The Black Death and Its Aftermath in Late-Medieval England. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996.

Williman, Daniel, ed. The Black Death: The Impact of the Fourteenth-CenturyPlague. Binghamton, N.Y.: Center for Medieval and Early RenaissanceStudies, 1982.

Ziegler, Philip. The Black Death. New York: Harper and Row, 1969.

183

PLAGUE DEMOGRAPHY AND GEOGRAPHY

Aberth, John. “The Black Death in the Diocese of Ely: The Evidence ofthe Bishop’s Register.” Journal of Medieval History, 21 (1995): 275–87.

Carpentier, Élisabeth. “Autour de la Peste Noire: famines et épidémiesdans l’histoire du XIVe siècle.” Annales: economies, sociétés, civilisation,17 (1962): 1062–92.

Davies, Richmond A. “The Effect of the Black Death on the Parish Priestsof the Medieval Diocese of Coventry and Lichfield.” Bulletin of theInstitute of Historical Research, 62 (1989): 85–90.

Derbes, Vincent. “De Mussis and the Great Plague of 1348: A ForgottenEpisode of Bacteriological Warfare.” Journal of the American MedicalAssociation, 196 (1966): 59–62.

Emery, R. W. “The Black Death of 1348 in Perpignan.” Speculum, 42(1967): 611–23.

Gottfried, Robert S. Epidemic Disease in Fifteenth-Century England: TheMedical Response and the Demographic Consequences. New Brunswick,N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1978.

Gyug, Richard. “The Effects and Extent of the Black Death of 1348: NewEvidence for Clerical Mortality in Barcelona.” Mediaeval Studies, 45(1983): 385–98.

Hatcher, John. “Mortality in the Fifteenth Century: Some New Evidence.”Economic History Review, 2nd ser., 39 (1986): 19–38.

Herlihy, David. “Population, Plague, and Social Change in Rural Pistoia,1201–1430.” Economic History Review, 2nd ser., 18 (1965): 225–44.

Norris, John. “East or West? The Geographic Origin of the Black Death.”Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 51 (1977): 1–24. With replies byMichael Dols and John Norris in idem, 52 (1978): 112–20.

BIOLOGICAL AND MEDICAL ASPECTS

Arrizabalaga, Jon. “Facing the Black Death: Perceptions and Reactions ofUniversity Medical Practitioners.” In Practical Medicine from Salernoto the Black Death. Edited by L. García-Ballester, R. French, J. Arriza-balaga, and A. Cunningham. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,1994.

Benedictow, Ole J. Plague in the Late Medieval Nordic Countries: Epidemi-ological Studies. Oslo: Middelalderforlaget, 1992.

Campbell, Anna Montgomery. The Black Death and Men of Learning. NewYork: Columbia University Press, 1931.

Carmichael, Ann G. Plague and the Poor in Renaissance Florence. Cam-bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.

———. “Bubonic Plague: The Black Death.” In Plague, Pox, and Pestilence.Edited by Kenneth F. Kiple. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1997.

Conrad, Lawrence I., Michael Neue, Vivian Nutton, Roy Porter, and An-drew Wear. The Western Medical Tradition, 800 B.C. to A.D. 1800. Cam-bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

184 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Crisciani, Chiara, and Michela Pereira. “Black Death and Golden Reme-dies: Some Remarks on Alchemy and the Plague.” In The Regulation ofEvil: Social and Cultural Attitudes to Epidemics in the Late Middle Ages.Edited by Agostino Paravicini Bagliani and Francesco Santi. Sismel:Edizioni del Galluzzo, 1998.

Drancourt, Michel, Gérard Aboudharam, Michel Signoli, Olivier Dutour,and Didier Raoult. “Detection of 400-Year-Old Yersinia pestis DNA inHuman Dental Pulp: An Approach to the Diagnosis of Ancient Sep-ticemia.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 95 (1998):12637–40.

———. “Molecular Identification of ‘Suicide PCR’ of Yersinia pestis as theAgent of the Medieval Black Death.” Proceedings of the National Acad-emy of Science, 97 (2000): 12800–803.

Ell, Stephen R. “Interhuman Transmission of Medieval Plague.” Bulletinof the History of Medicine, 54 (1980): 497–510.

Grmek, Mirko D., ed. Western Medical Thought from Antiquity to theMiddle Ages. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1998.

Henderson, John. “The Black Death in Florence: Medical and CommunalResponses.” In Death in Towns: Urban Responses to the Dying and theDead, 100–1600. Edited by Steven Bassett. London and New York:Leicester University Press, 1992.

Hirst, L. Fabian. The Conquest of Plague: A Study of the Evolution of Epi-demiology. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1953.

Lenski, Richard E. “Evolution of Plague Virulence.” Nature, 334 (1988):473–74. See also the companion article by R. Rosqvist, M. Skurnik, andH. Wolf-Watz, “Increased Virulence of Yersinia Pseudotuberculosis,”idem: 522–25.

Scott, Susan, and Christopher J. Duncan. Biology of Plagues: Evidence fromHistorical Populations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Shrewsbury, J. F. D. A History of Bubonic Plague in the British Isles. Cam-bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970.

Siraisi, Nancy G. Medieval and Early Renaissance Medicine: An Introduc-tion to Knowledge and Practice. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,1990.

Twigg, Graham. The Black Death: A Biological Reappraisal. New York:Schocken Books, 1984.

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS

Bean, J. M. W. “The Black Death: The Crisis and its Social and EconomicConsequences.” In The Black Death: The Impact of the Fourteenth-Cen-tury Plague. Edited by Daniel Williman. Binghamton, N.Y.: Center forMedieval and Early Renaissance Studies, 1982.

Blockmans, W. P. “The Social and Economic Effects of Plague in theLow Countries, 1349–1500.” Revue Belge de philologie et d’histoire, 58(1980): 833–63.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 185

Bolton, Jim. “ ‘The World Upside Down’: Plague as an Agent of Economicand Social Change.” In The Black Death in England. Edited by W. M.Ormrod and Phillip G. Lindley. Stamford, Lincolnshire: Watkins, 1996.

