More about the impact of the Black Death

 

In my recent post Reassessing the impact of the Black Death I drew attention to recent research on the evidence from the distribution of pollen across Europe in the period 1250-1450 to attempt to assess the impact of the mid-fourteenth century Black Death on cultivation patterns and what that can reveal about the impact and consequences of that pandemic.

I now see that the Mail Online has a longer report on the research together with a map Illustrating changes in the period and pictures of some of the affected landscapes. The various factors which could influence the progress of the plague are set out by the research group leader to point out why the impact would have been different from region to region, if not place to place. In some respects therefore those countries and areas as well as those communities and groups who have been more vulnerable to covid can be seen as somehow analogous to the variations in the severity of the plague. It would appear that a wide range of factors came together to create more or less favourable conditions for the plague to spread and claim lives. The researchers point to the need for localised studies to seek to explain what happened and to avoid generalised interpretations based on inevitably autobiographical observation by particular writers at the time.

As shown on the map England seems to have been in the mainstream of the disease, and to have shown neither severe losses nor to have suffered significantly less except for Devon and Cornwall.

The map also shows that areas that are relatively close could have widely different experiences as in parts on north-west and also southern France or around the Baltic.

The article can be seen at Black Death did not impact all regions equally, study claims