medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
It all depends on what is meant by "the Plague" - presumably an epi or
pan-demic infectious desease with a high mortality rate.
As anyone who endures anti-'flu vaccinations annually because a new strain
is on its way from ???Wherever will know, viruses (virii ?) mutate regularly
and different strains can show different patterns of symptoms as well as
different patterns of mortality. As well as being impervious to last year's
antidotes.
The Black Death of 1337+ was certainly a VERY nasty strain indeed, but this
does not mean that other plagues had not produced epidemics with comparable
symptoms in previous generations.
It is generally believed that this was Bubonic Plague, which was also
epidemic in London in 1665.
However, IIRC there is a body of opinion that the Black Death of 1347+ may
have been a variety of anthrax and not bubonic plague at all. I do not know
if this minority theory has been conclusively scotched or not, but I gather
that the 14th C Black Death showed two symptoms which were different from
"normal" strains of the bubonic plague: animals as well as humans were
killed by it; the cold of winter did not significantly inhibit the spread of
it.
BTW There is a lovely statue of St Roch (exhibiting his buboe) and the dog
(jumping up to give him his loaf) in the Cloisters Museum, New York.
Brenda MC
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