Research Paper on the Black Death - Back to Main Page
Research Paper on the Black Death - Back to Main Page
Research Paper on the Black Death - Back to Main Page
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The <strong>on</strong>set of <strong>the</strong> <strong>Black</strong> <strong>Death</strong>, was described by Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375).<br />
I say, <strong>the</strong>n, that <strong>the</strong> years of <strong>the</strong> beatific incarnati<strong>on</strong> of <strong>the</strong> S<strong>on</strong> of God had reached <strong>the</strong><br />
tale of <strong>on</strong>e thousand three hundred and forty eight, when in <strong>the</strong> illustrious city of<br />
Florence, <strong>the</strong> fairest of all <strong>the</strong> cities of Italy, <strong>the</strong>re made its appearance that deadly<br />
pestilence, which, whe<strong>the</strong>r disseminated by <strong>the</strong> influence of <strong>the</strong> celestial bodies, or sent<br />
up<strong>on</strong> us mortals by God in His just wrath by way of retributi<strong>on</strong> for our iniquities, had had<br />
its origin some years before in <strong>the</strong> East, whence, after destroying an innumerable<br />
multitude of living beings, it had propagated itself without respite from place <strong>to</strong> place,<br />
and so calami<strong>to</strong>usly, had spread in<strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> West.<br />
In Florence, despite all that human wisdom and forethought could devise <strong>to</strong> avert it, as<br />
<strong>the</strong> cleansing of <strong>the</strong> city from many impurities by officials appointed for <strong>the</strong> purpose, <strong>the</strong><br />
refusal of entrance <strong>to</strong> all sick folk, and <strong>the</strong> adopti<strong>on</strong> of many precauti<strong>on</strong>s for <strong>the</strong><br />
preservati<strong>on</strong> of health; despite also humble supplicati<strong>on</strong>s addressed <strong>to</strong> God, and often<br />
repeated both in public processi<strong>on</strong> and o<strong>the</strong>rwise by <strong>the</strong> devout; <strong>to</strong>wards <strong>the</strong> beginning of<br />
<strong>the</strong> spring of <strong>the</strong> said year <strong>the</strong> doleful effects of <strong>the</strong> pestilence began <strong>to</strong> be horribly<br />
apparent by symp<strong>to</strong>ms that showed as if miraculous.<br />
Not such were <strong>the</strong>y as in <strong>the</strong> East, where an issue of blood from <strong>the</strong> nose was a manifest<br />
sign of inevitable death; but in men a women alike it first betrayed itself by <strong>the</strong><br />
emergence of certain tumors in <strong>the</strong> groin or <strong>the</strong> armpits, some of which grew as large as a<br />
comm<strong>on</strong> apple, o<strong>the</strong>rs as an egg, some more, some less, which <strong>the</strong> comm<strong>on</strong> folk called<br />
gavoccioli. From <strong>the</strong> two said parts of <strong>the</strong> body this deadly gavocciolo so<strong>on</strong> began <strong>to</strong><br />
propagate and spread itself in all directi<strong>on</strong>s indifferently; after which <strong>the</strong> form of <strong>the</strong><br />
malady began <strong>to</strong> change, black spots or livid making <strong>the</strong>ir appearance in many cases <strong>on</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> arm or <strong>the</strong> thigh or elsewhere, now few and large, <strong>the</strong>n minute and numerous. And as<br />
<strong>the</strong> gavocciolo had been and still were an infallible <strong>to</strong>ken of approaching death, such also<br />
were <strong>the</strong>se spots <strong>on</strong> whomsoever <strong>the</strong>y showed <strong>the</strong>mselves. Which maladies seemed set