Quidditas Volume 14 Article 5 1993 The Experience of the Black Death in Bologna as Revealed by the Notarial Registers Shona Kelly Wray University of Colorado, Boulder Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/rmmra Part of the Comparative Literature Commons, History Commons, Philosophy Commons, and the Renaissance Studies Commons Recommended Citation Wray, Shona Kelly (1993) "The Experience of the Black Death in Bologna as Revealed by the Notarial Registers," Quidditas: Vol. 14 , Article 5. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/rmmra/vol14/iss1/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Quidditas by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. The Experience ofthe Black Death in Bologna as Revealed by the Notarial Registers Shona Kelly Wray University of Colorado, Boulder he Black Death of 1348 has fascinated readers and scholars for centuries. In this century it has been the subject of innumerable Tdebates. Historians have argued back and forth about the demo­ graphic effects of the plague, about whether or not it instigated a period of economic depression, or even whether it represented a major event in history. Similarly, disagreement has raged, both inside and outside of the historical discipline, about the medical history and epidemiology of the plague. Fewer studies, however, have focused on the more immediate effects of the plague in localized areas. These scholars have attempted to uncover the actions and reactions of people undergoing this remarkable disaster. They have tried to discover how medieval people reacted to something for which their knowledge of the past and of science could not prepare them. Italian towns have proved important and fertile ground for such case studies due to the richness of their archival sources and chronicles. In this article I will offer a new contribution to this tradition of the study of the plague in Italian towns with an examination of the experience of the Black Death in Bologna. In 1909 Mario Brunetti initiated modem investigations ofltalian towns and the Black Death with a detailed study of the reaction of the Venetian government to the plague. The methods and conclusions of his article set the stage for future work. The bases for his study were the deliberations of the senate and general council both during and after the plague. Brunetti found that during the epidemic the Venetian government tried to protect public health by regulating burials.' Governing bodies also took measures to control the unruly and violent behavior of residents by closing taverns and prohibiting the sale of wine from boats in canals. ' After the plague had 'Mario Brunetti, 'Venezia durante la peste dcl 1348', Ateneo Veneta 22 no 1 (1909) pp 291- 4. 'Ibidpp295-7. 46 The Experienu ofthe Black Death in Bologna subsided in Venice, the government officials turned to raising much-needed fund , passing measures to revitalize business and to encourage artisan and professionals to make their homes in Venice. Professionals who had fled the city during the plague, especially notaries and doctor , were ordered to return or suffer strict penalties.3 Government officials also braced themselves to face an overwhelming number of suits contesting successions and inheri­ tances.' Through Brunetti's study of the reactions of the government we can gain an idea ofwhat might have been the reactions of the inhabitants of the town: many must have fl ed and many who stayed behind must have behaved violently and recklessly. tores and workshops must have closed down (although which ones and for how long we do not know). Filled with fear and dread, many Venetians must have made their wi lls in haste while others surely did not have time to do so, leaving their heirs to fight out the problems of inheritance in the courts. Thus, the admini trative records of Venice reveal an atmosphere of general flight and disorder during the plague. Throughout this chaos the government struggled to maintain some sort of order and afterwards worked to revive the commercial life of the city. Later studies of municipal reactions to the Black Death in Italy reveal a similar picture.' Studies produced in the 1960s, such as Elisabeth Carpentier's monograph on Orvieto and William Bowsky's article on Siena, ' Brunetti, 'Venezia' 22 no 2 (1909) pp 18-19. 