BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 8 INVESTIGATION / INVESTIGATION LIBRARY 12 8 INVESTIGATION LIBRARY TEXT 1: THE PLAGUE 13 TEXT 2: THE SPREAD OF THE PLAGUE AND TRADE ROUTES 14 TEXT 3: THE PLAGUE AND MARTYRDOM 15 TEXT 4: THE PLAGUE AS CONTAGION 16 TEXT 5: THE PLAGUE AND PUBLIC HEALTH MEASURES 17 TEXT 6: BOCCACCIO ON THE PLAGUE 19 TEXT 7: THE UNITED STA TES PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE ON INFLUENZ A 20 TEXT 8: COUGHS AND GERM TRANSMISSION 21 TEXT 9: THE SPREAD OF INFLUENZA 22 TEXT 10: U.S. TROOPS GO TO FRANCE 23 TEXT 11: INFLUENZA IN THE P ACIFIC 24 TEXT 12: INFLUENZA IN INDIA 26 TEXT 13: ESTIMA TES OF DEA TH FROM PLAGUE AND INFLUENZA 27
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TEXT 1
THE PLAGUE
Gabriele de’Mussis worked as a lawyer in Piacenza, Italy, and remained there throughoutthe plague years. He later wrote an account of the plague, Historia de Morbo, from which
this excerpt is taken.
In 1346, in the countries of the East, countless numbers of Tartars4 and Saracens5
were struck down by a mysterious illness which brought sudden death. Within these
countries,…cities, towns and settlements…were soon stripped of their inhabitants.
An eastern settlement under the rule of the Tartars called Tana, which lay to the north
of Constantinople and was much frequented by Italian merchants, was totally aban-
doned.…The Christian merchants…were so terrified of the power of the Tartars that…
they fled in an armed ship to Caffa, a settlement in the same part of the world which
had been founded long ago by the Genoese.…
The dying Tartars…ordered corpses to be placed on catapults and lobbed into the
city.… What seemed like mountains of dead were thrown into the city, and the Chris-
tians could not hide or flee or escape from them.…
As it happened, among those who escaped from Caffa by boat were a few sailors
who had been infected with the poisonous disease. Some boats were bound for
Genoa, others went to Venice and to other Christian areas. When the sailors reached
these places and mixed with the people there, it was as if they had brought evil
spirits with them: every city, every settlement, every place was poisoned by the
contagious pestilence, and their inhabitants, both men and women, died suddenly.
Footnotes
4 Tartar is a word used in older historical texts to refer to Turkic and Mongolian peoples.
5 Saracen is a word used to refer to Muslims.
Source
Rosemary Horrox, The Black Death (Manchester: Manchester UP, 1994) 16-18.
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TEXT 3
THE PLAGUEAND MARTYRDOM
Ibn al-Wadi was a Muslim living in Aleppo, in Palestine, when he wrote “Essay on the
Report of the Pestilence,” probably in 1348, from which this excerpt comes. He died of the
Black Death in 1349.
The plague is for the Muslims a martyrdom6 and a reward, and for the disbelievers
a punishment and a rebuke. When the Muslim endures misfortune, then patience is
his worship. It has been established by our Prophet, God bless him and give him
peace, that the plague-stricken are martyrs. This noble tradition is true and assures
martyrdom. And this secret should be pleasing to the true believer. If someone says it
causes infection and destruction, say: God creates and recreates. If the liar disputesthe matter of infection and tries to find an explanation, I say that the Prophet, on him
be peace, said: who infected the first? If we acknowledge the plague’s devastation
of the people, it is the will of the Chosen Doer. So it happened again and again.… I
take refuge in God from the yoke of the plague.… Nothing prevented us from running
away from the plague except our devotion to noble tradition. Come then, seek the
aid of God Almighty for raising the plague, for He is the best helper. Oh God, we call
You better than anyone did before. We call You to raise from us the pestilence and
plague. We do not take refuge in its removal other than with You. We do not depend
on our good health against the plague but on You. We seek your protection, oh Lord
of Creation, from the blows of this stick.
