Primary Quotes Flashcards
Boccaccio, the Decameron, symptoms of Plague, ~1350
Certain swellings, either in the groin or under the armpits… Of the bigness of a common apple.
Jean de Venette on causes of plague, 1350s
In 1348, after Vespers when the sun was beginning to set, a big and very bright star appeared above Paris… All that year and the next, the mortality of men and women… was so great that it was almost impossible to bury the dead.
Cause of plague- report of the medical faculty of Paris, ~1350
Conjunction of 3 planets (Saturn, Jupiter and Mars in Aquarius) ‘Their conjunction… Causing a deadly corruption of the air around us, signifies mortality and famine… Aristotle testifies that this is the case in his book concerning the causes and properties of the elements’.
Albertus Magnus on the plague and humours
The bodies most likely at risk of this pestilence are those which are hot and moist.
Jean de Venette about Hotel Dieu
In many towns the timid priests withdrew… So high was the mortality at the Hotel Dieu in Paris that for a long time, more than five hundred dead were carried out with great devotion (by the ‘saintly sisters’).
Jean de Venette aftermath of plague
There were pregnant women wherever you looked… the death of infinite numbers of people, and their replacement by those who survived, has somehow renewed the world and initiated a new age.
Jean de Venette negative aftermath
After the plague men became more miserly and grasping, although many owned more than they had before. They were also more greedy and quarrelsome, involving themselves in brawls, disputes and lawsuits… Also from that time charity began to grow cold, and wrongdoing flourished, along with sinfulness and ignorance.
Guy de Chauliac on escaping plague
Flee quickly, go far, and come back slowly.
Jean de Venette on Jews during plague
Jews were said to have poisoned wells and rivers and corrupted the air. Accordingly the whole world brutally rose against them.
The great chronicle on the plague
The number of deaths in Paris rose to more than 50,000 and in the town of Saint Denis to around 16,000. Yet despite the fact that people were dying in such numbers, nonetheless they all received confession and other sacraments…
(Then story about town folk merry making in an attempt to ward off the plague. Get struck by hail stones from God instead.)
