Introduction
On an autumn day in October 1347, Genoese trading ships put into the harbor of Messina in Sicily with dead and dying men at the oars. They were returning from the Genoese trading posts in the Crimea. The stricken men had strange black swellings the size of an egg or apple in the armpits and groin. These oozed blood and pus and were quickly followed by black blotches on the skin from internal bleeding. The sailors experienced such intense pain that death, which generally followed five days after the first symptoms, came as a welcome relief. Due to the lack of hygiene, the disease raced through the port town. As the contagion spread, new symptoms developed: continuous fever, spitting of blood instead of the swelling, heavy sweating, and death within three days or less, sometimes in 24 hours. (James)
How it spreaded and its effects
In the Year of Grace 1349, the penitents went about, coming first out of Germany. They were men who did public penance and scourged themselves with whips of hard knotted leather with little iron spikes. Some made themselves bleed very badly between the shoulders and some foolish women had cloths ready to catch the blood and smear it on their eyes, saying that it was miraculous blood. While they were doing penance, they sang very mournful songs about the nativity and passion of Our Lord. (Jean Froissart)
The object of this penance was to entreat God to put a stop to the mortality, for in that time of death there was an epidemic of plague. People died suddenly and at least a third of all the people in the world died then. The penitents of whom I am speaking went in companies from town to town and from city to city and wore long felt hoods on their heads, each company with its own color...........
