What do you think?
Rate this book
Black Death
Philip Ziegler's The Black Death follows the course of the black plague as it swept from Asia into Italy and then into the rest of Europe.
A series of natural disasters in the furthest reaches of the Orient during the third of the fourteenth century heralded what was, for the population of Europe, the most devastating period of death and destruction in its history. By the autumn of 1347 the Black Death had reached the shores of the eastern Mediterranean, and the years that followed were to witness a horrifying and apparently relentless epidemic.
One third of England's population died between the years 1347 and 1350, and over one thousand villages were deserted, never to be repopulated. In towns and cities the cemeteries were unable to provide space for all the dead, and violence and crime spiraled. Travel became dangerous and interruption of food and other supplies across the country added hunger and deprivation to the problems of people already overwhelmed by the threat of the vilest of deaths.
In the countryside the population was halved in places, and as land became plentiful, landowners' profits fell and the government tried in vain to fix labourers' wages and prices, peasant unrest accelerated and the manorial system disintegrated, culminating eventually in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381.
Throughout Europe whole societies were disrupted; racial tensions built as a direct result of the plague, and persecution of Jews began in earnest throughout the continent. The social and economic consequences of the period were to reach far into the following century.
A series of natural disasters in the furthest reaches of the Orient during the third of the fourteenth century heralded what was, for the population of Europe, the most devastating period of death and destruction in its history. By the autumn of 1347 the Black Death had reached the shores of the eastern Mediterranean, and the years that followed were to witness a horrifying and apparently relentless epidemic.
One third of England's population died between the years 1347 and 1350, and over one thousand villages were deserted, never to be repopulated. In towns and cities the cemeteries were unable to provide space for all the dead, and violence and crime spiraled. Travel became dangerous and interruption of food and other supplies across the country added hunger and deprivation to the problems of people already overwhelmed by the threat of the vilest of deaths.
In the countryside the population was halved in places, and as land became plentiful, landowners' profits fell and the government tried in vain to fix labourers' wages and prices, peasant unrest accelerated and the manorial system disintegrated, culminating eventually in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381.
Throughout Europe whole societies were disrupted; racial tensions built as a direct result of the plague, and persecution of Jews began in earnest throughout the continent. The social and economic consequences of the period were to reach far into the following century.
319 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
140 people are currently reading
2743 people want to read
About the author
Philip Ziegler
77 books40 followersPhilip Ziegler was a British biographer and historian known for his meticulously researched works on historical figures and events. After studying at Eton and New College, Oxford, he served in the British Foreign Service, with postings in Laos, South Africa, Colombia, and NATO. He later transitioned into publishing and writing, eventually becoming a distinguished biographer.
His notable works include Mountbatten: The Official Biography, Edward VIII: The Official Biography, and The Black Death. He also wrote about figures such as Lord Melbourne, Harold Wilson, and George VI. Over the years, Ziegler contributed to major publications like The Spectator, The Times, and History Today.
His personal life was marked by tragedy when his first wife was killed during a home invasion in Bogotá in 1967. He later remarried and continued his literary career until his passing in 2023 at the age of 93.
His notable works include Mountbatten: The Official Biography, Edward VIII: The Official Biography, and The Black Death. He also wrote about figures such as Lord Melbourne, Harold Wilson, and George VI. Over the years, Ziegler contributed to major publications like The Spectator, The Times, and History Today.
His personal life was marked by tragedy when his first wife was killed during a home invasion in Bogotá in 1967. He later remarried and continued his literary career until his passing in 2023 at the age of 93.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 161 reviews
February 21, 2012
My first foray into the Black Death as a specific subject as opposed to it being mentioned - often briefly - in other histories of the the period and I found it both interesting and educational.
I found the chapters on the disease's spread from Asia, its entry into southern and eastern Europe to its trail of devastation in Britain well laid out and easy to grasp.
The human aspect is a major part of this book; not just the number of deaths but the affects on people's lives and minds as best can be known. The reactions of the cities, towns and villages to the Black Death both in how to combat it and to continue on with life is fascinating. Ports and major cities feared and fared differently but death - and a painful and ugly one at that - came and laid waste with no apparent relief or succour likely to come from any avenue or person to them and those inland. Ships were turned away from ports after docking because their cargoes of ill or dead crew brought panic and realisation that their place on Earth was not to be spared. This contact did nothing but spread the contagion to their fellow citizens and drive those in the full blaze of the disease to other ports in their quest to land and recieve treatment.
