Black DeathA fascinating work of detective history, The Black Death traces the causes and far-reaching consequences of this infamous outbreak of plague that spread across the continent of Europe from 1347 to 1351. Drawing on sources as diverse as monastic manuscripts and dendrochronological studies (which measure growth rings in trees), historian Robert S. Gottfried demonstrates how a bacillus transmitted by rat fleas brought on an ecological reign of terror -- killing one European in three, wiping out entire villages and towns, and rocking the foundation of medieval society and civilization. |
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Page xiii
... changes . People were astounded , bewildered , and terrified . " Father aban- doned child , wife husband , one brother another , for the plague seemed to strike through breath and sight . And so they died . And no one could be found to ...
... changes . People were astounded , bewildered , and terrified . " Father aban- doned child , wife husband , one brother another , for the plague seemed to strike through breath and sight . And so they died . And no one could be found to ...
Page xiv
... changes the Black Death brought were short - lived , while others regard the Black Death as a , or even the , major turning point in the transition from medieval to modern Europe . Most early students of the subject subscribed to the ...
... changes the Black Death brought were short - lived , while others regard the Black Death as a , or even the , major turning point in the transition from medieval to modern Europe . Most early students of the subject subscribed to the ...
Page xv
... changes . Herlihy and Carpentier studied the Ital- ian towns of Pistoia , in Tuscany , and Orvieto , in Umbria , and their contadi , or surrounding countrysides . 12 Both concluded that , while the Black Death itself was a tremendous ...
... changes . Herlihy and Carpentier studied the Ital- ian towns of Pistoia , in Tuscany , and Orvieto , in Umbria , and their contadi , or surrounding countrysides . 12 Both concluded that , while the Black Death itself was a tremendous ...
Page xvi
Robert S. Gottfried. and general demographic , social , and economic change in a broad ec- ological framework.14 Biraben ... changes . Other historians tend to lower plague mortality , claiming that the Black Death killed but 20 % of ...
Robert S. Gottfried. and general demographic , social , and economic change in a broad ec- ological framework.14 Biraben ... changes . Other historians tend to lower plague mortality , claiming that the Black Death killed but 20 % of ...
Page 4
... change a great deal in their etiology . Hence , sur- vival from an initial attack confers a degree of immunity , limiting re- currence to those members of society born after the last epidemic . Diseases for which there was immunity had ...
... change a great deal in their etiology . Hence , sur- vival from an initial attack confers a degree of immunity , limiting re- currence to those members of society born after the last epidemic . Diseases for which there was immunity had ...
Contents
1 | |
16 | |
The Plagues Beginnings | 33 |
The Plagues Progress | 54 |
The Immediate Consequences | 77 |
The Stirrings of Modern Medicine | 104 |
Disease and the Transformation of Medieval Europe | 129 |
Europes Environmental Crisis | 161 |
Notes | 164 |
A Bibliographical Essay | 187 |
Index | 195 |
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Common terms and phrases
areas Asia began Black Death brought bubonic plague Cambridge University Press caused changes Christian chronicler church claimed clergy crisis Cuxham demic depopulation died doctors early fourteenth century eastern economic effect England English Europe's European example famines fifteenth century flagellants fleas Florence fourteenth century France Georges Duby Germany Guy de Chauliac History human important infected Italian Italy Jean de Venette John Justinian's Plague killed labor land late medieval Late Middle Ages London lords Manor manorial McNeill medicine Medieval Mediterranean Basin merchants Middle East Netherlands North northern Oxford pandemic Paris peasants perished pestis physicians plague epidemics plague mortality plague's pneumonic plague population postplague preplague Princeton University Press public health rodent role rural scholars second plague pandemic sick Siena sixteenth smallpox social Society southern spread surgeons teenth century theory thirteenth century Thrupp tion town trade tury twelfth century urban Venice victims villages West Western William McNeill York