Footnote
6 A martyr is someone who is willing to die for his or her religious beliefs.
Source
John Aberth, The First Horseman: Disease in Human History (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall,
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TEXT 4
THE PLAGUEAS CONTAGION
Lisan al-Din Ibn al-Khatib was a Muslim living in Loja, near Granada, in Spain, when he
wrote A Very Useful Inquiry into the Horrible Sickness between 1349 and 1352, from which
this excerpt comes.
The existence of contagion7 has been proved by experience, deduction, the senses,
and observation, and by unanimous reports.… And it is not a secret…that those who
come into contact with [plague] patients mostly die, while those who do not come into
contact survive. Moreover, disease occurs in a household or neighborhood because
of the mere presence of a contagious dress or utensil; even a [contaminated] earring
has been known to kill whoever wears it and his whole household. And when it hap-pens in a city, it starts in one house and then affects the visitors of the house, then
the neighbors, the relatives, and other visitors until it spreads throughout the city.…
And the safety of those who have gone into isolation is demonstrated by the example
of the ascetic, Abu Madyan.… He believed in contagion, and so he hoarded food and
bricked up the door on his family (and his family was large!), and the city was obliter-
ated by the plague and not one soul [except Abu Madyan] was left in that whole town.
And reports were unanimous that isolated places that have no roads to them and are
not frequented by people have escaped unscathed from the plague.… Although the
intent of divine law is innocent of harm, when a prophetic statement is contradicted
by the senses and observation, it is incumbent on us to interpret it in a way that…
fits reality.… And the truth of this matter is that it should be interpreted in accordancewith those who affirm the theory of contagion.
Footnote
7 A type of disease that is spread person to person by close contact.
Source
John Aberth, The First Horseman: Disease in Human History (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall,
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TEXT 5
THE PLAGUEAND PUBLIC HEALTH
MEASURESPistoia is a city located in the Tuscany region of Italy, about 40 kilometers northwest of
Florence.
Ordinances Against the Spread of Plague from Pistoia, Italy
2 May 1348
1. So that the sickness which is now threatening the region around Pistoia shall beprevented from taking hold of the citizens of Pistoia, no citizen or resident of
Pistoia, wherever they are from or of what condition, status or standing they may
be, shall dare or presume to go to Pisa or Lucca. No one shall come to Pistoia from
those places. Penalty 500 pence. And no one from Pistoia shall receive or give
hospitality to people who have come from those places. The same penalty. And the
guards who keep the gates of the city of Pistoia shall not permit anyone travelling
to the city from Pisa or Lucca to enter. Penalty 10 pence from each of the guards
responsible for the gate through which such an entry has been made. But citizens
of Pistoia now living within the city may go to Pisa and Lucca, and return again,
if they first obtain permission from the common council — who will vote on the
merits of the case presented to them.…
2. No one, whether from Pistoia or elsewhere, shall dare or presume to bring or fetch
to Pistoia, whether in person or by an agent, any old linen or woolen clothes, for
male or female clothing or for bedspreads; penalty 200 pence, and the cloth to be
burnt in the public piazza of Pistoia by the official who discovered it.…
3. The bodies of the dead shall not be removed from the place of death until they have
been enclosed in a wooden box, and the lid of planks nailed down.…
5. No one, of whatever condition status or standing, shall dare or presume to bring a
corpse into the city whether confined or not; penalty 25 pence.…
13. So that the living are not made ill by rotten and corrupt food, no butcher or retailer
of meat shall dare or presume to hang up meat, or keep and sell meat hung up in
their storehouse or over the counter; penalty 10 pence.…
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TEXT 7
THE UNITED STATESPUBLIC HEALTH
SERVICE ON INFLUENZANote: The existence of viruses was hypothesized in the late 19th century, long before tech-
nology was available to actually observe viruses with electron microscopes.