Laid bare is the medieval mind and its inability to comprehend the cause, transmission methods and medical knowledge in how to treat an epidemic that cut through men, women and children of all social classes - including the Church, high or low.
The Church's standing in Europe was indeed affected as people across Europe saw that God's will ravaged not just their own but those of all creeds and colours including their enemies. Importantly too the Church offered no course of action or suggestion to the people in how to placate God's wrath and this hopelessness and in some cases dereliction of duty by church officials led many to question their own devotion and their God. True too, as the author shows, is how many of the Church's own died ministering or helping their flocks and their death rates were high and in some cases very high against other groups.
For England, where there is a good amount of contemporary information the picture of the Black Death's progress and its impacts on the population in counties, towns and areas I know was gripping. The chapter he wrote on a fictional village - based on the source data and his own research - on how the disease arrived, the fear it invoked and the speed with which it gripped the villagers and ended so many lives was also good.
Commentary and specific chapters on the Black Death's impact on labour, feudal life and agriculture and those on the standing and the people's relationships with the Church during and after were also informative too.
Conclusions on the impacts and linkages to changes in feudal laws, the Peasants' Revolt, the reformation etc are also covered. It is here I suspect that 40 years' on much research may have been done and Mr Ziegler's views may now be superseded or outdated.
His book was seemingly unappreciated by the experts and scholars of the Black Death/Medieval period when he wrote this is the late 60s, as is made plain in the 2003 introduction in my copy as he describes one professor calling him an amateur. As Mr Ziegler goes on to say he was an amateur of the period if not as an author.
Today I suspect the reaction, even if true and overtly suggested, in reviews of a present day author's work by experts, would be less likely to trouble the establishment as popular history - which is in essence what this book is, although highly researched and well reasoned - is now not only accepted and part of the history landscape, but the subject matter experts themselves have in the last forty years learned how to write (and present) quality history in accessible language with depth suitable for a wider readership than students and peers.
It's not the first popular history ever written I accept but it deserves its place as a accessible and informative account of the Black Death, which left me thanking my lucky stars (or Almighty God) that I did not live in the 1340s.
I found the chapters on the disease's spread from Asia, its entry into southern and eastern Europe to its trail of devastation in Britain well laid out and easy to grasp.
The human aspect is a major part of this book; not just the number of deaths but the affects on people's lives and minds as best can be known. The reactions of the cities, towns and villages to the Black Death both in how to combat it and to continue on with life is fascinating. Ports and major cities feared and fared differently but death - and a painful and ugly one at that - came and laid waste with no apparent relief or succour likely to come from any avenue or person to them and those inland. Ships were turned away from ports after docking because their cargoes of ill or dead crew brought panic and realisation that their place on Earth was not to be spared. This contact did nothing but spread the contagion to their fellow citizens and drive those in the full blaze of the disease to other ports in their quest to land and recieve treatment.
Laid bare is the medieval mind and its inability to comprehend the cause, transmission methods and medical knowledge in how to treat an epidemic that cut through men, women and children of all social classes - including the Church, high or low.
The Church's standing in Europe was indeed affected as people across Europe saw that God's will ravaged not just their own but those of all creeds and colours including their enemies. Importantly too the Church offered no course of action or suggestion to the people in how to placate God's wrath and this hopelessness and in some cases dereliction of duty by church officials led many to question their own devotion and their God. True too, as the author shows, is how many of the Church's own died ministering or helping their flocks and their death rates were high and in some cases very high against other groups.
For England, where there is a good amount of contemporary information the picture of the Black Death's progress and its impacts on the population in counties, towns and areas I know was gripping. The chapter he wrote on a fictional village - based on the source data and his own research - on how the disease arrived, the fear it invoked and the speed with which it gripped the villagers and ended so many lives was also good.
Commentary and specific chapters on the Black Death's impact on labour, feudal life and agriculture and those on the standing and the people's relationships with the Church during and after were also informative too.
