Aberth, John, ed., trans., The Black Death: The Great Mortality of 1348-1350: A Brief History with Documents (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's: The Bedford Series in History and Culture)
Text name(s):
Number of pages of primary source text: 149
Author(s):
- Abu Hafs 'Umar
- Agnolo di Tura
- Boccaccio, Giovanni
- Gentile da Foligno
- Jean de Venette
- Lydgate, John
- Petrarch
- Villani, Giovanni
Dates: 1347 - 1500
Archival Reference:
Original Language(s):
- Spanish
- Latin
- Italian
- Hebrew
- Greek
- German
- French - Old French
- English - Middle English
- Arabic
Translation:
- Translated into English.
Translation Comments: Aberth notes the assistance of colleagues for translations. Aubry Threlkeld and Thomas Huber (Italian and German), Walid Saleh (Arabic), Samuel Cohn (Latin and English) are named specifically.
Geopolitical Region(s):
- Switzerland
- Spain
- Sicily
- Italy
- Middle East
- Germany
- France
- Byzantium
- England
- Egypt
- British Isles
- Belgium
County/Region: Wiltshire; Canterbury; Ely; Flanders; Strasbourg; Paris; Avignon; Montpellier; Sarraz (Switzerland); Westphalia (Germany); Siena; Florence; Foligno; Catania (Sicily); Castile; Aragon; Barcelona; Lérida (Spain); Constantinople; Syria; Damascus
Record Types:
- Memoir
- Treatise - Scientific/Medical
- Literature - Prose
- Register - Bishop
- Literature - Verse
- Letter
- Law - Legislation
- Law - Local Ordinances
- Chronicle Annals
- Court Roll
- Will
- Treatise - Instruction/Advice
Subject Headings:
- Royalty / Monarchs
- Peasants
- Plague and Disease
- Nobility / Gentry
- Muslims / Islam
- Medicine
- Material Culture: Food Clothing, Household
- Literature - Didactic
- Literature - Allegory
- Law - Canon
- Law - Secular
- Jews / Judaism
- Byzantium
- Government
- Art
- Towns / Cities
Apparatus:
- Index
- Appendix
- Bibliography
- Introduction
Comments:
John Aberth gathers an extensive collection of fourteenth- and fifteenth-century texts that give accounts of the Black Death and details the contemporary outlook after the plague struck. The Black Death was a pandemic of Yersina pestis (often called bubonic plague) that initially struck Europe and the Middle East in the late 1340s, lasting until the early 1350s. However, this was just the first wave; the plague continued to ravage the area in waves for decades.
This work includes an introduction, appendices, and an index. The appendices include a timeline of the Black Death, questions to consider, and a selected bibliography. The bibliography makes suggestions for general works, plague demography and geography, biological and medical aspects, social and economic aspects, religious mentalities, flagellants, Jewish pogroms, and artistic aspects. The index is comprehensive, offering authorial, geographical, and subject references for the reader. Aberth also includes a preface, in which he quickly details the events of the Black Death, discusses his purpose in compiling this book, makes a note on the translation, and provides acknowledgments.
This book would be ideal for someone who is just approaching the Black Death as a field. Most of the texts are excerpts; therefore it may not be optimal for extensive research on a specific text. It would, however, be useful if trying to understand what the content of text may be like or what the background of a text may be. Aberth helpfully includes a brief introduction to each document, generally stating the author with a short biography, where the text was created, and the context and content of the text. He also groups the documents by overall subject, and somewhat chronologically. For each subject, he provides a brief introduction giving context for the documents.
