NEWS: Excavations for London’s Crossrail project have unearthed bodies believed to date from the time of the Black Death.
A burial ground was known to be in an area outside the City of London, but its exact location remained a mystery.
Thirteen bodies have been found so far in the 5.5m-wide shaft at the edge of Charterhouse Square, alongside pottery dated to the mid-14th Century.
Analysis will shed light on the plague and the Londoners of the day.
© Olia Pishchanska
High Hopes
image: Graph showing inervals of low CO2 concentrations in Antarctic ice cores correlating with major epidemics that decimated populations.
After: Ruddiman, William F., Plows, Plagues and Petroleum: How Humans took Control of Climate, p. 133.
1. VI century
In Britain, the period 535—555 experienced the worst weather of the 6th century. In Mesopotamia there were heavy falls of snow and in Arabia there was flooding follow by famine. In China, in 536, there was drought and famine and yellow dust rained down like snow. In Korea, AD535 and 536 were the worst years of that century in climatic terms with massive storms and flooding, followed by drought. It has also been suggested that the occurrence of the Justinian Plague, a pandemic which affected the Byzantine Empire, including its capital Constantinople, in the years 541–42 AD is linked to the climatic events
2. X-XIV century MWP (The Medieval Warm Period)
In Europe the warm conditions had positive effects. Summer after summer the harvests were good and the population increased rapidly. As a result thousands of hectares were cleared of woodland and farmers expanded their fields high into the hills and on mountain slopes. It was even possible to grow successfully grapes as far north as Yorkshire.
Under these conditions, art, literature and even science were developing apace and we see the height of medieval civilisation. The most visible achievements of this period are undoubtedly the construction of the many cathedrals all over Europe. The good harvests had made Europe rich and the good weather freed people from the burden of the struggle against the elements. It created the wealth and labour force to build cathedrals. It was a golden period for European Architecture and art.
3. XIV century - The Little Ice Age
Written records from the 14th century provide accounts of severe weather in the period from 1314 to 1317, which led in turn to crop failure and famine. This episode of failed harvests and its consequences is known as “The Great Famine”. Notwithstanding these ecological calamities, the population of northern Europe was at an all time high by the second quarter of the 14th century.
4. 1340s-1350s
What catapulted the Black Death on the world stage? Recently it has been suggested that a climatic event similar to the 536 dust veil event is responsible. Based on comparing the chronologies of prices, wages, grain harvests and the corresponding chronologies of growing conditions and climactic variations, taking into consideration dendrochronology, the Greenland ice cores it has emerged that the episodes of the Black Death coincide with depressed temperatures.
Read more about this interesting (and often disregarded) aspect of history
Source: eh-resources.org
Munich City Hall Glockenspiel
Wooden medieval styled characters move inside the carillon of the new townhall at the Marienplatz in Munich, Germany. The carillon, refered to locally as a Glockenspiel, was restored a few years ago. The chimes were in need of urgent repair, while the wooden, painted figures are in a quite good condition. At 11, 12 and 17 o’clock each day, visitors can watch the famous Glockenspiel, which is a main attraction for Munich tourists.
***The figures in the first balcony perform the cooper’s dance, which was originally performed in 1517 at the Marienplatz to commemmorate the end of the plague, while in the upper floor is performed a medieval tournament.
Source: commons.wikimedia.org
Not medieval (17th century) but too weird not to post.
Dummy representing Dr George Rae (a plague doctor during the 1645 outbreak of the plague in Edinburgh) at the Mary King’s Close visitor attraction.
San Gimignano
In 1199, during the period of its highest splendour, the city made itself independent from the bishops of Volterra. Divisions between Guelphs and Ghibellines troubled the inner life of the commune, which nonetheless, still managed to embellish itself with artworks and architectures.
Saint Fina, known also as Seraphina and Serafina, was a 13th century Italian saint born in San Gimignano during 1238. Since Saint Fina died on March 12, 1253 her feast day became March 12. Her major shrine is in San Gimignano and the house said to be her home still stands in the town.
On May 8, 1300, San Gimignano hosted Dante Alighieri in his role of ambassador of the Guelph League in Tuscany.
The city flourished until 1348, when the Black Death that affected all of Europe, compelled it to submit to Florence. San Gimignano became a secondary centre until the 19th century, when its status as a touristic and artistic resort began to be recognised.
Source: Wikipedia
It never gets boring…
Dancing mania (also known as dancing plague, choreomania, St John’s Dance and historically St. Vitus’ Dance) was a social phenomenon that occurred primarily in mainland Europe between the 14th and 17th centuries. It involved groups of people, sometimes thousands at a time, who danced uncontrollably and bizarrely. They would also scream, shout, and sing, and claim to have visions or hallucinations.
The mania affected men, women, and children, who danced until they collapsed from exhaustion. One of the first major outbreaks was in Aachen, Germany, in 1374, and it quickly spread throughout Europe; one particularly notable outbreak occurred in Strasbourg in 1518.
Amidst our people here is come
The madness of the dance.
In every town there now are some
Who fall upon a trance.
It drives them ever night and day,
They scarcely stop for breath,
Till some have dropped along the way
And some are met by death.
