The word "plague" is derived from the Latin Plaga, meaning a blow or stroke. In later Latin it gained the added meaning of "pestilence." This follows, since the Romans thought of pestilence as being a blow from the gods (Shrewsbury, 1). This same logic was used by medieval Christians who depicted Christ hurling plague arrows at innocent victims. Such punishment was supposedly meted out in anger for the sins of mankind (Chamberlin, 5). Prior to the seventeenth-century the term plague was used to refer to any sort of widespread disease or infestation; this has created problems that will be discussed later. In modern times the word "plague" has become the term used to denote a specific microbial disease. (Shrewsbury, 1)

"Black Death" is an interesting tern which combines two elements definitely intended to be loathsome and frightening. The general belief has been that the flesh of the plague victim blackened soon after death--thus the genesis of the term. This is a simple enough reason except for the fact that no such phenomenon occurred. In cases of septicemia plague the surface of the skin might become covered with purplish blotches, but however great an impression this con-sequence made on men's minds, the term was never used to des-cribe the fourteenth-century plague by contemporaries. (Ziegler, 17)

The expression "Black Death" did not come into general use until the eighteenth-century, and was introduced into English literature in the nineteenth. (Shrewsbury, 37) "The superior dreadfulness of the accepted phrase is obvious and to-day no other style would be acceptable." (Ziegler, 17-18)

It may have entered English literature as a means of distinguishing between the Great Plague in London, in 1665, and the fourteenth century pandemic. When the term is used in this study it will specifically mean the plague of the years 1347-1351 in Europe.

The Black Death probably originated near Lake Issyk-Koul in Semiriechinsk, in central Asia, during the winter of 1338-1339. (Johnson, 152) There seems to have been an abnormally high death-rate there which was attributed to plague on Nestorian memorial stones. In any case, this area lies in the heart of a region in which plague is still endemic. (Greenwood, 290)

Word first arrived in England sometime in 1346 that there was a pestilence raging in the East. (Ziegler, 13) All manner of fantastic portents were related to have presaged this horrible calamity. Storms, meteors and earthquakes were recounted, as well as comets which spewed noxious gasses killing trees and wasting the land. There were said to be invasions of rats, swarms of locusts, and a disease "so virulent that it drove its victims screaming through the streets in lunatic frenzy, that struck some so quickly that they died with the amazement of seeing the first symptoms still engraved on their faces," while "children fled from their infected parents and mothers abandoned in horror a baby upon whom the marks had begun to appear, " (Deaux, 1)

In 1333 a terrible drought and famine afflicted thatpart of China watered by the Kiang and Hosi Rivers. Soon after, such violent storms and floods fell upon Kingsai, then the capital of the empire, that according to tradition over 400,000 people died. There were strange accounts of violent earthquakes; the mountain Tsincheou disappeared and enormous clefts appeared in the earth; near Kingsai, it was said, the mountains of Ki-ming-chan utterly fell in and in their place appeared suddenly a lake more than a hundred leagues in circumference, where, again, thousands died. In Houkouang and Honan a drought of five months was followed by vast swarms of locusts which destroyed crops and hardened the famine. There were floods in Canton and an unprecedented drought in Tche. (Deaux, 1)

Whole cities were said to have been depopulated, the dead left to rot in the streets or pollute the rivers. This news from the pagan lands only meant to those in medieval Europe that the unbelievers were being justly punished for their adherence to an unholy faith. Some Saracens seemed to have believed that this was indeed the case and "purposed verily to be Cristen. But when thei wist that the pestilens was among the Cristen men, than her good purpos sesed." (Capgrave, 272) This same theme is reiterated by the Leicester chronicle of Henry Knighten. (Coulton, 59)

In 1346, the land of the Tatars was penetrated by the plague. (Ziegler, 15) This event set the stage for entry of the dread disease into the Mediterranean region. A band of Tatars, led by Janibeg, Khan of Kipchak, laid siege to the Genoese port of Kaffa--modern Theodosia--in the Crimea (Chamberlin, i). Plague erupted among the invading band. Possibly wanting to transmit their agony, the Tatars began catapulting their dead over the walls of the besieged town. Although the Genoese defenders disposed of these macabre missles as quickly as possible, plague soon stalked the streets. Those who were able fled by ship into the Black Sea and on to Constantinople. (Vasiliev, 626)

