Cover: The Black Death, The Great Mortality of 1348-1350, 2nd Edition by John Aberth

The Black Death, The Great Mortality of 1348-1350

A Brief History with DocumentsSecond Edition ©2017 John Aberth

This new edition continues to provide a fascinating account of the plague that ravaged the world in the fourteenth century. An updated introduction provides important background information and addresses the “plague denial” controversy.  A new section of documents on environmental explanations
Read more

Institutional Prices

ISBN:9781319048877

Cover: The Black Death, The Great Mortality of 1348-1350, 2nd Edition by John Aberth

This new edition continues to provide a fascinating account of the plague that ravaged the world in the fourteenth century. An updated introduction provides important background information and addresses the “plague denial” controversy.  A new section of documents on environmental explanations for and responses to the plague joins sections on the origin and spread of the illness; the responses of medical practitioners; the societal and economic impact; religious responses; the flagellant movement and attacks on Jews provoked by the plague; and the artistic response. Documents from many countries — including Muslim and Byzantine sources — give students a variety of perspectives on this devastating illness and its consequences. In addition to the new environmental sources, new documents include a “Middle Dutch Flagellant Scroll,” here printed in English for the first time; German letters to the town of Strasbourg on their pogroms against the Jews; Ibn Khātima’s medical description of plague symptoms and transmission; and artistic depictions of the plague saints, Sebastian and Roch. The volume also includes document headnotes, a chronology of the Black Death, Questions for Consideration, a selected bibliography, and an index.

Features

New to This Edition

“Overall, this is an extremely useful tool for undergraduates interested in exploring the impact of the plague on pre-modern society. The range of documents, both chronological and geographical, fosters an appreciation for the variety of ways the plague affected European as well as Islamic society. The discussions of new trends in interpreting and examining the plague effectively convey to students a sense of the dynamism of the discipline of history. The translations are extremely clear, and the notes provided quite useful, both for the novice and the more advanced student.”
— Erin Jordan, University of Northern Colorado
“This is an excellent collection of sources. The selected texts are well chosen, often otherwise unavailable, comprehensive in the views they present, and long enough to be very useful. The inclusion of sources from throughout Europe and the Middle East is excellent and fills a gap.”
— Richard Gyug, Fordham University

Digital Options

Table of Contents

Foreword
Preface
Maps and Illustrations

PART ONE
Introduction: The Black Death in History
The Black Death as Historical Event
Historical Significance of the Black Death
Studying Medieval Sources


