The mystery of plague in medieval Iceland
Icelandic annals record two severe plague epidemics for 1402-4 and 1494-95.
The Black Death and the Hundred Years’ War
If you asked anyone to name ten disasters of the European Middle Ages, or even five, their list would certainly include the Black Death and the Hundred Years War.
Fleas, rats and other stories: The palaeoecology of the Black Death
Bubonic plague is a disease which involves various animal vectors and hosts and its ecology is both complex and of importance in terms of its spread and virulence.
The Black Death and COVID-19 with Winston Black
This week on The Medieval Podcast, with headlines turning once again to stories of the plague, Danièle catches up with Winston Black to talk about The Black Death and COVID-19, what’s different about them, and what we can learn today from looking back on the biggest pandemic in human history.
Coping with Pandemics in the Middle Ages
Medieval people differed from us in their ways of coping with a pandemic, but they felt similar helplessness.
The Black Death and the Future of the Plague
How do we unite study of the plague in the past and present to create a better understanding of plague dynamics, to better prepare for the future?
The Medieval Origins of Quarantine
The origins of quarantine date back to the Middle Ages, an idea that emerged in the wake of the Black Death.
Plagues and history
Plagues have changed history, stopped armies in their tracks and altered the fate of nations. Mary and Christopher Dobson will outline the impact of plagues on human history and reflect on related challenges that will be faced by future generations.
Dread the Grim Reaper: Early Warning Strategies as a Means of Plague Prevention: Hospitaller Malta’s Fight Against Contagion
Plague, the grim reaper of preindustrial society, brought social disruption and physical devastation on such a scale as to warrant major literary attention both from contemporaries who witnessed the misery it perpetrated and by writers fortunate enough to live in centuries when this most fatal of epidemics was by and large only a distant memory
Fur trade may have spread the Black Death through Europe, study finds
Commercial trade routes, including the fur trade routes, would have contributed to the rapid spread of the Black Death and other epidemics throughout Europe.
On Learning How to Teach the Black Death
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
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
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
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!
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?!
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
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
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
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
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
How Climate Change in Asia brought the Black Death to Europe
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
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!
How to protect yourself against the Plague: Remedies from Renaissance Italy
‘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
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
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.