Bowsky, William. “The Impact of the Black Death upon Sienese Govern-ment and Society.” Speculum, 39 (1964): 1–34.

Campbell, Bruce M. S. Before the Black Death: Studies in the ‘Crisis’ of theEarly Fourteenth Century. Manchester: Manchester University Press,1991.

Fryde, E. B. Peasants and Landlords in Later Medieval England. NewYork: St. Martin’s Press, 1996.

Goldberg, P. J. P. Women, Work, and Life Cycle in a Medieval Economy:Women in York and Yorkshire, c. 1300–1520. Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress, 1992.

Hatcher, John. Plague, Population and the English Economy, 1348–1530.London: Macmillan, 1977.

———. “England in the Aftermath of the Black Death.” Past and Present,144 (1994): 3–35.

Herlihy, David. “Deaths, Marriages, Births, and the Tuscan Economy (ca.1300–1550).” In Population Patterns in the Past. Edited by RonaldDemos Lee. New York: Academic Press, 1977.

Herlihy, David, and Christiane Klapisch-Zuber. Tuscans and Their Fami-lies: A Study of the Florentine Catasto of 1427. New Haven, Conn.: YaleUniversity Press, 1985.

Kircher, Timothy. “Anxiety and Freedom in Boccaccio’s History of thePlague of 1348.” Letteratura Italiana antica, 3 (2002): 319–57.

Klapisch-Zuber, Christiane. “Plague and Family Life.” In The New Cam-bridge Medieval History. Volume 6: c. 1300–c. 1415. Edited by MichaelJones. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Mate, Mavis E. Daughters, Wives, and Widows after the Black Death: Womenin Sussex, 1350–1535. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell and Brewer, 1998.

Penn, S. A. C., and Christopher Dyer. “Wages and Earnings in LateMedieval England: Evidence from the Enforcement of the LabourLaws.” Economic History Review, 2nd ser., 43 (1990): 356–76.

Putnam, Bertha Haven. The Enforcement of the Statutes of Labourers dur-ing the First Decade after the Black Death, 1349–1359. New York:Columbia University Press, 1908.

Thompson, James Westfall. “The Aftermath of the Black Death and theAftermath of the Great War.” American Journal of Sociology, 26 (1920–21): 565–72.

RELIGIOUS MENTALITIES

Cohn Jr., Samuel K. The Cult of Remembrance and the Black Death: SixRenaissance Cities in Central Italy. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Uni-versity Press, 1992.

186 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

———. “The Place of the Dead in Flanders and Tuscany: Towards a Com-parative History of the Black Death.” In The Place of the Dead: Deathand Remembrance in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe. Editedby Bruce Gordon and Peter Marshall. Cambridge: Cambridge Univer-sity Press, 2000.

Delumeau, Jean. Sin and Fear: The Emergence of a Western Guilt Culture,13th–18th Centuries. Translated by E. Nicholson. New York: St. Mar-tin’s Press, 1990.

Dohar, William J. The Black Death and Pastoral Leadership: The Diocese ofHereford in the Fourteenth Century. Philadelphia: University of Pennsyl-vania Press, 1995.

Dols, Michael W. “The Comparative Communal Responses to the BlackDeath in Muslim and Christian Societies.” Viator, 5 (1974): 269–87.

Harper-Bill, Christopher. “The English Church and English Religion afterthe Black Death.” In The Black Death in England. Edited by W. MarkOrmrod and Phillip G. Lindley. Stamford, Lincolnshire: Watkins, 1996.

Lerner, Robert E. “The Black Death and Western European Eschatologi-cal Mentalities.” In The Black Death: The Impact of the Fourteenth-Century Plague. Edited by Daniel Williman. Binghamton, N.Y.: Centerfor Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, 1982.

Smoller, Laura A. “Plague and the Investigation of the Apocalypse.” InLast Things: Death and the Apocalypse in the Middle Ages. Edited byCaroline Walker Bynum and Paul Freedman. Philadelphia: University ofPennsylvania Press, 2000.

FLAGELLANTS

Colville, A. “Documents sur les Flagellants.” Histoire litteraire de laFrance, 37 (1938): 390–411.

Dickson, Gary. “The Flagellants of 1260 and the Crusades.” Journal ofMedieval History, 15 (189): 227–67.

Graus, Frantisek. Pest, Geissler, Judenmorde: Das 14 Jahrhundert alsKrisenzeit. Göttingen: Vandenhoek and Ruprecht, 1987.

Henderson, John. “The Flagellant Movement and Flagellant Confraterni-ties in Central Italy, 1260–1400.” In Religious Motivation: Biographicaland Sociological Problems for the Church Historian. Edited by DerekBaker. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1978.

Kieckhefer, Richard. “Radical Tendencies in the Flagellant Movement ofthe Mid-Fourteenth Century.” Journal of Medieval and RenaissanceStudies, 4 (1974): 157–76.

JEWISH POGROMS

Breuer, M. “The ‘Black Death’ and Antisemitism.” In Antisemitism throughthe Ages. Edited by S. Almog and translated by N. H. Reisner. Oxfordand New York: Pergamon Press, 1988.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 187

Chazan, Robert. Medieval Stereotypes and Modern Antisemitism. Berkeleyand Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997.

Cohen, J. The Friars and the Jews: The Evolution of Medieval Anti-Judaism.Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1982.

Crémieux, A. “Les Juifs de Toulon au Moyen Age et le massacre du 13Avril 1348.” Revue des études juives, 89–90 (1930–31): 33–72, 43–64.

Foa, Anna. The Jews of Europe after the Black Death. Translated by AndreaGrover. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2000.

Graus, Frantisek. Pest, Geissler, Judenmorde: Das 14 Jahrhundert alsKrisenzeit. Göttingen: Vandenhoek and Ruprecht, 1987.