'Ibid pp 29-33. , 'lt wa not until the 1960s that such studies were continued by Elisabeth Carpentier and W illiam Bowsky in the works discussed below. In 1971 Aliberto Benigno Falsini produced new research on the effects of the Black Death in Florence, again using the government records or Provvisioni. Sec his 'Firenu dopo ii 1348: Le conscguenze della pe tc nera', Archivo Storico Italiano 129 (1971) pp 425- 503. More recently John Henderson has written on 'The Black Death in Florence: Medical and Communal Responses' in Death in Tow n,: Urban Rt1pomt1 to the Dying and the Dead, 100-1600 (Leicester University Press, Leicester 1992) pp 136-50. Again, Henderson makes use of chronicle accounts and government records. However, his is a study of medical history. He examines the relation­ ship berween medieval physicians' views of the plague and the policies adopted by the Florentine government. Jn 1979 the subject of Venice during the plague was reopened with an exhibition and catalogue on Venezia e la pestd348/1797 (Marsilio Edi tore, Venice 1979). Reinhold Mueller contributed an aniclc on the Black Death in Venice. His work drew on Brunetti's but added important new depth with evidence from chronicles. Sec Mueller, 'Aspetti sociali ed economici della pesta a Venezia nel Medioevo' pp 71-6. The plague in Italian cities is the topic of Samuel K. Cohn's new work, The Cult ofRemembrance a11d th, Black Death: Six R enaiJJa11u Cities i11 Central Italy Qohns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1992). However, this work is not part of the tradition of studying the reactions of municipalities to the plague. Rather, Cohn is interested in the psychological and cultural reactions of individuals, especially with regards to piety and self-consciousness, over the 'longue duree.' A renewal of interest in the study of municipalities during the plague may be indicated by the new edition ofCarpentier's work on Orvieto, which contains revised population figures (De Bocck-Wesmael, Brussels 1993). Shona Kelly Wray 47 are based on si milar sources and present similar conclusions. Unfortunately, the municipal records that form the basis for these two works are either unavailable for some of the months that the plague was active or else they offer few references to the plague during these months.• However, the reac­ tions of the government after the plague had subsided give one an idea of what must have happened during the chaotic summer months. In Orvieto the government passed measures to stop the pillaging of abandoned homes and to revive business after the shops had closed.' Both town governments made strong efforts, as did Venice, to recall people who had Bed and to encourage new immigrants into the town.8 Both governments issued harsh penaltic in an effort to restrict the increased level of violent crime.• The courts prepared to handle many fraudulent claims and suits concerning the large amounts of property and goods released from ownership at the death of so many citizens. '0 Also, the protection of orphans became a concern for both towns. 11 Desperate for legal and medical services, city officials in 0rvieto, iena, and Venice offered high salaries to lure notaries and doctors to the cities. 12 These then are the reactions of] tali an communes to the year of the Black Death, as revealed by modern investigations of the municipal records. The pictures pre ented to us are impress ive and fear­ ful. However, they are vague and tell us little about the actual unfolding of the epidemic during the deadly summer months of1348. What happened to the average citizen? What was it like in the city as each day brought more death and greater fear? What did people do? How long did they try to carry on with their lives a normal? How far along into the epidemic did people realize that they were actually in the midst of an epidemic, that they would probably die, and that they should put their affairs in order and write a will? The municipal records cannot answer these questions. These records con­ tain the reactions of the ruling groups to the diverse actions of many individuals. They show us very little of the individuals' actions themselves. 'There arc no deliberations of the city council of Siena for the month of May. There ,re two meetings concerning business not related to the epidemic in June and no meetings in July. Normal council sessions resume on 15 August. cc William Bowsky, 'The I mpact of the Black Death upon ienesc Government and Society', Speculum 39 (1964) p 14, nn 73, 75, 76. The Rifarmagio,,i_rccords ofOrvicto mention the plague only once between I Ma)' and I cptember. ec Elisabeth Carpentier, U11 e Ville deva111 la Pu le: Orvitto el laPt!ttNoiredt1348(S.E.V.P.E . , Paris 1962), pp 121- 2. 'Carpentier, Orvieto pp 129- 30 and 135-6. 1/hidpp 147-8 and 128- 9; Bowsky, 'Siena' pp 26, 31- 3. 'Carpentier, Orvi,10 p 129; Bowsky, 'Siena' p 27. ''Carpentier, Orvieto pp 145- 6; Bowsky, 'Siena' pp 27-8. "Carpentier, Orvieto p 146; Bowsky, 'Siena' p 28. "Carpentier, OT'Vitto pp 146-8; Bowsky, 'Siena' pp 29-30. 48 The Experience ofthe Black Death in B ologna The chronicles of the epoch, however, offer a much richer picture of the reaction ofindividuals in the midst of the panic and chaos of the Black Death.