Conclusions on the impacts and linkages to changes in feudal laws, the Peasants' Revolt, the reformation etc are also covered. It is here I suspect that 40 years' on much research may have been done and Mr Ziegler's views may now be superseded or outdated.
His book was seemingly unappreciated by the experts and scholars of the Black Death/Medieval period when he wrote this is the late 60s, as is made plain in the 2003 introduction in my copy as he describes one professor calling him an amateur. As Mr Ziegler goes on to say he was an amateur of the period if not as an author.
Today I suspect the reaction, even if true and overtly suggested, in reviews of a present day author's work by experts, would be less likely to trouble the establishment as popular history - which is in essence what this book is, although highly researched and well reasoned - is now not only accepted and part of the history landscape, but the subject matter experts themselves have in the last forty years learned how to write (and present) quality history in accessible language with depth suitable for a wider readership than students and peers.
It's not the first popular history ever written I accept but it deserves its place as a accessible and informative account of the Black Death, which left me thanking my lucky stars (or Almighty God) that I did not live in the 1340s.
October 27, 2014
It is a grievous ornament that breaks out in a rash. - Jeuan Gethin
Philip Ziegler penned a spectacular survey of the 14th century disaster which could've flipped the human lights off permanently. Okay, maybe not extinguish, but certainly a long-lasting dimming was a possibility. This is a splendid book, one which steadily recognizes the limitations of history. Ziegler also prodded me again to finally read Bocaccio.
What did happen during that terrible pestilence of 1348 and 1349? Well, likely 40 percent (or more) of Europe died. People blamed Jehova, eathquakes (releasing the miasma) and with lethal certainty, the Jews. Feudalism continued its shuffle off-stage, conditions may have improved for peasants. The church saw its foundations wobble. Fanaticism also spiked. Those who concretely link the Plague with Peasants Rebellions and the Reformation are taking shortcuts, which is understandable. Ziegler's work is one of conjecture and doubt. There is simply so little which can be verified. I suppose the wisdom of the Black Death is that Shit Happens.
Philip Ziegler penned a spectacular survey of the 14th century disaster which could've flipped the human lights off permanently. Okay, maybe not extinguish, but certainly a long-lasting dimming was a possibility. This is a splendid book, one which steadily recognizes the limitations of history. Ziegler also prodded me again to finally read Bocaccio.
What did happen during that terrible pestilence of 1348 and 1349? Well, likely 40 percent (or more) of Europe died. People blamed Jehova, eathquakes (releasing the miasma) and with lethal certainty, the Jews. Feudalism continued its shuffle off-stage, conditions may have improved for peasants. The church saw its foundations wobble. Fanaticism also spiked. Those who concretely link the Plague with Peasants Rebellions and the Reformation are taking shortcuts, which is understandable. Ziegler's work is one of conjecture and doubt. There is simply so little which can be verified. I suppose the wisdom of the Black Death is that Shit Happens.
December 19, 2023
Dry and very detailed, Philip Ziegler goes country by country, tracing the spread of the plague to and then throughout Europe between 1347 and 1349. He spends too much time (maybe 25% of the book) comparing and criticizing different estimated mortality rates, eventually concluding that about 33% of Europeans died (with a range of 23-45%). Ziegler also makes a point of critiquing the name “The Black Death,” which he believes arose from a mistake in translation. The interesting parts of the book, however, are those that deal with the social and psychological reactions to the plague:
“But in the Middle Ages the plague was not only all-destroying, it was totally incomprehensible. Medieval man was equipped with no form of defense—social, medical, or psychological—against a violent epidemic of this magnitude.” (p. 5)
Ziegler gives countless examples of people reacting in irrational, counterproductive, and prejudicial ways—for instance, blaming and attacking hated outgroups. In one example, which contributed to the spread of the plague to Europe, people “used their giant catapults to lob over the walls the corpses of the victims in the hope that this would spread the disease within the city” (p. 3). One of the weirdest and most notable reactions was the rise of the Flagellant Movement, where people went from town to town beating themselves bloody (self-scourging) in public with knotted, spiked whips. In other more horrid cases, lepers were burned alive:
He also goes through the mass murder of Jews, explaining that the plague concentrated the “latent fear and hatred of Jews into one burning grievance” (pp. 81-82). Consequently, and despite the fact that they also suffered from the plague, Jews were falsely accused of poisoning wells, tortured into confessing, and then slaughtered in the many thousands (e.g., by being locked in their homes and burned alive). At least 350 massacres were documented.