Guerchberg, Séraphine. “The Controversy over the Alleged Sowers of theBlack Death in the Contemporary Treatises on Plague.” In Change inMedieval Society. Edited by Sylvia L. Thrupp. New York: Meredith Pub-lishing, 1964.

Katz, Stephen T. The Holocaust in Historical Context. Volume 1: The Holo-caust and Mass Death before the Modern Age. New York: Oxford Univer-sity Press, 1994.

Langmuir, Gavin I. Toward a Definition of Antisemitism. Berkeley and LosAngeles: University of California Press, 1990.

———. History, Religion, and Antisemitism. Berkeley and Los Angeles:University of California Press, 1990.

López de Meneses, Amada. “Una consecuencia de la Peste Negra enCataluña: el pogrom de 1348.” Sefarad, 19 (1959): 92–131, 321–64.

Nirenberg, David. Communities of Violence: Persecution of Minorities inthe Middle Ages. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1996.

Stow, Kenneth R. Alienated Minority: The Jews of Medieval Latin Europe.Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1992.

ARTISTIC ASPECTS

Ariès, Philippe. The Hour of Our Death. Translated by Helen Weaver. NewYork: Oxford University Press, 1991.

Batany, J. “Les ‘Danses Macabres’: une image en negatif du fonctionnal-isme social.” In Dies Illa: Death in the Middle Ages. Edited by J. H. M.Taylor. Liverpool: F. Cairns, 1984.

Binski, Paul. Medieval Death: Ritual and Representation. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cor-nell University Press, 1996.

Boeckl, Christine M. Images of Plague and Pestilence: Iconography andIconology. Kirksville, Mo.: Truman State University Press, 2000.

Brossollet, J. “L’influence de la peste du Moyen-Age sur le theme de laDanse Macabre.” Pagine di storia della medicina, 13 (1969): 38–46.

Clark, James Midgley. The Dance of Death in the Middle Ages and theRenaissance. Glasgow: Jackson, 1950.

Cohen, Kathleen. Metamorphosis of a Death Symbol: The Transi Tomb inthe Later Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Berkeley and Los Angeles:University of California Press, 1973.

188 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Huizinga, Johan. The Waning of the Middle Ages: A Study of the Forms ofLife, Thought and Art in France and the Netherlands in the Dawn of theRenaissance. Translated by Frederik Jan Hopman. London: E. Arnoldand Co., 1924.

King, Pamela M. “The English Cadaver Tomb in the Late Fifteenth Cen-tury: Some Indications of a Lancastrian Connection.” In Dies Illa: Deathin the Middle Ages. Edited by J. H. M. Taylor. Liverpool: F. Cairns, 1984.

————-. “The Cadaver Tomb in England: Novel Manifestations of anOld Idea.” Church Monuments: Journal of the Church Monuments Soci-ety, 5 (1990): 26–38.

Kurtz, Leonard Paul. The Dance of Death and the Macabre Spirit in Euro-pean Literature. New York: Columbia University Press, 1934.

Marshall, Louise. “Manipulating the Sacred: Image and Plague in Renais-sance Italy,” Renaissance Quarterly, 3 (1994): 485–532.

Meiss, Millard. Painting in Florence and Siena after the Black Death: TheArts, Religion, and Society in the Mid-Fourteenth Century. Princeton,N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1951.

Panofsky, Erwin. Tomb Sculpture: Four Lectures on its Changing Aspectsfrom Ancient Egypt to Bernini. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1956.

Polzer, Joseph. “Aspects of the Fourteenth-Century Iconography of Deathand the Plague.” In The Black Death: The Impact of the Fourteenth-Century Plague. Edited by Daniel Williman. Binghamton, N.Y.: Centerfor Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, 1982.

Rosenfeld, Helmut. Der Mittelalterliche Totentanz: Entstehung, Entwick-lung, Bedeutung. Münster: Böhlau, 1954.

Saugnieux, J. Les Danses Macabres de France et d’Espagne et leurs pro-longements littérraires. Paris: Belles Lettres, 1972.

Tristram, Philippa. Figures of Life and Death in Medieval English Litera-ture. New York: New York University Press, 1976.

Van Os, H. W. “The Black Death and Sienese Painting: A Problem of In-terpretation.” Art History, 4 (1981): 237–49.

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Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments continued from page iv.

Document 1. Nicephorus Gregoras, Byzantine History, 1347–1349.Reprinted by permission of Oxford University Press.

Document 2. Abu Hafs cUmar Ibn al-Wardı, Essay on the Report of thePestilence, ca. 1348. Reprinted by permission of the American Univer-sity of Beirut.

Document 6. Giovanni Boccaccio, Introduction to The Decameron,1348. From The Decameron by Boccaccio, translated by G. H. McWil-liam (Penguin Classics, 1972, Second Edition, 1995). © G. H. McWil-liam, 1972, 1995. Reprinted by permission of Penguin Books Ltd.

Document 8. John VI Kantakouzenos, History, 1347–1348. Reprintedby permission of Oxford University Press.

Document 12. Jacme d’Agramont, Regimen of Protection against Epi-demics, April 1348. © The Johns Hopkins University Press. Reprintedwith permission of The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Document 16. Giovanni Boccaccio, Introduction to The Decameron,1348. From The Decameron by Boccaccio, translated by G. H. McWil-liam (Penguin Classics, 1972, Second Edition, 1995). © G. H. McWil-liam, 1972, 1995. Reprinted by permission of Penguin Books Ltd.

Document 29. Abu Hafs cUmar Ibn al-Wardı, Essay on the Report ofthe Pestilence, ca. 1348. Reprinted by permission of the American Uni-versity of Beirut.