So goes a grim ditty from the Straussburgh Chronicle of Kleinkawel.
article by by Leah Esterianna & Richard the Poor of Ely
Medieval man thought the cat had supernatural powers and any misfortune was blamed on them. Anything from sour milk to an outbreak of disease was blamed on our furry friends. When the Bubonic Plague began sweeping across Europe in 1351 the superstitions of the day pointed the fingers of blame at cats. Hundreds of thousands of cats were destroyed. The sad truth was that the plague was carried by ticks that were attached to rodents that the cats would have caught thus helping to control the disease. The superstitions of the day actually helped the disease. Cats were even thought to be witches in disguise, running in the darkness of night to perform evil acts. Cats were burned, boiled, stoned, flayed, stabbed, gutted, dropped from high places, hanged, impaled and buried alive with an almost religious fervor. To own a cat during medieval times was risking ones life as many an old lady was accused of witchcraft simply because she kept a cat as a companion. Throughout these bleak times, however, some did remain loyal to the furry feline. Millers and Sailors still saw great uses for the cats to rid their respective areas of vermin and others kept their fondness for cats as well. As time went on, more people of influence began to keep cats (even Cardinals Wolsey and Richelieu kept cats as pets) and the tide began to turn in the cats favor.
Psalter and Hours of Bonne de Luxembourg, Duchess of Normandy, before 1349
Probably Jean Le Noir, his daughter Bourgot, and his workshop
French (Paris)
Tempera, grisaille, ink, and gold leaf on vellum
Source:Probably Jean Le Noir, his daughter Bourgot, and his workshop: Psalter and Hours of Bonne de Luxembourg, Duchess of Normandy (69.86) | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art
image: “Doktor Schnabel von Rom” (“Doctor Beak from Rome”) engraving, Rome 1656 Physician attire for protection from the Bubonic plague or Black death.
A plague doctor’s clothing consisted of:
A wide-brimmed black hat worn close to the head. At the time, a wide-brimmed black hat would have identified a person as a doctor, much the same as how nowadays a hat may identify chefs, soldiers, and workers. The wide-brimmed hat may have also been used as partial shielding from infection.
A primitive gas mask in the shape of a bird’s beak. A common belief at the time was that the plague was spread by “bad air”. There may have been a belief that by dressing in a bird-like mask, the wearer could draw the plague away from the patient and onto the garment the plague doctor wore. The mask also included red glass eyepieces, which were thought to make the wearer impervious to evil. The beak of the mask was often filled with strongly aromatic herbs and spices to overpower the miasmas or “bad air” which was also thought to carry the plague. At the very least, it may have dulled the smell of unburied corpses and sputum from plague victims.
A long, black overcoat. The overcoat worn by the plague doctor was tucked in behind the beak mask at the neckline to minimize skin exposure. It extended to the feet, and was often coated head to toe in suet or wax. A coating of suet may have been used with the thought that the plague could be drawn away from the flesh of the infected victim and either trapped by the suet, or repelled by the wax. The coating of wax likely served as protection against respiratory droplet contamination, but it was not known at the time if coughing carried the plague. It was likely that the overcoat was waxed to simply prevent sputum or other bodily fluids from clinging to it.
A wooden cane. The cane was used to both direct family members to move the patient, other individuals nearby, and possibly to examine patients without directly touching them.
Leather breeches. Similar to waders worn by fishermen, leather breeches were worn beneath the cloak to protect the legs and groin from infection. Since the plague often tended to manifest itself first in the lymph nodes, particular attention was paid to protecting the armpits, neck, and groin.
and a more modern version:
The Triumph of Death is an oil painting on panel, painted c. 1562 by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. It is in the Museo del Prado inMadrid. The painting is a panoramic landscape of death: the sky in the distance is blackened by smoke from burning cities and the sea is littered with shipwrecks. Armies of skeletons advance on the hapless living, who either flee in terror or try vainly to fight back. Skeletons kill people in a variety of ways – slitting throats, hanging, drowning, and even hunting with skeletal dogs. In the foreground, skeletons haul a wagon full of skulls, and ring the bell that signifies the death knell of the world. A fool plays the lutewhile a skeleton behind him plays along; a starving dog nibbles at the face of a child; a cross sits lonely and impotent in the center of the painting. People are herded into a trap decorated with crosses, while a skeleton on horseback slaughters people with a scythe. The painting depicts people of different social backgrounds – from peasants and soldiers to nobles and even a king and a cardinal – being taken by death indiscriminately. The painting shows aspects of everyday European life in the mid-sixteenth century. Clothes are clearly depicted, as are pastimes such as playing cards. It shows objects such as musical instruments, an early mechanical clock, scenes including a funeral service, and a common method of execution for sixteenth-century criminals: being lashed to a cartwheel mounted on a vertical pole. source Wikipedia
Dance of Death
Illustrations from the Nuremberg Chronicle, by Hartmann Schedel (1440-1514)
Blog dedicated to the Middle Ages. Art, literature, architecture,music, general history, geography, warfare, way of living, language and culture...
Enjoy!
If you'd like to know more send me your e-mail address or contact details for msn or Skype, and we can talk more.
