Scourges of the Middle Ages



This was a class I taught at the 70th session of the University of Atlantia focusing on the cultural aspects of plague, leprosy and syphilis.  I intend to write up a synopsis of the main points, but I haven't gotten there yet, so for now please content yourself with my handout.  This absolutely not an exhaustive bibliography and is meant merely as a starting point.

          On the Ecology of Plague

The CDC Plague Page

The Infectious Disease Society of America plague resource page  

            On the Plague of Justinian

Little, Lester. Plague and the End of Antiquity: The Pandemic of 541-750, Cambridge, 2006.

 

Rosen, William. Justinian's Flea: Plague, Empire, and the Birth of Europe, NY: Viking, 2007.

Procopius, A History of the Wars, Vol I and II.

Also see: Procopius' writings on the plague in a freely available format.

            On the Great Mortality

Aberth, John.  The Black Death: The Great Mortality of 1348-1350: A brief history with documents.  NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.

Benedictow, Ole.  The Black Death, 1346-1353: the complete history.  Rochester: Boydell Press, 2004.

Cohn, Samuel.  The black death transformed: disease and culture in early Renaissance Europe.  London: Arnold, 2002.

Kelly, John.  The Great Mortality:  An intimate history of the Black Death, the most devastating plague of all time.  NY: Harper Collins, 2005.

          On the Ecology of Leprosy

The World Health Organization Leprosy Eradication Page 

          On Leprosy in Medieval Europe

Allen, Peter. The Wages of Sin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.

 

Brody, Saul. The Disease of the Soul: Leprosy in Medieval Literature. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1974.

 

Lee, Gerard. Leper Hospitals in Medieval Ireland. Portland: Four Courts Press Ltd, 1996.

 

Rawcliffe, Carole.  Leprosy in Medieval England.  Rochester: Boydell Press, 2006.

 

Richards, Peter. The Medieval Leper and his Northern Heirs. Great Britain: D. S. Brewer Ltd, 1977.

 

            On the Ecology of Syphilis

 

The CDC Syphilis Page

 

        On the History of Syphilis
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Arrizabalaga, Jon, John Henderson, and Roger French.  The great pox : the French disease in Renaissance Europe.   New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997.

Gould, Stephen Jay. Syphilis and the Shepherd of Atlantis.  Natural History, 2000 Oct.

Knell, Robert.  Syphilis in Renaissance Europe: rapid evolution of an introduced sexually transmitted disease? Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. B (Suppl.) Vol 271, S174-S176, 2004.


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