PART TWO
The Documents
1. Setting the Scene: External Pressure and Domestic Turmoil
1. Nicephorus Gregoras, Byzantine History, ca. 1359
2. Abū Hafs cUmar Ibn al-Wardī, Essay on the Report of the Pestilence, ca. 1348
3. Giovanni Villani, Chronicle, ca. 1348
4. Louis Sanctus, Letter, April 27, 1348
2. Symptoms and Transmission
5. Michele da Piazza, Chronicle, 1347–1361
6. Giovanni Boccaccio, Introduction to The Decameron, 1349–1351
7. Louis Sanctus, Letter, April 27, 1348
8. John VI Kantakouzenos, History, 1367–1369
9. Abū Ja‘far Ahmad Ibn Khātima, Description and Remedy for Escaping the Plague, February 1349
3. Medical Responses
10. Medical Faculty of the University of Paris, Consultation, October 6, 1348
11. Alfonso de Córdoba, Letter and Regimen concerning the Pestilence, ca. 1348
12. Gentile Da Foligno, Short Casebook, 1348
13. Jacme d’Agramont, Regimen of Protection against Epidemics, April 24, 1348
14. Abū Jacfar Ahmad Ibn Khātima, Description and Remedy for Escaping the Plague, February 1349
15. Gui de Chauliac, Great Surgery, 1363
4. Societal and Economic Impact
16. Francesco Petrarch, Letters on Familiar Matters, May 1349
17. Giovanni Boccaccio, Introduction to The Decameron, 1349–1351
18. Agnolo di Tura, Sienese Chronicle, 1348–1351
19. Jean de Venette, Chronicle, ca. 1359–1360
20. Ahmad Ibn cAlī al-Maqrīzī, A History of the Ayyubids and Mamluks, 15th Century
21. City Council of Siena, Ordinance, May 1349
22. The Córtes of Castile, Ordinance, 1351
23. Wiltshire, England, Assize Roll of Labor Offenders, June 11, 1352
5. Religious Mentalities
24. Gabriele de Mussis, History of the Plague, 1348
25. Michele da Piazza, Chronicle, 1347–1361
26. Simon Islip, Archbishop of Canterbury, Effrenata (Unbridled), May 28, 1350
27. Hamo Hethe, Bishop of Rochester, and Thomas de Lisle, Bishop of Ely, Post-Plague Parish Poverty, July 1, 1349, and September 20, 1349
28. Libertus of Monte Feche, Last Will and Testament, September 21, 1348
29. cImād al-Dīn Abū ’l-Fidā’ Ismācīl b. cUmar Ibn Kathīr, The Beginning and End: On History, ca. 1350–1351
30. Abū Hafs cUmar Ibn al-Wardī, Essay on the Report of the Pestilence, ca. 1348
31. Lisān al-Dīn Ibn al-Khatīb, A Very Useful Inquiry into the Horrible Sickness, 1349–1352
6. The Plague Psyche
The Flagellants
32. A Middle Dutch Flagellant Scroll, 1349
33. Heinrich of Herford, Book of Memorable Matters, ca. 1349-1355
34. Fritsche Closener, Chronicle, 1360-1362
35. Gilles li Muisis, Chronicle, 1350
36. Jean de Fayt, Sermon on the Flagellants, October 5, 1349
The Poison Conspiracy
37. Andre Benedict, Letter to the Jurors of Gerona
38. Replies to Strasbourgs Interrogatory about the Jews, November 1348-January 1349
39. Mathias of Neuenburg, Chronicle, ca. 1349-1350
40. Konrad of Megenberg, Concerning the Mortality in Germany, ca. 1350
41. Pope Clement VI, Sicut Judeis (Mandate to Protect the Jews), October 1, 1348
7. Environmental Explanations and Responses
42. Gabriele De Mussis, History of the Disease or Mortality of 1348, 1348-1356
43. Jacme d’Agramont, Regimen of Protection against Epidemics, April 24, 1348
44. Konrad of Megenberg, Concerning the Mortality in Germany, ca. 1350
45. City and Commune of Pistoia, May 2-23, 1348
8. The Artistic Response
St. Sebastian and St. Roch
46. Sandro Botticelli, St. Sebastian, 1474
47. Josse Lieferinxe, St. Sebastian Intercedes during the Plague in Pavia, c. 1497-99
48. Bartolomeo Della Gatta, St. Roch in front of the Fraternita dei Laici in Arrezo, c. 1479
49. St. Roch, German Woodcut, ca. 1480
The Dance of Death
50. The Great Chronicle of France, ca. 1348
51. John Lydgate, The Dance of Death, ca. 1430
52. Death as Chess Player, St. Andrew’s Church, Norwich, ca. 1500
Transi Tombs
53. François de la Sarra, Tomb at La Sarraz, Switzerland, ca. 1390
54. Archbishop Henry Chichele, Tomb at Canterbury Cathedral, ca. 1425
55. A Disputacioun betwyx the Body and Wormes, ca. 1450

APPENDIXES
A Chronology of the Black Death (1347 – 1363)
Questions for Consideration
Selected Bibliography

Index

Headshot of John Aberth

John Aberth

John Aberth lives in Roxbury, Vermont, and teaches history at Vermonts Castleton State College, where he formerly served as associate academic dean. He has taught history at a number of other institutions, including Middlebury College, the University of Vermont, St. Michaels College, the University of Nebraska, and Norwich University. He received his PhD in Medieval History from Cambridge University in England, and has published several books, including Churchmen in the Age of Edward III: The Case of Bishop Thomas de Lisle (1996); From the Brink of the Apocalypse: Confronting Famine, War, Plague and Death (2000); and A Knight at the Movies: Medieval History on Film (2003).