Plague Debate: Methodology and Meaning in the Retrospective Diagnosis of the Black Death Karl Birkelbach B.A. (Hons) A thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the School of Humanities Department of History University of Western Australia 2009 3 Plague Debate: Methodology and meaning in the retrospective diagnosis of the Black Death Karl Birkelbach The University of Western Australia Debate over the retrospective diagnosis of the fourteenth-century ‗Black Death‘ pandemic and its successive outbreaks is often popularly represented as taking place primarily between proponents of the bubonic paradigm, and the more recent revisionist academics, who ascribe different medical origins to the disease. I argue, on the contrary, that the revisionist discussion forms only part of a long-running series of debates amongst those who diagnose the disease agent as Yersinia pestis. I refer to this conflict as the ‗plague debate.‘ This thesis will analyse how this debate has been influenced chiefly by the construction of the Black Death as an historical event through various modern ‗paradigms,‘ and the inherent interdisciplinary nature of retrospective diagnosis, which renders it subject to methodological and ideological shifts within approaches to the study of both disease and history. I argue that the way in which various disciplines are in dialogue with one another has created a space for diverse interpretations of the medical nature of the Black Death within the ‗plague debate.‘ Furthermore, I consider a possible new perspective in which to in situate the ‗plague debate‘ in rejection of the more popular demarcations. Specifically, how the various interpretations of the retrospective diagnosis of the Black Death are representative of deeper issues concerning the faith of humanity in science, modernity and the future: whether we believe we have ‗conquered‘ our plagues or whether we are still at the whim of natural forces beyond our control. 4 5 Plague Debate: Methodology and meaning in the retrospective diagnosis of the Black Death Contents Introduction 10. Section 1: Scholarly Discourses Chapter 1: 39. Creating the Bubonic Paradigm Chapter 2: 70. Scientific Research and the Retrospective Diagnosis of the Black Death Chapter 3: 131. Interpretation of the Bubonic Paradigm by Historians Chapter 4: 164. The Black Death as a ‗Turning Point‘: Constructions and Consequences Chapter 5: 201. Diagnosis Revisionists and the ‗Plague Debate‘ Section 2: Popular Discussions Chapter 6: 266. Plague Representation and Interpretation in Popular Media: Non-fiction Chapter 7 305. Plague Representation and Interpretation in Popular Media: Fiction Conclusion 368. The Plague Debate: Retrodiagnosis diagnosed Bibliography 378. 6 7 Acknowledgements As with any project of considerable length, there are a number of people who have contributed greatly to the outcome through their assistance and love. In regards to supervision, I have a number of people to thank. In the earlier half of my candidature I was fortunate enough to be under the guidance of Associate Professor Ernie Jones, a larger-than-life figure, who has been crucial in developing my interest in plague and medieval history. He has been a constant and much appreciated influence throughout my university life, for which I am extremely grateful. I wish him all the best in his recent retirement. Dr Susan Broomhall has offered exceptional guidance and criticism over the last half of my candidature, selflessly offering her time, expertise and kindness in helping me shape this work into something which at least makes some sense. Professor Philippa Maddern has also been a regular figure in my university life, and similarly crucial in developing my interest in medieval history and thinking outside the box. I consider them all fine academics, excellent supervisors, and good friends. They have encouraged and supported me throughout my candidature and for this I cannot thank them enough. The inevitable faults of this presented thesis do not reflect their guidance in any way, but are simply the result of my own failings and oversights. I would also like to thank collectively the staff of the history department, but especially Professor Rob Stuart, and Muriel Mahoney for their help in clarifying all things bureaucratic within the department and Graduate Research School pertaining to my candidature. Of course I would also like to thank my good friends and family, though they are too many to name individually here. Writing this thesis has been an interesting period of my life, full of broken bones, car accidents, poverty, computer failure and apocalyptic portents. Without the support and friendship of these people throughout my candidature, and, throughout my life for that matter, it would never have amounted to anything worthwhile. 