"Plagues A Good Read"

The Anthrax scare of two years ago, the SARS epidemic in China and the constant fear of WMD (weapons of mass destruction)—namely biological weapons—have made library books on plagues very popular. A few months ago, the book, “The Black Death” by Philip Ziegler caught my attention. I found it fascinating reading.

Nearly 15 years before it reached Europe, the bubonic plague had begun to devastate China. Generally, the bacillus “Pasteurella Pestis” affects rodents, but fleas can transmit the disease to people. Once people are infected, those same fleas can pass the disease very quickly from one person to the next. The bubonic plague caused a high fever and painful swelling of the lymph glands, particularly under the arms in the groin. The disease also caused spots on the skin that turned from red to black.

As Europeans were trading with China via the Black Sea, it was only a matter of time before the disease reached Europe. In October 1347, several Italian merchant ships returned from a trip to the Black Sea. When the ships docked in Sicily, many of those on board were already dying. Within days the disease spread throughout the port city and the surrounding countryside.

By the following August, the plague had spread as far north as England, where people called it “the Black Death.” A terrible disease was laying waste to Europe and medieval medicine and medical theory was useless in its sway.

In the winters, the disease seemed to disappear because fleas are dormant then. Each spring however, the plague renewed its vigor, killing new victims by the millions. Within five years, 25 million people were dead—one-third of Europe’s population. Even when the worst was over, smaller outbreaks continued, not just for years, but for centuries. The survivors lived inconstant fear of the plague’s return. The disease did not disappear until the 1600s.

The ordered and hierarchical society of the Middle Ages never recovered from the results of the Black Death. So many people had died that there were labor shortages all over Europe. Fields lay fallow for lack of laborers. Entire villages were deserted, the few survivors having moved on to other, populated villages. The disease took its toll on the church as well. The lay people and the priests had prayed devoutly for deliverance from the plague. Why hadn’t their prayers been answered? Why had the priests and the church official died just as quickly as the common man? A new period of political turmoil and philosophical questioning lay ahead.

Other library books on plagues include: “Plague, a Story of Science, Rivalry and the Scourge that Wouldn’t Go Away” by Edward Marriott, “The Medieval Plague, the Black Death of the Middle Ages” by Geoffrey Marks, “Viruses Plagues and History” by Michael Oldstone, “Black Death” by Timothy Biel, “Plague On Us” by Geddes Smith, “In the Wake of the Plague” by Norman Cantor, “Man and Microbes” by Arno Karlen and “Plague: the Shocking Story of a Dread Disease in America Today” by Charles Gregg.