190

Index

191

abscesses, 35–36Agatha, virgin, 101–2Agramont, Jacme d’, 39, 42n, 46n, 139

“Regimen of Protection against Epi-demics,” 51–55

agricultureabandonment of, 82consumers, 86laborers, 69, 83n, 89–93military and, 85–86neglect of, 80prices, 69technology, 4, 70wages, 69

aircorruption of, 38, 43, 44, 46–47, 51–52fresh, disease prevention and, 56–57

Albert II of Hapsburg, duke of Austria, 154aljamas (Jewish communities in Spain),

141, 142–43altitude, disease prevention and, 52Amedeo VI, count of Savoy, 145, 172–73Andronikos, son of John VI Kantakouzenos,

35Andronikos III, emperor, 15animals

abandonment of, 80Black Death and, 15–16bodies eaten by, 82decomposition and, 44killed by well poisoning, 157mortality of, 26, 32

Annalium Hiberniae Chronicon (YearlyChronicle of Ireland), 5

anthrax, 27Antichrist, 94, 122, 133antidotes, 49antraci (carbuncles), 30, 63, 65Apocalypse, Fourth Rider of the, 161apocalypse, plague as, 4, 94, 162apostemes (tumors), 63, 65Aquinas, St. Thomas, 170Aragon, kingdom of, 89, 179–80ardeb, 87

Aristotle, 41, 42, 64nArmenian bole, 50armpit swelling, 31art and artwork, vii–viii, 4, 160–78

Dance of Death, 160–62, 164–66depictions of corpses, 160memento mori (remembrance of death),

160paintings on Dance of Death, 161poetry, 161, 162, 165–66, 171, 174,

176–78portraiture, 96, 160Renaissance spirit, 160snake imagery in, 170stained-glass panel, 167, 168ftransi tombs, 169–71worm imagery in, 170–71, 172, 173f, 174,

176–78arteries, bloodletting and, 62nartisans, prices charged by, 89–93Asia, 11assize court role, 91–93Assyut, 86astrological conditions, plague origin and,

40–41, 44, 45–46, 65Augustus, emperor, 125nautopsies, 24, 33, 47, 54–55Avenzoar (Ibn Zuhr), 48n, 55Avignon, 21

baptism, of Jews, 141, 154Barcelona, Christian-Jewish relations in,

144–45barley water, 57bathing

dangers of, 54guidelines for, 59Muslim vs. Christian views on, 59n

Beckington, Thomas, 169beef, 48“Beginning and End, The: On History” (Ibn

Kathır), 110–12Berthold of Bücheck, bishop of Strasbourg,

131, 151, 152

biblical language, 11bitter herbs, 50black blisters, 35Black Death. See also bubonic plague;

plague; pneumonic plague; sep-ticemic plague

as apocalypse, 4arrival in Europe, 1, 13, 29–30artistic response to, vii–viii, 160–78biblical language used to describe, 11chronology of, 179–80contagiousness of, 32, 63Dance of Death and, 160–62economic impacts of, 67–70, 87–93first outbreak of, viiias a “game of chess,” 161geographical origins of, vii, 11–14as historical event, 2–3historical significance of, vii–viii, 3–4history of, 98–100individual responses to, 75–80Jews and, 6medical care, 27–66, 32, 35–36mortality, viiiMuslim views of, 96–97, 98–100plague bacillus, 11, 13as punishment for sins, 96, 97, 118recurrences of, vii, 1religious views of, 96–97remedies sought for, 6revisionist view of, 3social impacts of, 67–87spread of, vii, 11–22, 12fsurvivors of, 4, 83symptoms, 16, 23–24, 24–25, 35–36technological innovation and, 4terms used for, 1transmission of, 23–27, 32worm imagery and, 170–71

Black Death, The: A Turning Point in His-tory? 3

black rat (Rattus rattus), 26. See also ratsbleeding. See bloodlettingbloodletting, 38

benefits of, 58buboes, 61–62guidelines for, 53–54prior to disease taking root, 59–60

blood spitting, 29, 30, 35, 64, 84treatment of, 62–63

boards of health, 39Boccaccio, Giovanni, vii–viii, 5, 26, 37, 67,

71“Introduction to The Decameron,” 31–32,

75–80Book of Epidemics (Galen), 64“Book of Memorable Matters” (Heinrich of

Herford), 122–26bowel movements, 58Bradwardine, Thomas, archbishop of Can-

terbury, 104

bread, 57breath, communication of infection

through, 81buboes (lymph node swellings), 23, 24, 29

treatment of, 60–62bubonic plague. See also Black Death;

plaguecharacteristics of, 23–27, 33climate and, 25–26death from, 23lymphatic swelling in, 24neurological symptoms of, 161recovery in, 23symptoms, 23, 24, 29–30transmission of, 23, 26

Bukharı, al-, 111burials, 67, 68f, 79. See also transi tombs

directions in wills, 108–9Bury St. Edmunds, 165Byzantine Empire, 13“Byzantine History” (Gregoras), 15–16

Caffa, cadavers catapulted into, 13Cairo, plague effects in, 84–87Canterbury Cathedral, tomb of Archbishop

Henry Chichele, 174, 175fcarbuncles, 24, 63Carmelite convent, 82Castile, labor legislation, 89–90, 180Catania, arrival of Black Death in, 29–30Cedar of Lebanon prophecy, 122nCharles IV, emperor, 154Chauliac, Gui de, 5, 27, 37, 47, 158

“Great Surgery,” 63–66chess imagery, 161, 167–68Chichele, Henry, archbishop of Canterbury,

169, 171tomb at Canterbury Cathedral, 174, 175f

Chillon, trials of Jews in, 145–50China, 2, 97cholera (yellow bile), 39chorea, 161Christian-Jewish relations, 141Christians

debts owed to Jews by, 143, 152, 154,158

fear of contagion by, 96Jews accused of well poisoning by,

117–18, 120, 139, 151, 155, 179response to Black Death by, 96–97scapegoating of Jews by, 6, 96, 117tolerance of Jews, 117views on bathing, 59n

“Chronicle” (Closener), 126–31“Chronicle” (Muisis), 132–37“Chronicle” (Neuenburg), 151–54“Chronicle” (Piazza), 29–30, 100–103“Chronicle” (Venette), 82–83“Chronicle” (Villani), 19–20cities, abandonment of, for countryside, 76City Council of Siena, “Ordinance,” 87–88