8 9 Plague Debate: Methodology and meaning in the retrospective diagnosis of the Black Death -----Introduction----- …the quivering spear of the Almighty was aimed everywhere and infected the whole human race with its pitiless wounds. Orion, that cruel star, and the tail of the dragon and the angel hurling vials of poison into the sea, and the appalling weather of Saturn were given leave to harm land and sea, men and trees; advancing from east to west with plague-bearing steps they poured out the poisoned vessels throughout the countries of the world, leaving fiery tokens on the sick. And so the terrible violence of death, running through the world threatening ruin, devoured mortals by a sudden blow…1 Gabriele de Mussis, c. 1347-56 Undoubtedly the Black Death, which scourged Europe between the years 1346-53, was a profound chapter of human history. Yet, whatever its effects on the demography, economics, society, politics and culture of the premodern world, this fourteenth-century epidemic has been arguably influential on the whole process of modern historiographical and popular understandings of the past. It has influenced the way we think about late medieval history in many ways, and its effect upon the human psyche is still apparent today, tied up in almost universal ideas concerning death, disease and apocalypse. However, like all histories, it is a constructed one, perceived and interpreted by many different people over the course of many centuries. From frightened lawyers, like Gabriele de Mussis above, to the slightly less frightened author of this thesis, we write history according to our individual interpretation of historical sources and physical remains, governed by our present day environment and understanding of the world. Often, this is an instrumental process, driven by 1 An extract from Gabriele de Mussis‘ passionate account of the arrival of the Black Death, chiefly as an expression of divine anger, contained in his Historia de Morbo, c. 1348, A.W. Henschal, ‗Document zur Geschichte des schwarzen Todes‘ in Archiv für die gesammte Medicin ed. Heinrich Haeser, II, Jena, 1841, pp. 45-57. Amended by Rosemary Horrox, The Black Death, New York, Manchester University Press, 1994, p. 16. 10 the certain goals we have in writing such histories. The Black Death was a medical phenomenon—of that we can be sure—but which disease, or which diseases were involved, and how it or they behaved, is an issue interpreted differently by various scholars. This thesis primarily concerns these interpretations, analysing the diverse approaches and methods with which the medieval Black Death has been diagnosed since the late-nineteenth century to the present day. Specifically, the questions that the following seven chapters seek to answer include: how has the Black Death been interpreted as a medical disease since the late nineteenth century, what reasoning and what methods have governed or contributed to these interpretations, and what are the ramifications of these interpretations and the debate in which they have arisen. What does this mean, and why does it matter? How different authors, writers, and all manner of varying interested parties from diverse disciplines interpret the Black Death as a disease involves the application of different schools of reasoning and different methodologies, evoking much larger debates concerning how we constitute and define knowledge in science, humanities, and indeed, history. Specifically, there are debates concerning whether the Black Death was bubonic plague or some other disease, how a bubonic plague pandemic plague epidemic might occur and behave during the Middle Ages, and what methodology and which type of evidence is best suited to make such assessments. These debates over the medical interpretation of the Black Death, which will be generally referred to as the ‗plague debate‘ throughout this thesis, represent a case study of a much larger debate concerning how we can constitute knowledge of the past. The discrepancies between different proponents of the plague debate reveal that our knowledge of the Black Death is in fact the sum of many different interpretations, calling into question how we can fruitfully apply such methods across the liberal arts and natural sciences in order to understand past experiences and their implications for the present and future. 11 The many faces of plague ‗Plague‘ is a word which has become loaded with meanings, and there are indeed many plagues. Plague is a disease, and it is many diseases, it is misfortune and annoyances, and all manner of afflictions and troubles. The Latin root plāga is defined as a ‗blow, strike or wound‘,2 and this association with impact has remained implicit even as a host of varied meanings have attached themselves to the word. A ‗plague‘ can be a curse,3 a punishment, a test of faith, or a scourge; a force that causes injury and destruction. In addition to impact, so poignantly described and depicted as the plague arrows of Saint Sebastian by late medieval chroniclers and artists, plague is also imbued with the negative connotations of disease and contagion. You may very well hear, for example, locals referring to an influx of foreign or interstate visitors as a ‗plague of tourists‘, equating something relatively benign and more than likely beneficial to local industry, with a growing, seasonally recurring sickness.