THE BLACK DEA TH Downloaded from https://www.holybooks.com LONDON : GBOllGE BELL AND SONI POaTOGAL ST. LINCOLN'S INN, W.C. CAMBaIDGE : DEIGHTON, BELL & CO. NEW YOllK: THE IIACIULLAN CO. BOMBAY: A. H. WHULll & CO. Downloaded from https://www.holybooks.com THE BLACK DEA TH OF I 348 AND I 349 BY FRANCIS AIDAN GASQUET, D.D. ABBOT P&UJD&MT OP TH& SNGLJSH B&NIU>JCTJNU SECOND EDITION I LONDON GEORGE BELL AND SONS 1908 Downloaded from https://www.holybooks.com~ ' ,.J rt~, . ,_.,-- I f L I B 2 :\ t-r l · --- --- ·- __.. .. ,,,.- --- CHISWICX PRESS: CHAI.LBS WHITTINGHAII AND CO, TOOXS couaT, CBANCEI.Y LANE, LONDON, Downloaded from https://www.holybooks.com PREF ACE TO THE SECOND EDITION HIS essay, published in 1893, has long Tbeen out of print, and second-hand copies are difficult to procure, as they very rarely find their way into booksellers' catalogues. For this reason it has been thought well to reprint this account of the greatest plague that has probably ever devastated the world in historic times. Al­ though the subject is necessarily of a doleful and melancholy character, it is of importance in the . world's history, both as the account of a universal catastrophe and in its far-reaching effects. Since the original. publication of Tl,e Great Pestilence additional interest in the subject of bubonic plague has been aroused by the alarming mortality recently caused by it in India, and by the threatened outbreaks in various parts of Europe, where, however, the watchful care of the sanitary authorities has so far enabled them to deal with the sporadic cases which have appeared during the past few years, and to prevent the spread of the terrible scourge. .. V Downloaded from https://www.holybooks.com vi PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION From the researches made in India and else­ where into the nature and causes of the disease, many new facts have been established which assist us to understand the story of the great epidemic of the fourteenth century, now commonly known as "The Black Death," which is related in some detail in these pages. The accounts of the ravages of the disease in India, which have ap­ peared in the newspapers, are little less than appalling, and would probably have attracted more attention were it not for the fact that few Europeans have succumbed to a malady which has been so fatal to the natives of the country. The present bubonic plague in India assumed the nature of an epidemic in the Punjab in Octo­ ber, 1897, and, in spite of the drastic precautions of the sanitary authorities, it so far seems to baffle their endeavours to stamp it out, notwith­ standing all the resources of modern science which they possess. In April, 1907, a telegram from Simla announced that the total number of deaths from plague in India during the week ending April I 3th was seventy-five thousand; all but five thousand of these having taken place in the United Provinces and the Punjab. At this time the total number of victims from the epi­ demic in the Punjab alone, during the nine years Downloaded from https://www.holybooks.com PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION vii it had existed, was estimated at about a million and a half. So far as it can be traced, the origin of the Indian plague, as indeed that of the great pesti­ lence of 1 348-9, is China, the great breeding ground of epidemics. It is supposed to have been imported from Hong Kong to Bombay, and the disease had already made great headway before investigation established the fact that the infection was conveyed by means of the ships' rats. From January to August, 1903, the estimated mortality in India from plague was 6oo,ooo, and in 1904 the total rose to the appalling figure of 938,000. Even this was exceeded in 1905; and it is stated that from 1 897 to 1904 the plague claimed three and a quarter millions of victims. The campaign against the plague-carrying rats has been waged with comparatively little result, owing, in great measure, to the religious suscepti­ bilities of the native peoples, and their aversion to leaving their insanitary homes, · leading ob­ viously to concealment of infection. Moreover, the rat is regarded by the natives as somewhat of a domestic animal. Its destruction is thus resented and its facilities for spreading the disease greatly increased. Curiously enough it would appear that it has long been recognised by the native inhabit- Downloaded from https://www.holybooks.com viii PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION ants of India that some connection did in fact exist between the rat and the bubonic plague. " When the rats begin to fall it is time for people to leave the houses," is an old and common saying in India; in which sentence was registered the popular belief that an outbreak of plague was preceded by a mortality among the rats. It is now certain that this connection does exist. The special commission appointed in 1905 to examine into this matter has established, by a series of experiments, that bubonic plague is due to the rat-flea, called pulex cluoj>is, which not only carries the plague germ from rat to rat, but is almost