What causes the disease and how is it spread?
No matter what particular kind of germ causes the epidemic, it is now believed that
influenza is always spread from person to person. The germs [are] carried with the air
along with the very small droplets of mucus. They are expelled by coughing or sneezing,forceful talking, and the like by one who already has the germs of the disease. They
may also be carried about in the air in the form of dust coming from dried mucus, from
coughing and sneezing, or from careless people who spit on the floor and on the
sidewalk. As in most other catching diseases, a person who has only a mild attack of
the disease himself may give a very severe attack to others.
New York City mailman, December 1918, Seattle police, October 1918
Source
Slightly modified from United States Public Health Service, Rupert Blue, Surgeon General, Spanish Influenza,
Three-Day Fever, the Flu. Supplement No. 34 to the Public Health Reports, September 28, 1918 (Washington, D.C.:
Government Printing Office, 1918) 3. Accessed 18 July 2012 <http://pds.lib.harvard.edu/pds/view/6692202?n=1&i
magesize=1200&jp2Res=.25&printThumbnails=no>.
“The Deadly Virus: The Influenza Epidemic of 1918,” The National Archives and Record Administration, Accessed
19 July 2012 <http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/influenza-epidemic/records-list.html>.
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TEXT 10
U.S. TROOPS GOTO FRANCE
A military cable from France to Washington on October 8, 1918, reported high levels of
influenza among American troops.
American troops in Brest, France, had 1,541 cases of influenza and 1,062 cases of
pneumonia.
The troopship Leviathan had recently landed. Six hundred men had the flu, over 100 men
had pneumonia, and 67 were dead.
On recent troop convoy had left Brest with 24,488 men. When the convoy arrived, 4,147of the men were sick, 1,357 needed immediate hospitalization, and over 200 had died.
Source
This text was adapted from Alfred Crosby, America’s Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918 (Cambridge:
Cambridge UP, 1989) 124.
Albert Gleaves, A History of the Transport Service: Adventures and Experiences of United States Transports
and Cruisers in the World War (New York: George H. Doran Company, 1921) 97.
Points of embarkation in America and debarkation in Europe for American troops in World War I
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TEXT 12
INFLUENZA IN INDIA
…the one part of the world that seems to have suffered the most from the pandemic wasIndia, where recent estimates place its death toll at close to 20 million.… If we accept a
figure of 50 million for flu deaths around the world, then India’s share alone would account
for 40 percent of that total. The Indian experience with influenza illustrates a strong
connection between the disease and poverty. Lower castes of Indian Hindu society suf-
fered disproportionately compared to the higher castes. This was probably due to their
poorer nutrition and lack of good nursing care.… In addition, India shows how a place far
removed from the front of World War I and not mobilizing on a grand scale for war could
nonetheless suffer tragically during the pandemic. In India’s case, influenza’s spread
seems to have been greatly facilitated by the railroad network installed by the British and
by overcrowded conditions in the cities.
Source
This text was adapted from John Aberth, Plagues in World History (Lanham, MD: Rowan and Littlefield, 2011) 117.
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TEXT 13
ESTIMATES OFDEATHS FROM PLAGUE
AND INFLUENZA
Plague deaths, 1347
Researchers generally used to agree that the Black Death swept away 20–30 percent of
Europe’s population. However, up to 1960 there were only a few studies of mortality
among ordinary people, so the basis for this assessment was weak. From 1960, a great
number of mortality studies from various parts of Europe were published. These have
been collated and it is now clear that the earlier estimates of mortality need to be doubled.
No suitable sources for the study of mortality have been found in the Muslim countriesthat were ravaged.… The data is sufficiently widespread and numerous to make it likely
that the Black Death swept away around 60 per cent of Europe’s population. It is generally
assumed that the size of Europe’s population at the time was around 80 million. This
implies that that around 50 million people died in the Black Death. This is a truly mind-
boggling statistic.… As a proportion of the population that lost their lives, the Black Death
