Episode #102 – What Caused the Black Death? (Part I)

The epidemic known as the Black Death struck Europe in 1347 and completely upended medieval society. It’s been estimated that roughly half of the European population was killed by this gruesome disease. Despite huge advances in our understanding of this epidemic debate still remains about the true cause of the plague. The so-called “Great Mortality” also remains the source of a number of tenacious historical myths. Tune in and find out how biological warfare, pockets full of posies, and rattus rattus all play a role in the story.

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Works Cited

Armstrong, Dorsey. The Black Death: The World’s Most Devastating Plague. Narrated by Armstrong, audiobook, The Great Courses, 2016. Audible.comhttps://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/the-black-death-the-worlds-most-devastating-plague.html

“’Ring Around the Rosy,’ Plagued by Misunderstanding.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 22 Apr. 2001, www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/2001/04/22/ring-around-the-rosy-plagued-by-misunderstanding/6284c3d3-82a4-4b8c-bb45-0a96721ba750/.

Benedictow, Ole L. The Black Death 1346-1353: the Complete History. Boydell, 2008.

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Duncan, C J. “What Caused the Black Death?” Postgraduate Medical Journal, vol. 81, no. 955, 2005, pp. 315–320., doi:10.1136/pgmj.2004.024075.

Herlihy, David, and Samuel Kline. Cohn. The Black Death and the Transformation of the West. Harvard University Press, 2001.

Hoyle, Fred, and Chandra Wickramasinghe. Diseases from Space. Sphere, 1981.

Kelly, John. The Great Mortality: an Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time. HarperCollins, 2001.

Opie, Iona, and Peter Opie. The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes. Oxford University Press, 1992.

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Wheelis, Mark. “Biological Warfare at the 1346 Siege of Caffa.” Emerging Infectious Diseases, vol. 8, no. 9, 2002, pp. 971–975., doi:10.3201/eid0809.010536.

Ziegler, Philip. The Black Death. Faber & Faber, 2013.