certainly the means by which it is communicated to man. It may be taken for granted, as an established fact, that malarial diseases are produced by the bites of the mosquito, and that sleeping sickness follows from that of a blood-sucking fly which transmits to man the bacilli of the disease. In the same way it is now known that the plague is passed on from the infected rat through the agency of rat-fleas, which, when biting man, im­ pregnate him with the bacillus of the deadly bubonic plague. It has even been suggested as by no means impossible that the plague may at any time be reintroduced into Europe by means Downloaded from https://www.holybooks.com PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION ix of the rat parasite, and modern research has made it certain that want of cleanliness is a fertile cause of disease and its dissemination. In particular, it is proved that the fleas and bugs which exist in the poorer quarters of cities and villages may be the means of communication of many various forms of disease. As a suggestion to explain the rapid spread of " The Great Pestilence " of 1 348-9, these re­ sults of modern research are of interest and im­ portance. The houses which sheltered the people in the fourteenth century were only too well cal­ culated to assist the spread of the contagion, if it was carried, as now appears certain, by the agency of blood-sucking parasites. The account of French rural life at this period, given by M. Simeon Luce, and reproduced in Chapter I I I of this volume, is probably true, in the main, in regard to our own country, and the insanitary state and habitual dirt in which our ancestors lived, would have provided an ideal field for the indefinite multipli­ cation of fleas, and possibly of other plague-bearing insects. It remains to add that, with one or two minor corrections, and a few additions, the present volume is a reprint of the previous edition. Downloaded from https://www.holybooks.com Downloaded from https://www.holybooks.com -- ---------- CONTENTS PAG& PllBJ'ACB TO THE SECOND EDITION V To THE RltAD.11:R mi INTRODUCTION xix CHAPTER I THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE EPIDEMIC First reports as to the sickness-General account of the epidemic in eastern countries-The great trade routes between Asia and Europe-The plague in the Crimea­ Tartar siege of Caffa-Origin of the name " Black Death" -Symptoms of the disease-Constantinople is attacked; account of the epidemic by the Emperor Cantacuzene-­ Genoese traders carry the infection to Sicily-Effect in Messina and Catania 1 - 1 7 CHAPTER II THE EPIDEMIC IN ITALY Date of the arrival of the infected ships at Genoa­ Striking sameness in all accounts-De Mussi's account of the beginning of the plague in Italy, specially in Genoa and Piacenza-Boccaccio's description ofit in Florence-- This confirmed by the historian Villani-Progress of the disease in Italy-Pisa-Padua, Siena, etc.--Petrarch's letter on the epidemic at Parma-Venice and its doctors -Description of the desolation by Bohemian students 18-38 xi Downloaded from https://www.holybooks.com xii CONTENTS CHAPTER III PROGRESS OF THE PLAGUE IN FRANCE PAGE Its arrival at Marseilles-A Parisian doctor's account of the epidemic at Montpellier-Avignon is attacked and suffers terribly-Contemporary account of its ravages by a Canon of the Low Countries-Gui de Chauliac, the Pope's physician-Spread of the infection in every direc­ tion-William of Nargis' description of the mortality in Paris-Philip VI consults the medical faculty-Nor­ mandy-Amiens-Account of Gilles Le Muisis, Abbot of Tournay-M. Simoon Luce on the conditions of popu­ lar life in France in the fourteenth century-Agrarian troubles follow the epidemic. 39-65 CHAPTER IV THE PLAGUE IN OTHER EUROPEAN COUNTRIES From Sicily the pestilence is carried to the Balearic islands-Majorca-The scourge in Spain-The shores of the Adriatic are visited-From Venice the wave passes into Austria and Hungary-It passes over the Alps into the Tyrol and Switzerland-Account of a Notary of Novara-From Avignon the epidemic is carried up the Rhone Valley to the Lake of Geneva-It visits Lucerne and Engelberg-Account of its ravages at Vienna-It goes from Basle up the valley of the Rhine-Frankfort -Bremen-From Flanders it passes into Holland-Den­ mark, Norway, and Sweden-Account of Wishy on the Island of Gotland-Labour difficulties consequent upon the epidemic 66-80 Downloaded from https://www.holybooks.com CONTENTS xiii CHAPTER V THE PLAGUE RliCHBS ENGLAND PAO& Jersey and Guernsey are attacked-First rumours of the epidemic in England-It is brought to Melcombe Regis in Dorsetshire--Discussion as to the date-Diffi- culty in dealing with figures in Middle Ages-Value of episcopal registers in giving institutions of beneficed clergy-Evidence of Patent Rolls-Institutions in Dor­ setshire--Letter of the Bishop of Bath and Wells­ Difficulty of obtaining clergy-Institutions in Somerset- Effect of the disease in the religious houses--Bristol­ Evidence of the mortality in Devon and Cornwall-In­ stitutions in the diocese of Exeter-Spread of mortality -Religious houses of the diocese.