192 INDEX

Clement VI, pope, 21, 63, 65n, 96, 100, 118,120, 125n, 137n, 138

protection of Jews by, 141“Sicut Judeis (Mandate to Protect the

Jews),” 158–59clergy. See also priests

criticism of, 94–95climate

bubonic plague and, 25–26disruption of, 43–44

Closener, Fritsche, 26, 118, 151, 153n, 154n“Chronicle,” 126–31

Clynn, John, 5Colonna, Giovanni, cardinal, 21Concerning the Causes of the Properties of

the Elements (Aristotle), 42Concerning the Causes of the Properties of

the Elements (Magnus), 42“Concerning the Mortality in Germany”

(Konrad of Megenberg), 155–58confessions, to laymen, 94–95Consilia (Foligno, Gentile da), 38–39, 47Constantinople, 13, 34

transmission of plague through, 15–16“Consultation” (Medical Faculty of the Uni-

versity of Paris), 41–45contagion

Christian views on, 96, 97Muslim views on, 96, 97, 114–16

Coppo Stefani, Marchionne di, 26, 79nCórdoba, Alfonso de, 38, 40, 139

“Letter and Regimen concerning thePestilence,” 45–47

corpsesartistic and poetic depictions of, 160care of, 85, 87depicted on transi tombs, 169–71display of, 169omnipresence of, 76, 79worms imagery, 170–71

corrupt air theory, 38, 43, 44, 46–47, 51–52Córtes of Aragon, “Ordinance,” 179–80Córtes of Castile, “Ordinance,” 89–90, 180countryside

abandonment of cities for, 76plague deaths in, 80

Crannon, plague of, 48cruciferians, 123crusades, 156n“cult of remembrance,” 4, 96

Damascus, 110–12Dance of Death, 160–62, 164–66

painting of, 161poetry on, 161, 162, 165–66purpose of, 160–62, 164

“Dance of Death, The” (Lydgate), 165–66Dante, 71death. See also mortality

artistic depiction of, 169–71as a chess player, 161, 167–68, 167f

depicted in the arts, 161–62medieval attitudes toward, 160

death rates, 3, 16debate poetry, 176–78Decameron, The (Boccaccio), 31–32, 75decomposition, 44“Description and Remedy for Escaping the

Plague” (Ibn Khatima), 55–63dirhams, 85, 87disease origin theories

astrological conditions, 40–41, 44, 45–46,65

body’s predisposition, 44, 65as chastisement for sins, 51corruption of air, 38, 43, 44, 46–47,

51–52corruption of food and water, 42–43, 46earthquakes, 38, 44, 46humors, 39infection, 56intentional poisoning, 40, 46–47prognostications, 43–44University of Paris treatise on, 41–45

“Disputacioun betwyx the Body andWormes, A,” 171, 176–78, 177f

doctors. See also medical careattitudes toward, 37–38ordered to treat the sick, 65nresearch by, 47

Dominicans, 122, 133“double-decker” tombs, 169, 174drinking, guidelines for, 52–53, 57

earthquakes, as cause of plague, 38, 44, 46economic impacts, 67–70, 87–93“Effrenata (Unbridled)” (Islip), 104–6Egypt, 84–87electuaries, 46, 65emotions

guidelines for, 59illness and, 54

endemics, 2England

episcopal registers of deaths, 3labor laws, 91–93mortality of priests in, 95Peasants’ Revolt (1381), 70transi tombs in, 169

Epidemics (Hippocrates), 64n“Essay on the Report of the Pestilence”

(Ibn al-Wardı), 16–18, 112–14Euclid, 64nEulogium Historiarum (Eulogy of History),

83nEurope

arrival of Black Death in, 1, 13, 29–30climate, 25–26population levels, 2, 3

Everyman, 161–62evil vapors, 43excrement odors, 49

INDEX 193

exercise, corrupt air and, 52, 57eyewitness accounts, 5

family life, plague impacts on, 70faqir (Muslim holy man), 96fatwas (religious teachings), 97, 115–16Frau Welt (Lady of the World), 170Fayt, Jean de, 119–20fellahs (ploughman), 86fertility rates, 70, 83Févre, Jean le, 161fires, beneficial effects of, 49, 52First Crusade, 156nfish, 48, 53flagellants, 119f

attitudes toward, 118–19chronology, 179criticism of, 118–19, 124–26, 131excommunication of members, 125in Flanders, 132–37history of, 118–20, 122–26hysteria and, 117leadership of, 122–23penance for plague, 118, 123, 126, 127,

129–30, 132–33pogroms against Jews and, 119–20public response to, 130–31, 133, 134ritual, 123–24, 127–31, 132–37in Strasbourg, 126–31suppression of, 120, 125–26, 137n,

138–39flagellation (whipping)

as penance for plague, 118, 123, 126, 127,129–30, 132–33

as punishment for sinful behavior, 117self-inflicted, 117

Flanders, flagellants of, 132–37flea-infested furs, 13fleas. See also rat fleas

in India, 25Pulex irritans (human flea), 24transmission of plague through, 13, 23

FlorenceBlack Death in, 31–32social and psychological effects of Black

Death in, 75–80spread of Black Death through, 19–20

florin, 88Foligno, Francesco da, 48Foligno, Gentile da, 37, 38–39, 42n

consilia, 38–39, 47death of, 47–48“Short Casebook,” 47–50

foodcorruption of, 42–43, 46fish, 48, 53fruits, 53guidelines for eating, 48, 52–53, 57meat, 27, 48, 53

Fourth Rider of the Apocalypse, 161fowl, eating of, 53

fragrances, 49, 52, 57, 76France, 82–83friars

care of sick by, 94flagellants and, 137n

friendships, plague effects on, 72–74frog imagery, 170, 172, 173ffruits, 53fumigation recipes, 39, 52funerals, 79, 85