“What was needed, therefore, was a suitable target for the indignation of the people, preferably a minority group, easily identifiable, already unpopular, widely scattered and lacking any powerful protector.” (p. 79)
Ziegler makes clear how awful the plague was as a disease and social/economic disrupter. It degraded and humiliated its victims, killing most within a week. Actually, it comprised three different forms of plague, each with different kill rates and timings: Bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic. The latter two types killed over 90% of victims and did so within two days. The plague tore apart families, subjecting fathers and mothers to their worst possible nightmare.
“Men and women carried their own children on their shoulders to the church and threw them into a common pit. From these pits such an appalling stench was given off that scarcely anyone dared even to walk beside the cemeteries.” (pp. 138-139).
The plague was especially deadly, because of the widespread malnutrition and overpopulation that existed at the start of the 14th century. The Black Death also changed the economy of countries in ways that benefited labor and hurt landowners, contributing to subsequent class tensions that boiled over in the later years of the 14th century.
“But in the Middle Ages the plague was not only all-destroying, it was totally incomprehensible. Medieval man was equipped with no form of defense—social, medical, or psychological—against a violent epidemic of this magnitude.” (p. 5)
Ziegler gives countless examples of people reacting in irrational, counterproductive, and prejudicial ways—for instance, blaming and attacking hated outgroups. In one example, which contributed to the spread of the plague to Europe, people “used their giant catapults to lob over the walls the corpses of the victims in the hope that this would spread the disease within the city” (p. 3). One of the weirdest and most notable reactions was the rise of the Flagellant Movement, where people went from town to town beating themselves bloody (self-scourging) in public with knotted, spiked whips. In other more horrid cases, lepers were burned alive:
He also goes through the mass murder of Jews, explaining that the plague concentrated the “latent fear and hatred of Jews into one burning grievance” (pp. 81-82). Consequently, and despite the fact that they also suffered from the plague, Jews were falsely accused of poisoning wells, tortured into confessing, and then slaughtered in the many thousands (e.g., by being locked in their homes and burned alive). At least 350 massacres were documented.
“What was needed, therefore, was a suitable target for the indignation of the people, preferably a minority group, easily identifiable, already unpopular, widely scattered and lacking any powerful protector.” (p. 79)
Ziegler makes clear how awful the plague was as a disease and social/economic disrupter. It degraded and humiliated its victims, killing most within a week. Actually, it comprised three different forms of plague, each with different kill rates and timings: Bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic. The latter two types killed over 90% of victims and did so within two days. The plague tore apart families, subjecting fathers and mothers to their worst possible nightmare.
“Men and women carried their own children on their shoulders to the church and threw them into a common pit. From these pits such an appalling stench was given off that scarcely anyone dared even to walk beside the cemeteries.” (pp. 138-139).
The plague was especially deadly, because of the widespread malnutrition and overpopulation that existed at the start of the 14th century. The Black Death also changed the economy of countries in ways that benefited labor and hurt landowners, contributing to subsequent class tensions that boiled over in the later years of the 14th century.
November 19, 2014
Possibly the most readable account of the plague that ravaged Asia and Europe in the 14th century. The varied horrors described by Ziegler stand as the closest humanity has come to a real world apocalypse, the most remarkable feature of which was the fact that anything resembling a functioning society was left by the time it ended. As enlightening as it is frightening, and a valuable reminder that our tenure on this planet is not as permanent as we like to think it is.
December 31, 2015
*****3.5*****
I'm giving the extra half star for the quality of the book. It has a lot of great information in it, but reading it in a non scholarly way, I'm rating it on interest-holding, and only some parts/chapters held my interest. Others were more scholarly and filled with statistics, theses, and antitheses. The author's voice is sometimes light and "readable," but at other places, his voice is dry and boring.
