Apocalyptic Disease and the Seventh-Century Plague

320 Shockro

Chapter 15 Apocalyptic Disease and the Seventh-Century Plague

Sally Shockro

Widespread and devastating disease was a recurring theme in Europe in Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages, and from the 660s through the 680s the populations of England and Ireland suffered from a sickness that caused mass death and social trauma.1 Scholars have debated the identity of the seventh- century plague in England and Ireland, suggesting influenza, smallpox, or, most likely, bubonic plague.2 Regardless of the precise pathology of the seventh-century plague, what is almost certain is that the sickened population in England and Ireland had no immunity to this disease. Accounts of the seventh- century plague describe sudden, widespread death in affected areas. Recovery was possible (but seemingly rare) and death usually occurred within a few days. Its highly communicable nature meant that communities living in close proximity were severely affected and sometimes almost wiped out by the disease.3 Although texts recounting outbreaks of disease can be challenging to

1 John Maddicott, ‘Plague in Seventh-Century England’, in Plague and the End of Antiquity, ed. Lester K. Little (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 171-214. 2 For more on the debate on the identity of the disease, and the related question of the presence of rats in early-medieval England, see R.S. Bray, Armies of Pestilence (Cambridge: James Clark and Co., 2004), 45-6; Wilfrid Bonser, ‘Epidemics’, in The Medical Background of Anglo-Saxon England (London: The Wellcome Historical Medical Library, 1963). 3 A monk, Tydi, who informed the author of the anonymous vita of Cuthbert, described one local settlement after the arrival of the seventh-century plague as ‘depopulated’. Anonymous, Vita Sancti Cuthberti Auctore Anonymo, in The Two Lives of Saint Cuthbert, trans. Bertram Colgrave (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1940), 119. John Maddicott has connected possible population shifts in this period to deaths from the seventh-century plague, Maddicott, ‘Plague in Seventh-Century England’, 199-205. But the connection between evolving settlement centers and disease is not certain, as the movement of communities is the result of many factors and occurs in regions unaffected by disease. The challenge of interpreting this evidence is intensified by the cultural changes of this period, such as morphing burial rites, that alter the archaeological visibility of some groups. Christina Lee, ‘Invisible enemies: the role of epidemics in the shaping of historical events in the early medieval period’, in Social Dimensions of Medieval Disease and Disability, ed. Sally Crawford and Christina Lee (Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, 2014), 23 and Helena Hamerow, ‘Chapter 4 – Land and Power:

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2018 | doi 10.1163/9789004363786_016 Apocalyptic Disease and the Seventh-Century Plague 321 interpret because of the authors’ frequent reliance on established tropes,4 there is evidence external to these texts to suggest that this was indeed a tumultuous period. Significant volcanic eruptions in the early 680s would have cooled temperatures in the North Sea region, likely causing famine that would have facilitated widespread disease.5

Early Christian Interpretations of Sickness and Guilt

For religious communities who saw the events of the world as part of God’s plan, the seventh-century plague must have been a troubling event. The biblical interpretation of pestilence is clear: plague is the physical manifestation of God’s wrath, the way in which he punishes wrong-doers and publicly declares their guilt.6 Those who are spared from biblical plagues are God’s chosen peo- ple, specially preserved by his favour. This view of disease is pervasive in both the Bible and the early Christian tradition, with the association between health and holiness established in early foundational texts such as the Life of Anthony.7 Early Christian writers often adopted this attitude as a default position on the divine purpose of sickness, and when they wished to suggest an alternative reading of illness they had to make their new interpretation explicit. Both John Chrysostom and John Cassian attempt to explain to their readers how God could allow men who were clearly holy, perhaps even saintly, to become ill. Chrysostom provides several rationales, most of which focus on the inspira- tional impact that the example of the suffering holy man will have on the Christian community at large. For Cassian, the sufferings of those already holy provide opportunities for greater perfection and ultimate reward, and he

Settlements in their Territorial Context’, in Early Medieval Settlements: The Archaeology of Rural Communities in North-West Europe 400-900 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 100-24. 4 Lee, ‘Invisible enemies’, 15-16, 18-19. 5 M. Sigl, et al., ‘Timing and climate forcing of volcanic eruptions for the past 2,500 years’, Nature 523 (2015): 544-47. For a discussion of the causes and effects of climate change from the Roman period through the early Middle Ages, see Michael McCormick, et al., ‘Climate Change during and after the Roman Empire: Reconstructing the Past from Scientific and Historical Evidence’, Journal of Interdisciplinary History 43:2 (2012): 169-220. 6 The ten Plagues of Egypt are the most dramatic example (Ex. 7:4-11:10), but there are frequent references throughout the Bible to the illnesses that God will direct at the guilty. For example, see Ex. 9:15, Lev. 26:25, Num. 14:12, Deut. 28:21, 1 Chr. 21:14, 2 Chr. 7:13, Jer. 14:12, and Ezek. 5:17. 7 Andrew Crislip, Thorns in the Flesh: Illness and Sanctity in Late Ancient Christianity (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013), 109-37.