Black DeathA fascinating work of detective history, The Black Death traces the causes and far-reaching consequences of this infamous outbreak of plague that spread across the continent of Europe from 1347 to 1351. Drawing on sources as diverse as monastic manuscripts and dendrochronological studies (which measure growth rings in trees), historian Robert S. Gottfried demonstrates how a bacillus transmitted by rat fleas brought on an ecological reign of terror -- killing one European in three, wiping out entire villages and towns, and rocking the foundation of medieval society and civilization. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - setnahkt - LibraryThingThis is the best (so far) of the books I’ve been reading about the Black Death. Author Robert Gottfried writes a simple and straightforward account, in the process making a point that others have ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - gbill - LibraryThing"The Black Death" is approachable, contains a lot of interesting stories which put the plague in context, and is informative. I was a little surprised at how much I liked it. Some of its more ... Read full review
Contents
| 1 | |
The European Environment 10501347 | 16 |
Chapter3 The Plagues Beginnings | 33 |
The Plagues Progress | 54 |
The Immediate Consequences | 77 |
The Stirrings of Modern Medicine | 104 |
Disease and the Transformation of Medieval Europe | 129 |
Europes Environmental Crisis | 161 |
Notes | 164 |
| 187 | |
| 195 | |
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Common terms and phrases
areas Asia began believed Black Death brought bubonic plague Cambridge University Press caused changes Christian chronicler church claimed clergy crisis Cuxham demic depopulation died doctors early fourteenth century eastern economic effects England English environmental Europe's European example famines fifteenth century flagellants fleas Florence France Georges Duby Germany Guy de Chauliac History human important infected Italian Italy Jean de Venette John killed labor land late medieval Late Middle Ages London lords Manor manorial McNeill medicine Medieval Mediterranean Basin merchants Middle East Muslim Netherlands North northern Oxford pandemic Paris peasants perished pestis physicians plague doctor plague epidemics plague mortality plague's pneumonic plague Pope Clement VI population postplague preplague public health rodent role rural scholars second plague pandemic sick Siena smallpox social Society southern spread surgeons teenth century theory thirteenth century tion town trade tury twelfth century urban Venice victims villages West Western William McNeill York
Bibliographic information
| Title | Black Death |
| Author | Robert S. Gottfried |
| Publisher | Simon and Schuster, 2010 |
| ISBN | 1439118469, 9781439118467 |
| Length | 203 pages |
| Subjects | › History / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |