3.2.5
First-hand accounts of the Black Death
The Black Death was a devastating event that affected many countries. By using primary and secondary sources, we can learn how this plague impacted people at the time. Monasteries in Europe recorded events in chronicles. Writers like Ibn Khaldun in the Middle East and the monk Henry Knighton in England wrote about the plague’s effects in their countries. In Italy, Agnolo di Tura detailed how the plague affected the people of Siena (see SOURCE7 ). Medieval church parishes kept records of baptisms, marriages and deaths. Although the Black Death caused many deaths, making it hard for priests or monks to keep records up-to-date, some accurate details still survive. It takes effort to piece all these elements together. The leasing of land to the church for emergency graveyards shows how suddenly and violently the plague struck. The medieval world was shocked by the plague and was not ready to handle it.
SOURCE6 Boccaccio’s Decameron was written between 1349 and 1351 and contains descriptions of the effects of the Black Death on the population of the Italian city of Florence. Illustrations were an important part of every medieval book.
SOURCE7 From Agnolo di Tura’s Description of the Black Death , 1348
The victims died almost immediately. They would swell beneath the armpits and in the groin and fall over while talking. None could be found to bury the dead for money or friendship. Members of a household brought their dead to a ditch as best they could, without priest, without divine offices. In many places in Siena great pits were dug and piled deep with the multitude of dead. And they died by the hundreds, both day and night, and all were thrown in those ditches and covered with earth. And as soon as those ditches were filled, more were dug.
Contemporary artists Just as writers were keen to record the events happening around them, artists produced drawings and paintings showing many aspects of the Black Death. As well as illustrating the symptoms of the disease in their artworks, artists were inspired to explore themes of death and destruction. Burials, skeletons and personifications of death featured prominently, such as in SOURCE8 .
TOPIC3 Medieval Europe 53
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