Plague science is a rapidly developing field, as is paleogenetics more generally. Increasingly, too, developments in climate science will likely be able to contribute meaningfully to our understanding of the role of changing climatic conditions and major outbreaks of plague.
Modeling plague transmission in Medieval European cities
February 2, 2018 by
The Black Death pandemic swept through Europe during the Middle Ages leading to high mortality from plague. How it spread, the transmission of the disease within and between cities, remains a subject of controversy among scientists and historians.
Sin, Salvation and the Medieval Physician: Religious Influences on Fourteenth Century Medicine
November 16, 2017 by
During the plague’s fourteenth century outbreak, a variety of medical cures and theories existed that would baffle the modern physician, but perhaps the most striking difference between fourteenth-century medicine and modern medicine was the involvement of religion.
Book Review: The Mortecarni
August 8, 2017 by
Are you a horror fan looking for something different to shake up your reading list? Kelly Evans might have just what you’re looking for in her latest novel, ‘The Mortecarni’, a medieval zombie mash up set around the time of the Black Death.
MEDIEVAL BOOKS: Black Friday!
November 26, 2015 by
Here are a few recent releases for medievalists hunting for Black Friday books and early Christmas gifts!
The Struggle is Real: Where are the Medieval Economists?!
November 21, 2015 by
Another fascinating paper from “Making the Medieval Relevant” was given by Daniel Curtis, a specialist in Social and Economic History, and a professor at the University of Utrecht.
Making the Medieval Relevant: Crossing Boundaries: Interdisciplinary Studies on Disease and Disability
November 20, 2015 by
A summary of a paper given by Professor Christina Lee at the University of Nottingham’s “Making the Medieval Relevant” Conference.
Movie Review: Dangerous Beauty
August 28, 2015 by
Late 16th century Venice, where a woman can be a nun, a wife or a courtesan. For Veronica Franco, the free spirited girl scorned by because of her lack of wealth, the choice is an obvious one…
Single Genetic change created the medieval plague, researchers find
July 1, 2015 by
Yersinia pestis, the bacteria that caused Justinian’s Plague and the Black Death, was once only able to cause a mild gastrointestinal infection. However, researchers have found that a single genetic change to bacteria turned into one of the deadliest diseases in human history.
Yersinia pestis and the Plague of Justinian 541–543 AD: a genomic analysis
June 6, 2015 by
Between 541 and 543 AD, the Plague of Justinian, traditionally regarded as the first of three human plague pandemics, spread from either central Asia or Africa across the Mediterranean basin into Europe, killing an estimated 100 million people according to the contemporary scholar Procopius
Papers on Medieval Prosopography: Session #47 at KZOO 2015
May 29, 2015 by
Three fantastic papers on Prosopography from #KZOO2015.
How Climate Change in Asia brought the Black Death to Europe
February 24, 2015 by
A group of Norwegian and Swiss researchers have uncovered links between climatic changes in central Asia and repeated outbreaks of the Bubonic plague in Europe, starting with the Black Death in the 14th century.
Medieval Books for Christmas
December 15, 2014 by
It’s that time of year again – the mad scramble for the perfect Christmas gift for the historian, nerd, avid reader on your list. Here are a few suggestions for you – new releases for December and January!
Plague Remedies from Renaissance Italy
December 11, 2014 by
‘Rue tops, one clove of garlic, a walnut, a grain of salt, and eat on an empty stomach everyday for up to a month, and you must be cheerful, and this recipe, it’s good against vermin and it’s perfect.
INTERVIEW: A Conversation with SD Sykes about Plague Land
October 3, 2014 by
My interview with fiction author, SD Sykes about her fantastic medieval crime novel, Plague Land.
Containing Contagion: Perception and Prevention of Plague in the Late Middle Ages
September 19, 2014 by
When the Black Death, one of the world’s deadliest epidemics, struck the European continent, the people afflicted with plague looked to those already respected in the medical field.
Living la vita apostolica: Life expectancy and mortality of nuns in late-medieval Holland
July 28, 2014 by
Living la vita apostolica: Life expectancy and mortality of nuns in late-medieval Holland Jaco Zuijderduijn (Utrecht University ) Centre for Global Economic History: Utrecht University, Working Paper No. 44, June (2013) Abstract Data on vital events of medieval women are extremely scarce. We use a dataset based on a necrology of nuns in late-medieval Holland […]
MOVIE REVIEW: Flesh and Blood
June 7, 2014 by
My review of the late medieval movie, Flesh and Blood.
Mordred: Treachery, Transference, and Border Pressure in British Arthurian Romance
March 12, 2014 by
This study focuses on the question of how Mordred comes to be portrayed as a traitor within the British Arthurian context.
The Red Sea and the Port of Clysma. A Possible Gate of Justinian’s Plague
March 10, 2014 by
The aim of this study is to present the sea and land commercial routes of the Byzantine Egypt and their role in the dissemination of the plague bacteria Yersinia pestis from the Red Sea to Mediterranean ports. The Mediterranean port of Pelusium was considered as the starting point of the first plague pandemic…
Black Death and Justinian’s Plague were caused by the same pathogen, scientists find
January 29, 2014 by
Two of the world’s deadliest pandemics – Justinian’s Plague and the Black Death – were caused by the same pathogen. These findings were revealed yesterday in an article published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases.
Plague and Persecution: The Black Death and Early Modern Witch Hunts
January 27, 2014 by
The century or so from approximately 1550 to 1650 is a period during which witch-hunts reached unprecedented frequency and intensity. The circumstances that fomented the witch- hunts—persistent warfare, religious conflict, and harvest failures—had occurred before, but witch-hunts had never been so ubiquitous or severe.
Integrative Medicine: Incorporating Medicine and Health into the Canon of MedievalEuropean History
January 20, 2014 by
Hitherto peripheral (if not outright ignored) in general medieval historiography, medieval medical history is now a vibrant subdiscipline, one that is rightly attracting more and more attention from ‘mainstream’ historians and other students of cultural history.
Stature and frailty during the Black Death: the effect of stature on risks of epidemic mortality in London, A.D. 1348-1350
January 4, 2014 by
Recent research has shown that pre-existing health condition affected an individual ’ s risk of dying duringthe 14th-century Black Death. However, a previous study of the effect of adult stature on risk of mortality during the epidemic failed to find a relationship between the two; this result is perhaps surprising given the well-documented inverse association between stature and mortality in human populations.
Healthscaping a Medieval City: Lucca’s Curia viarum and the Future of Public Health History
November 24, 2013 by
Healthscaping a Medieval City: Lucca’s Curia viarum and the Future of Public Health History G. Geltner (Department of History, University of Amsterdam) Urban History: 40, 3 (2013) Abstract In early fourteenth-century Lucca, one government organ began expanding its activities beyond the maintenance of public works to promoting public hygiene and safety, and in ways that suggest both […]
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