Galen, 42n, 50n, 55, 57, 60Gallia muscata (French musk), 52garlic, curative powers of, 39, 49gavòccioli, 31–32Genoa, 22Gerard de Muro, 133Gerhard of Cosvelde, 122Germany, arrival of plague in, 179glandular swellings (glandule), 30God. See also religion

as cause of plague, 56, 97, 98–100Christian views of, 96disease prevention and, 59flagellants’ penance to, 118, 129, 135medical care and, 45Muslim views of, 96, 113–14questioning of, 94vengeance of, 67, 73–74, 94, 96, 97, 118

goiters, 24Grandisson, John, 95gravediggers, 85Great Chronicle of France, 160“Great Chronicle of France, The,” 164–65Great Famine, 27“great mortality,” 1“Great Surgery” (Chauliac), 63–66Gregoras, Nicephorus, 26

“Byzantine History,” 15–16groin swelling, 31, 34

Harcigny, Guillaume de, 169heart, corruption of, 61Heinrich of Herford, 118, 120, 161, 167

“Book of Memorable Matters,” 122–26Henry V, king of England, 174Hethe, Hamo, bishop of Rochester

“Post-Plague Parish Poverty,” 106–7Hippocrates, 30n, 43, 55, 64nHistoria Byzantina (Gregoras), 15–16“History” (John VI Kantakouzenos),

34–36“History of the Ayyubids and Mamluks, A”

(Ibn calı al-Maqrızı), 84–87“History of the Plague” (Mussis), 98–100Horace, 125nHugo of Reutlingen, 119human body, predisposition toward plague,

44, 65human flea (Pulex irritans), 24humanism, 67, 71

194 INDEX

human-to-human contagion, 38humors

disease origin theory and, 39, 44, 65putrefication of, 30

hundred (territorial unit), 91hysteria, 117. See also flagellants; pogroms

against Jews

Ibn calı al-Maqrızı, Ahmad, 69, 111n“History of the Ayyubids and Mamluks,

A, ” 84–87Ibn al-Khatıb, Lisan al-Dın, 97

“A Very Useful Inquiry into the HorribleSickness,” 114–16

Ibn al-Wardı, Abu Hafs cUmar, 11, 97“Essay on the Report of the Pestilence,”

16–18, 112–14Ibn Battuta, 96Ibn Kathır, cImad al-Dın Abu ’l-Fida’ Ismacıl

b. cUmar, 97“Beginning and End, The: On History,”

110–12Ibn Khaldun, 84Ibn Khatıma, Abu Jacfar Ahmad, 24, 38, 40,

114“Description and Remedy for Escaping

the Plague,” 55–63Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar), 48n, 55imagination

death and, 54–55India, 1, 2, 25Indian Plague Commission, 25infection process, 56Innocent VI, pope, 63, 144Inquisition, 140“Interrogation of the Jews of Savoy,”

145–50Inter Solicitudines (Clement VI), 137n“Introduction to The Decameron” (Boccac-

cio), 31–32, 75–80Islam. See also Muslims

fatwas (religious teachings), 97, 115–16plague origins according to, 56Shari’a (Muslim law), 114, 116views on bathing, 59nviews on Black Death, 96–97, 112–14

Islip, Simon, archbishop of Canterbury,95

“Effrenata (Unbridled),” 104–6isolation

to avoid infection, 75, 115of patients, 39

Italyplague arrival in, 179vernacular literature, 31–32

Jacob of Königshofen, 151Jacquerie, revolt of, 180Jean de la Grange, cardinal, monument of,

174Jesus Christ, 117, 133n

Jews. See also pogroms against Jewsaccused of well poisoning, 64, 117–18,

120, 139, 151, 155–59, 179baptism of, 141, 154burning of, 140f, 154, 156, 179Christian regulations against, 117Christian violence against, 117, 139–41as “Christ killers,” 117Church tolerance for, 117, 158confessions of well poisoning by, 139–41,

146–50, 154deaths from plague, 157debts owed to, 143, 152, 154, 158defended as not causing plague, 155–58,

159disbursal of money of, 153execution of, 140–41, 150, 152, 154interrogation of, 145–50pogroms against, 40, 117–18, 119–20,

139–41, 146–50, 151–54, 156–58protection of, 141, 144–45, 151, 154,

158–59scapegoating of, 6, 96, 117self-burning by, 152, 154as sources of tax revenue, 141throats of children slit by, 156–57

jihad (holy war), 96John of Reading, 83nJohn the Baptist, saint, 133John II, king of France, 180John III, duke, 120John V Paleologus, Byzantine emperor, 34John VI Kantakouzenos, Byzantine

emperor, 34, 37“History,” 34–36

Julian of Norwich, 4juniper, 52jury trials, records of, 91–93

kiddush ha-Shem, 156nKingsbridge hundred, 91–93Knighton, Henry, 69Konrad of Megenberg, 38, 97, 158

“Concerning the Mortality in Germany,”155–58

Koran, 59, 85, 111medical practice and, 97

laborersattempts to attract, 87–88work requirements, 89–90

labor laws, 69, 87–88, 89–90chronology, 179in England, 91–93in Spain, 89–90

Lappe, Claus, 153nlarch fungus, 48La Sarraz, Switzerland, tomb of François de

la Sarra, 172, 173f“Last Will and Testament” (Libertus of

Monte Feche), 108–10

INDEX 195

lavender, 52lawlessness, 76“leper’s plot,” 118Lérida, 52n“Letter” (Sanctus), 21–22, 33–34“Letter and Regimen concerning the Pesti-

lence” (Córdoba), 45–47“Letters on Familiar Matters” (Petrarch),

71–74lettuce, 48Libertus of Monte Feche

“Last Will and Testament,” 108–10Lisle, Thomas de, bishop of Ely

“Post-Plague Parish Poverty,” 106–7Little Ice Age, 26Loja, Spain, 114Louis the Great, king of Hungary, 129nLydgate, John, 161, 162