Disease ridden vessels were probably not the only means by which plague was to reach Western Europe. Credit, however, has been given to them by most sources for lack of more substantial evidence to the contrary. From Constantinople, disease spread throughout the Aegean. Twelve galleys, subsequently, ferried the plague to Messina. (Chamberlin, i)

In a few days the pestilence had taken grip on the city. The townspeople drove the sailors from the port in a vain effort to combat the spread of disease. This only served to spread the plague more rapidly and to give it a wider scope, although it could hardly be stated that the march of pestilence could have been stalled for any great length of time had the Messineans allowed the ships to remain in port. It did, however, give credence to the later observation that plague always began at the seacoast and spread from there into the interior. (Chamberlin, i) "Horribly infected and laden with a variety of spices and other valuable goods," (Ziegler, 16-17) the vessels arrived at Genoa. When the citizens realized the cargo of death that was aboard, they too drove them out. No one would touch them or trade with them as they wandered from port to port.

The Black Death seemed to spread over Western Europe in a relatively short period of time. It is possible that two-thirds of the population of central Italy was lost, although, ironically, the city of Milan went almost totally unscathed while Venice suffered a heavy toll. Bologna is said to have been relieved of four-fifths of its populace; Florence suffered eighty thousand deaths; Majorca, thirty thousand; Avignon, fifty-seven thousand; Narbonne, thirty thousand; Paris, over fifty thousand; and Vienna, forty thousand mortalities. (Boissonnade, 285)

England, which had so recently come into possession of the French port of Calais, could not expect this pestilence to avoid its shores for very long. Although there are varying opinions as to the exact point of entry into England, it is probable that the plague first broke out at the port of Melcomb Regis in Dorsetshire during the summer of 1348. (Ziegler, 119-120) It traveled through the West Country next striking Bristol. Irresistibly moving at a steady pace it passed on to Oxford, and then to London by the autumn of that same year. (Tout, 370) In January 1349, parliament was prorogued because of the pestilence while the enormous death rate necessitated the conse-cration of new burial grounds. (Ziegler, 157) The plague does not seem to have lessened in intensity during the fall and winter of 1348-1349. Two hundred burials per day were reported to have taken place in only one cemetery in the London area during the height of the epidemic. (Deaux, 123-124) From London, the mortality spread to East Anglia and Norfolk. It then turned westward, passing through the midlands and north to Lincolnshire. By the summer of 1349 it had reached Yorkshire. (Shrewsbury, 39)

Scotland was next to experience the deadly pestilence. The northern allies of the French, who seemed to have thought they were immune, incautiously and rapidly brought the judgment of plague upon themselves. Henry Knighten presents a vivid picture of their folly. (Chronicon Henrici Knighten, II, 62-63)

Plague then spread to both Scandinavia and Russia to the east and to Iceland and Greenland to the west. Cartwright states that the effect of the plague on Scandinavian countries may have had a greater impact on world history than the results in England. He postulates that the isolation of Greenland due to disease, and subsequent decimation of the colonies there, "may have entirely altered the history of North America. (Cartwright, 32)

It was "God's disease," (Nohl, 51) that spread its tentacles over mankind, and the primary question was: why? Everywhere the plague spread there is testimony of appalling mortality. (Rees, 28) One reason the plague was so feared was that there was no knowledge of what the disease was, how it spread, or what measures were effective. (Shrewsbury, 123-124) It became a common reaction to attribute the visitation to the evils and wrongdoing of man-kind. The recent victories of Edward III had thrust many into the ranks of the rich, as well as infusing the spoils of war into England. The flaunting of wealth, and its frivolous display, were looked down upon by Henry Knighten as a possible cause for the pestilence. He decried the tournaments attended by women dressed as men who wore particolored tunics, pendants draped around their necks and daggers in pouches slung across their bodies. These women rode on choice war horses, it is reported, while wearying their bodies with foolishness and buffoonery. (Knighten, 57-58) Knighten then pronounced judgment for these practices. (Nohl, 51)

The tendency of Christians to see the plague as divinely inspired probably stems from biblical lore, where there are repeated incidents of pestilence as a means of punishment for the sins of man.

