In addition to these personal accounts, many presentations of the Black Death have entered the general consciousness as great literature. There was scarcely a house in which only one died but commonly man and wife with their children and family going one way, namely, crossing to death. The pestilence gathered strength in Kilkenny during Lent, for between Christmas day and 6 March, eight Friars Preachers died. These cities of Dublin and Drogheda were almost destroyed and wasted of inhabitants and men so that in Dublin alone, from the beginning of August right up to Christmas, fourteen thousand men died. In the convent of Minors of Drogheda, twenty five, and in Dublin in the same order, twenty three died. many died from carbuncles and from ulcers and pustles that could be seen on shins and under the armpits some died, as if in a frenzy, from pain of the head, others from spitting blood. The plague was so contagious that thous touching the dead or even the sick were immediately infected and died, and the one confessing and the confessor were together led to the grave. That disease entirely stripped vills, cities, castles and towns of inhabitaints of men, so that scarcely anyone would be able to live in them.
įriar John Clyn witnessed its effects in Leinster, after its spread to Ireland in August 1348: Lamenting our misery, we feared to fly, yet we dared not remain. Going back to their homes, they in turn soon infected their whole families, who in three days succumbed, and were buried in one common grave. Woe to us for we cast at them the darts of death!. In Sicily, Gabriele de' Mussi, a notary, tells of the early spread from the Crimea:Īlas! our ships enter the port, but of a thousand sailors hardly ten are spared. The scene di Tura describes is repeated over and over again all across Europe. This situation continued until September. And so many died that all believed it was the end of the world. There was no one who wept for any death, for all awaited death. And there were also those who were so sparsely covered with earth that the dogs dragged them forth and devoured many bodies throughout the city. And I, Agnolo di Tura, called the Fat, buried my five children with my own hands. And as soon as those ditches were filled more were dug. And they died by the hundreds both day and night. great pits were dug and piled deep with the multitude of dead. Members of a household brought their dead to a ditch as best they could, without priest, without divine offices. And none could be found to bury the dead for money or friendship. For example, Agnolo di Tura, of Siena, records his experience:įather abandoned child, wife husband, one brother another for this illness seemed to strike through the breath and sight. This was a new phenomenon, made possible because vernacular education and literature, as well as the study of Latin and classical antiquity, flourished widely, making the written word steadily more accessible during the fourteenth century. s devo pas las gens" during the height of the plague in Toulouse.Īlthough romances continued to be popular throughout the period, the courtly tradition began to face increasing competition from ordinary writers who became involved in producing gritty realist literature, inspired by their Black Death experiences.
Peire Lunel de Montech composed the sorrowful sirventes "Meravilhar no
There was, however, one troubadour, writing in the lyric style long out of fashion, who was active in 1348. He wrote hundreds of letters and vernacular poetry of great distinction and passed on to later generations a revised interpretation of courtly love. For example, Petrarch's work was read mainly by wealthy nobles and merchants of Italian city-states. Their writings, however, did not reach the majority of the European population. A few of these chroniclers were famous writers, philosophers and rulers (like Boccaccio and Petrarch). Much of the most useful manifestations of the Black Death in literature, to historians, comes from the accounts of its chroniclers contemporary accounts are often the only real way to get a sense of the horror of living through a disaster on such a scale. 1480 mural by Albertus Pictor in Täby church in Sweden
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