“Dance of Death, The,” 165–66lymph node swellings (buboes), 23, 24

macabre representation, 160Machaut, Guillaume de, 83nMagnus, Albertus, 42Malthus, Thomas, 3Mamluk empire, Egypt, 84–87“Mandate to Suppress the Flagellants”

(Philip VI), 138–39manorial death records, 3manorial economy, 69, 70manufacturing technology, 4Maqrızı, Ahmad Ibn cAli al-. See Ibn cAli

al-Maqrızı, Ahmadmarriage, plague impacts on, 70, 83Mathias of Neuenburg, 126, 130n

“Chronicle,” 151–54meat, 27, 48, 53medical care

doctors, 37–38, 39, 47–48, 65nfutility of, 32, 35–36, 37–38, 39, 46, 61,

81God and, 45Koran and, 97prevention, 48–50, 51–55, 56–59remedies and medicines, 6, 53treatment methods, 38–40, 59–63, 65

Medical Faculty of the University of Paris“Consultation,” 41–45

medical textbooks, 63medical theory, on plague origins,

38–39medicines, 53medieval society

impacts of Black Death on, 4, 67–70,87–93

moral laxity in, 67, 82–83medieval sources, 5–6

eyewitness accounts, 5scientific explanations, 6supernatural explanations in, 5–6

medieval wills, 95–96, 108–10

mel rosarum, 58memento mori (remembrance of death),

160, 162merrymaking, as response to plague,

75–86Messina, arrival of Black Death in, 29–30minority groups. See also Jews

scapegoating of, 117Mongols and Mongolia, 2, 11, 13monks, flagellants and, 137nMontpellier, University of, 45moral laxity, 67, 82–83mortality, viii, 2–3, 27, 77–80. See also

deathof common people, 78–79dead bodies, 76, 79, 82, 85death rates, 3, 16desertion of victims, 77imagination and, 54–55labor issues related to, 69loss of friends and relations, 72–74new research on, 3of priests, 95as proof of God’s vengeance, 94in Siena, Italy, 80–82suddenness of death, 32, 35, 81

mourning practices, 77–78muezzins, 85Muisis, Gilles li, 67, 96, 118, 119, 120, 141

“Chronicle,” 132–37municipal histories, 126Muslims. See also Islam

medical practice by, 97response to Black Death by, 96–97,

110–16views on contagion, 96, 97, 114–16

Mussis, Gabriele de, 13, 14, 16, 94, 97“History of the Plague,” 98–100

Nile River, 86Noah, 73

oblations, 125nOfford, John, archbishop of Canterbury,

104“Ordinance” (Córtes of Aragon), 179–80“Ordinance” (Córtes of Castile), 89–90,

180

Palestine, 16–18, 64Palm Sunday, 133npandemics, 2Paris, University of, 41–45parish priests. See priestsPaul, Saint (apostle), 126, 133npax Romana, 125nPeasants’ Revolt (1381), 70Pedro I, king of Castile, 89, 152Pedro IV, king of Aragon, 144–45, 180

“Response to Jewish Pogrom of Tárrega,”142–43

196 INDEX

penance, flagellation as, 118, 123, 126, 127,129–30, 132–33

Penna, Giovanni della, 39“pestilence,” 1. See also Black Deathpestilential pills, 46“pestilential worms,” 170Petrarch, Francesco, 5, 21, 67, 94

“Letters on Familiar Matters,” 71–74Philip VI, king of France, 41, 118, 179

“Mandate to Suppress the Flagellants,”138–39

phlebotomies, 48, 65. See also bloodlettingPiacenza, 98Piazza, Michele da, 1, 24, 27, 94

“Chronicle,” 29–30, 100–103pigs, 32plague. See also Black Death

bubonic, 23–27, 29–30, 33, 161forms of, 23–29, 33outbreaks of, 1pneumonic, 23–27, 33septicemic, 23–24, 33–34

plague bacillus, 11, 13plague hospitals and wards, 39plague saints, 160Pliny the Elder, 170pneumonic plague. See also Black Death;

plaguecharacteristics of, 23–27, 33death from, 23transmission of, 23, 26, 27

poetryon Dance of Death, 161, 162, 165–66debate, 176–78depictions of corpses, 160on transi tombs, 171, 176–78worm imagery in, 174

pogroms against Jewsaccusations of well poisoning and,

117–18, 139–41, 156–58Christian-Jewish relations and, 141chronology, 179–80confessions by Jews and, 146–50economic motivation of, 158–59flagellant movement and, 119–20in Spain, 142–43in Strasbourg, 151–54

poison, found near wells, 148, 155–56poisoning, intentional, 40, 46–47, 64. See

also well poisoningpork, 48porters, 85portraiture, 96, 160“Post-Plague Parish Poverty” (Hethe and

Lisle), 106–7“potable gold,” 39prayers, 85, 94prevention, 48–50, 51–55, 56–59, 76–77priests, 94–95, 104–7

criticism of, 94–95, 104–5criticism of flagellants by, 131

income of, 95, 104–7mortality of, 95

processions, religious, 94prognostications, 43–44Provence, pogroms against Jews in, 139Prussia, arrival of plague in, 179Ptolemy, Claudius, 44Pulex irritans (human flea), 24purgatives, 48, 53, 65pustules, 24

quarantine measures, 39

Ramadan, 111rat fleas (Xenopsylla cheopis)

disease spread and, 13, 20n, 25survival of, 13, 26Yersinia pestis and, 25

ratsdisease spread and, 15–16, 20n, 26mortality of, 26

rebirth symbolism, 162, 170–71red knights, 133“Regimen of Protection against Epidemics”

(Agramont), 51–55religion, 94–116. See also Christians; God;

Islam; Jews; Muslims; priestsChristian views of Black Death, 96–97,

100–103cult of remembrance, 4, 96in Damascus, 110–12loss of religious fervor, 95Muslim views of Black Death, 96–97,