1. Geographical Origins
1. Nicephorus Gregoras, Byzantine History, ca. 1359
2. Ab? Hafs Umar Ibn al-Ward?, Essay on the Report of the Pestilence, ca. 1348
3. Giovanni Villani, Chronicle, ca. 1348
4. Louis Sanctus, Letter, April 27, 1348
2. Symptoms and Transmission
5. Michele da Piazza, Chronicle, 1347-1361
6. Giovanni Boccaccio, Introduction to The Decameron, 1349-1351
7. Louis Sanctus, Letter, April 27, 1348
8. John VI Kantakouzenos, History, 1367-1369
3. Medical Responses
9. Medical Faculty of the University of Paris, Consultation, October 6, 1348
10. Alfonso de Córdoba, Letter and Regimen concerning the Pestilence, ca. 1348
11. Gentile da Foligno, Short Casebook, 1348
12. Jacme d’Agramont, Regimen of Protection against Epidemics, April 24, 1348.
13. Ab? Ja far Ahmad Ibn Kh?tima, Description and Remedy for Escaping the Plague, February 1349
14. Gui de Chauliac, Great Surgery, 1363
4. Societal and Economic Impact
15. Francesco Petrarch, Letters on Familiar Matters
16. Giovanni Boccaccio, Introduction to The Decameron, 1349-1351
17. Agnolo di Tura, Sienese Chronicle, 1348-1351
18. Jean de Venette, Chronicle, ca. 1359-1360
19. Ahmad Ibn Al? al-Maqr?z?, A History of the Ayyubids and Mamluks, 15th century
20. City Council of Siena, Ordinance, May 1349
21. The Córtes of Castile, Ordinance, 1351
22. Wiltshire, England, Assize Roll of Labor Offenders, June 11, 1352
5. Religious Mentalities
23. Gabriele de Mussis, History of the Plague, 1348
24. Michele da Piazza, Chronicle, 1347-1361
25. Simon Islip, Archbishop of Canterbury, Effrenata (Unbridled), May 28, 1350
26. Hamo Hethe, Bishop of Rochester, and Thomas de Lisle, Bishop of Ely, Post-Plague Parish Poverty, July 1, 1349, and September 20, 1349
27. Libertus of Monte Feche, Last Will and Testament, September 21, 1348
28. Im?d al-D?n Ab? ‘l-Fid?’ Ism? ?l b. Umar Ibn Kath?r, The Beginning and End: On History, ca. 1350-1351
29. Ab? Hafs Umar Ibn al-Ward?, Essay on the Report of the Pestilence, ca. 1348
30 Lis?n al-D?n Ibn al-Khat?b, A Very Useful Inquiry into the Horrible Sickness, 1349-1352
6. The Psyche of Hysteria
The Flagellents
31. Heinrich of Herford, Book of Memorable Matters, ca. 1349-1355
32. Fritsche Closener, Chronicle, 1360-1362
33. Gillse li Muisis, Chronicle, 1350
34. King Philip VI of France, Mandate to Suppress the Flagellants, February 15, 1350
Jewish Pogroms
35. King Pedro IV of Aragon, Response to Jewish Pogrom of Tárrega, December 23, 1349
36. Takkanoth (Accord) of Barcelona, September 1354
37. Interrogation of the Jews of Savoy, September-October 1348
38. Mathias of Neuenburg, Chronicle, ca. 1349-1350
39. Konrad of Megenberg, Concerning the Mortality in Germany, ca. 1350
40. Pope Clement VI, Sicut Judeis (Mandate to Protect the Jews), October 1, 1348
7. Artistic Response
The Dance of Death
41. The Great Chronicle of France, ca. 1348
42. John Lydgate, The Dance of Death, ca. 1430
43. Death as Chess Player, St. Andrew’s Church, Norwich, ca. 1500
Transi Tombs
44. François de la Sarra, Tomb at La Sarraz, Switzerland, ca. 1390
45. Archbishop Henry Chichele, Tomb at Canterbury Cathedral, ca. 1425
46. Disputacioun betwyx the Body and Wormes, ca. 1450
Introduction Summary:
Aberth uses his introduction (7 pp.) to describe the event of the Black Death, its historical significance, and how to use medieval sources to better understand what happened.
Cataloger: HVH
