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Darrera modificació: 2011-09-07
Bases de dades: Sciència.cat
Sloane, Barney, The Black Death in London, Londres, The History Press, 2011, 224 pp.
- Resum
- The Black Death of 1348–49 killed millions in its march across Europe, but how many is still a subject of intense debate with claims ranging between 25 and 50 per cent. This book examines the impact of that appalling disaster on England's most populous city, London. Using previously untapped documentary sources alongside archaeological evidence, a remarkably detailed picture emerges of the arrival, duration and public response to this epidemic and subsequent fourteenth-century outbreaks. Wills and civic and royal administration documents provide clear evidence of the speed and severity of the plague, of how victims made preparations for their heirs and families, and of the immediate social changes that the aftermath brought. Previous scholarly opinions on the timing and duration of the plague are challenged and the mortality rate is revised up to 50–60 per cent in the first outbreak, with a population decline of 40–45 per cent across Edward III's reign. Overall, The Black Death in London provides as detailed a story as is possible to tell of the impact of the plague on a major medieval English city. -- BARNEY SLOANE was a field archaeologist for the Museum of London and is now in charge of research grants at English Heritage. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Reading, and a member of the councils of the British Archaeological Association and the London & Middlesex Archaeological Society.
"Barney writes from the perspective of a former field archaeologist working for the Museum of London, who was inspired to tell the story of the Black Death of 1347—53 (‘the greatest single catastrophe to have struck mankind in recorded history') when he came face to face with some of the victims during the excavation of the East Smithfield plague cemetery. The book thus combines documentary and archaeological evidence and what it tells us is that the plague did not arrive in London out of the blue, but was tracked as it spread through Europe, resulting in instructions being issued for the saying of prayers on a mass scale as a prophylactic and, in case these proved unacceptable to the divine will, to the preparation of cemeteries such as the one at East Smithfield. In the event, the scale of the pestilence overwhelmed even these prudent plans, and Barney's stitching together of all the sources results in a compelling month by month narrative of the reaction to the disease — not just the medical aspects, but the chaos that ensued as the authorities struggled to retain order in such areas as, for example, property ownership; with so many people dying so quickly, the whole legal and mercantile system on which London's prosperity was built in the fourteenth century came under massive strain, and Barney's book makes very effective use of contemporary wills to gain an insight into the social and economic consequences of the plague. An appendix to the book asks what the study of London contributes to wider debates about the plague, including the identity of the disease and the means by which it spread. Without being able to give a definitive diagnosis of the precise nature of the disease, he argues that very little of the evidence points to Yesinia pestis (bubonic plague), the traditionally accepted diagnosis; much more detailed studies of ancient DNA are needed to pin this one down, he says". [e-newsletter of the Society of Antiquaries (London)]
- Matèries
- Medicina - Pesta i altres malalties
Arqueologia
- Notes
- Fitxa de l'editor: http://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Black ...
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