98–100, 110–16parish priests, 104–7priorities of the people, 108–10shrines, 94, 100–103, 171wills, 95–96

Renaissanceart and artists, 4, 21, 160Black Death and, 4

“Response to Jewish Pogrom of Tárrega”(Pedro IV), 142–43

rest, corrupt air and, 57Robert of Anjou, 31rodents. See also rats

fleas carried by, 13plague bacillus and, 11, 13

Romania (Byzantine Empire), 13rose water and vinegar, 57, 58Russia, arrival of plague in, 180

“sack-bearers” (vagabonds), 156Sahih (al-Bukharı), 111nSaint-Denis, abbey of, 164Sanctus, Louis, 6, 11, 24, 37, 72

“Letter,” 21–22, 33–34sanitation measures, 39Santiago di Compostella, St. James, shrine

of, 171Sardo, Ranieri, 13

INDEX 197

Sarra, François de la, 169, 170“Tomb at La Sarraz, Switzerland,” 172,

173fSavoy, pogroms against Jews in, 145–50scallop shell imagery, 170, 172, 173fscapegoating, 6, 96, 117. See also Jewsscientific explanations, 6seaports, disease spread through, 13–14,

22self-help remedies, 40semen, 58Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, 73septicemic plague. See also Black Death;

plaguecharacteristics of, 23–24, 33–34transmission of, 23–24

serfs, 69sexual intercourse, 54, 58Shari’a (Muslim law), 114, 116“Short Casebook” (Foligno), 47–50Shrewsbury, Ralph, 94shrines, 94, 100–103, 171Sicut Judeis, 158“Sicut Judeis (Mandate to Protect the

Jews)” (Clement V), 158–59Siena, plague effects on, 80–82“Sienese Chronicle” (Tura), 80–82sight contagion, 64n, 81sins. See also flagellants; God

flagellation as punishment for, 117plague as punishment for, 51, 99–100,

118sleep, guidelines for, 53, 57–58snake imagery, 170snakeskin, 49nsocietal impacts

economic issues, 67, 69, 70family life, 70labor legislation, 69, 89–93loss of friends and relations, 71–74in Mamluk empire, Egypt, 84–87moral laxity, 67, 82–83responses to heavy loss of life,

81–82social and psychological effects, 75–80

SpainChristian-Jewish relations in, 144–45labor legislation, 89–90mortality of priests in, 95pogroms against Jews in, 141, 142–43,

145–50St. Andrew’s Church, Norwich, England

stained-glass panel, 167, 168fSt. Giles, Tournai, monastery of, 132St. James shrine, Santiago de Compostella,

171St. Martin, Tournai, monastery of, 133St. Thomas Cantilupe, Hereford, England,

shrine of, 94St. Vitus’s Dance, 161

stained-glass panel, St. Andrews Church,Norwich, 167, 168f

staio, 88Strasbourg

flagellant movement in, 126–31Jewish pogrom in, 120, 151–54

Stratford, John, archbishop of Canterbury,104

Sunni Islam, 96supernatural explanations, 5survivors

fertility of, 83greed of, 83negative effects on, 83reinvigoration of culture by, 4

Swarber, Peter, lord mayor of Strasbourg,151, 152–53

symptoms, 16, 23–24, 24–25, 31, 35, 63–64,84

tainted meat, 27“Takkanoth (Accord) of Barcelona,”

144–45takkanoth (accord), 139, 180Tárrega, Spain, pogrom against Jews in,

142–43technological innovation, 4, 70teeth, in babies born after the plague,

83theater, 161–62theriacs, 49, 53Thrace, 64Thuringia, Germany, 118–19“Tomb at La Sarraz, Switzerland” (Sarra),

172–73, 173ftombs. See transi tombstrades, plague impacts on, 87transi tombs, 169–71

as anti-tomb, 169decaying corpses depicted on, 169–71“double-decker,” 169, 174functions of, 169poetry on, 171, 176–78tomb at La Sarraz, Switzerland, 172,

173ftomb of Henry Chichele at Canterbury

Cathedral, 174, 175fworm imagery, 170–71, 172, 173f, 174,

176treatment methods, 38–40, 65

of disease, 60–63prevention, 59–60

Trillek, John, bishop of Hereford, 95tumors (apostemes), 63Tura, Agnolo di, 2, 37, 67

“Sienese Chronicle,” 80–82

ulama (Muslim religio-legal community),97

Ulrich of Heisenberg, 154

198 INDEX

Upper Egypt, 86Urban V, pope, 63

Venette, Jean de, 67, 94“Chronicle,” 82–83

verjuice, 50“Very Useful Inquiry into the Horrible

Sickness, A” (Ibn al-Khatıb), 114–16Viard, Jules, 164victims

abandonment of, 77, 81dependence on others, 77–78

Villani, Giovanni, 11, 26, 71, 126“Chronicle,” 19–20

Villani, Matteo, 37, 38, 96vinegar, 50, 57, 58Virgin Agatha of Catania, shrine, 94,

100–102Virgin Mary of Santa Maria della Scala,

shrine of, 100–103viziers, 85vomiting, 58, 84

wages, 69, 89–93labor laws and, 87–88

Wardı, Abu Hafs cUmar Ibn al-. See Ibnal-Wardı

War of the Roses, 169

watercorruption of, 42–43, 46guidelines for drinking, 57stagnant, 53

well poisoninganimals killed by, 157Jews accused of, 117–18, 120, 139, 151,

155, 179Jews’ confessions to, 139–41, 146–50,

154wills, 95–96

religious priorities and, 108–10“Wiltshire, England, Assize Roll of Labor

Offenders,” 91–93winds, corrupted, 43wine, 48, 50, 53wolves, 82women

mourning practices and, 77–78working opportunities for, 4

worm imagery, 170–71, 172, 173f, 174in poetry, 174on transi tombs, 176

Xenopsylla cheopis (rat fleas), 25

Yersinia pestis (plague bacterium), 23, 25,27

INDEX 199