Processions were initiated and supplications made to plead forgiveness and ask for redemption. There was wide spread devastation in Somerset, where the bishop of Bath and Wells circulated letters ordering processions and stations every Friday in all churches. Parishioners were implored to ask God's forgiveness and protection from the "pestilence which had come from the East into the neighboring kingdom. (Deaux, 119) Indulgences were granted for forty days to those who fasted, prayed and gave alms as a means of averting the wrath of God. Belief was rife that there was a "Plague Virgin" who, by raising her hand, could scatter plague poison. (Nohl, 51) Others maintained that it was Christ who initiated the plague by hurling lethal arrows at a defenseless populace. The latter was most assuredly the more common notion, having a basis, no doubt, in antiquity. (Chamberlin, 9)

The belief was both ancient and widespread, appearing even in India centuries before Christ. The Greeks looked on Apollo, God of the Silver Bow", as the divine archer of death; and the idea of an outraged deity shooting arrows into sinful humans passed into Christianity, and was adopted in Europe.

Special prayers to ward off the plague asked the intercession of St. Sebastian--who had survived the arrows of the Romans--and the Virgin Mary. Curing subsequent epidemics other individuals were specifically appealed to, such as St. Roche--who was canonized for his ministrations to the sick during the Black Death--as well as St. Francis Xavier. (Mullett, 16)

Some persons fled to the countryside to avoid the disease, sometimes carrying it with them, while others remained at their stations. Similarly, many ecclesiastics stayed in their parishes while others deserted their parishioners in fear. (Mullett, 16) Pope Clement VI, 1342-1352, spent the duration in his palace at Avignon between two great fires. He was isolated from everyone, admittance to his presence being forbidden. On his finger he wore an emerald which was supposed to ward off infection. (Nohl, 129) The action of the pope may have saved his life, since plague bacillus is very sensitive to extremes of temperature.

Astrological science was well developed at this time, and many believed that the cause of the plague could be found in the stars. The Church officially frowned upon the practice of astrology, but even the pope consulted astrologers frequently when planning conclaves or celebrations. Almost any astrological event of note was taken to be a precursor to plague, and a black comet was reported to have appeared before the Black Death. (Chamberlin, 10) Belief in astrology seems to have been rooted in the pagan past. Aristotle was alleged to have observed that any conjunction of the planets Mars and Jupiter was menacing to humanity. (Nohl, 54-57) Thus it is not surprising that the 1348 plague is reported to have been heralded by a conjunction of the planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturn under the fourteenth degree of Aquarius on 24 March 1345, at 1 pm. (Hecker, 57)

The medical profession was greatly perplexed by the plague, and had to cautiously seek an answer while avoiding the wrath of the Church. To the clergy, a man's soul was worth saving--not his body. Therefore, the physician had to play a dual role. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, as well as the fourteenth, he had to combine medical science with religious practices in order to escape the envy and persecution of the clergy. The clergy did not want a person who was acquainted with the natural sciences to enjoy the intimacy of nobles or other great men of the time. (Nohl, 73)

Medical authorities of the fourteenth century immediately recognized the plague as being a contagious disease and most acknowledged physicians refused to attend the striker. There was no means, therefore, to deter the avarice of quacks. (Nohl, 73-74) However, efforts were made to explain the cause of the con-tagion. Men of medicine officially supported the thesis that the plague was initiated because of a miasmal cloud that spread itself across the earth. It was predicted that this cloud would soon be rendered impotent through the divine power of the constellations and nature. (Deaux, 52) In order for a person to protect himself from this confrontation, it was recommended that aromatics be burnt to aid in clearing the air. The medical faculty of the University of Paris issued a list of measures, which should be taken as a prophylaxis against the plague. Some of the most notable precautions were: to eat no fat meat, sleep only at night, partake of fruit only with wine, eat no watery foods, beware of the dew, eat no fish; olive oil is mortal, bathing is dangerous, and intercourse with women is fatal. (Deaux, 52) Due to the effectiveness of the precautions recommended by the Paris faculty, one might have been better off had he followed the advice of a contemporary proverb: "The best means against plague is a pair of new boots used till they break." The Arabian physician Rhasis made a similar observation. (Nohl, 87,90)

Guy de Chauliac, papal physician, and probably the best medical mind of the time, performed the only demonstrably effective cure for the plague. (Hecker, 57) It was a surgical method. He operated on many persons, removing their plague buboes and thus saving their lives. It is said that this method always proved successful. (Nohl, 87) Guy de Chauliac's thesis on surgery was a principal text on the subject for centuries after his death. Surgery was not a respectable medical practice though, and the University of Paris refused to admit a student of medicine until he had sworn an oath never to perform a surgical operation. (Deaux, 55)