The value in this book is certainly giving information. There's one chapter that really presents a portrait of life with the Black Death, and the last chapter about the mental effects of the Black Death is very well done, but most of the book is informative. This is what happened, this is how it happened, and here are tons and tons of numbers: estimated death rates, more probable death rates, money values before, during, and after the plague, rents, wages. Tons of numbers. (That was TONS if you didn't get that...).
I recommend this book to people seriously interested in the Black Death in a scholarly way. Ziegler will present you with theories and let you know which ones have more weight than others. He will make sure you know that most data concerning the Black Death are probable, not positive. He will make sure you get the full picture then tell you it may or may not really have looked like that. But he probably won't entertain you or hold your interest for long. For a more vivid, fluid, and interesting account of the Black Death, I recommend The Great Mortality, which includes fewer numbers and is told in a more entertaining voice. For research, read this one.
I'm giving the extra half star for the quality of the book. It has a lot of great information in it, but reading it in a non scholarly way, I'm rating it on interest-holding, and only some parts/chapters held my interest. Others were more scholarly and filled with statistics, theses, and antitheses. The author's voice is sometimes light and "readable," but at other places, his voice is dry and boring.
The value in this book is certainly giving information. There's one chapter that really presents a portrait of life with the Black Death, and the last chapter about the mental effects of the Black Death is very well done, but most of the book is informative. This is what happened, this is how it happened, and here are tons and tons of numbers: estimated death rates, more probable death rates, money values before, during, and after the plague, rents, wages. Tons of numbers. (That was TONS if you didn't get that...).
I recommend this book to people seriously interested in the Black Death in a scholarly way. Ziegler will present you with theories and let you know which ones have more weight than others. He will make sure you know that most data concerning the Black Death are probable, not positive. He will make sure you get the full picture then tell you it may or may not really have looked like that. But he probably won't entertain you or hold your interest for long. For a more vivid, fluid, and interesting account of the Black Death, I recommend The Great Mortality, which includes fewer numbers and is told in a more entertaining voice. For research, read this one.
February 5, 2018
The fascinating story of the origins of the bubonic plague epidemic that swept across Europe and the British Isles in the mid-14th century. Between a fourth to a half of the population is believed to have died as a result, with all kinds of consequences, social and economic and cultural. In our own time, it would be comparable to a nuclear war.
November 14, 2021
Narrow, superficial, disappointing
December 26, 2013
Exactly what it says on the tin... in the author's own words, this book contains almost no original work, and little new information. Instead, he's taken a huge body of specialized treatises on the subject and parsed them into an eminently-readable book that will appeal to anyone with an interest in the Middle Ages, human nature under adversity, and/or epidemiology.
Of particular interest were the first few chapters where he delves into the WHY of the plague. Not just where it came from (though this, too, is touched on) but why Europe was so ripe for the picking and why the disease promulgated so quickly in an era where news traveled no more swiftly than a horse.
The vocabulary can be a bit daunting for the uninitiated and the author's frequent use of foreign phrases is common for the type of work, but a trifle irritating for those of us that don't speak French, Italian, or Latin. Despite this, the prose is excellent and draws you into the story quickly and thoroughly. All in all, a most excellent book.
Of particular interest were the first few chapters where he delves into the WHY of the plague. Not just where it came from (though this, too, is touched on) but why Europe was so ripe for the picking and why the disease promulgated so quickly in an era where news traveled no more swiftly than a horse.
The vocabulary can be a bit daunting for the uninitiated and the author's frequent use of foreign phrases is common for the type of work, but a trifle irritating for those of us that don't speak French, Italian, or Latin. Despite this, the prose is excellent and draws you into the story quickly and thoroughly. All in all, a most excellent book.
July 19, 2020
This is a short informative summary of Black Death as a worldly pandemic throughout historical times. The author traces it back in time and accounts for its recurrence and spread. He includes not only how the infectious pandemonium spread but provides an explanation of the resultant changes in economy, religion, and lifestyle.
This is an interesting educational work that is certainly not provided in general educational curriculum, that I recall, but perhaps it should be, as it gives background for many ongoing historical issues beyond the pandemic itself.
This is an interesting educational work that is certainly not provided in general educational curriculum, that I recall, but perhaps it should be, as it gives background for many ongoing historical issues beyond the pandemic itself.
November 10, 2024
An overview of the plague between 1346 and 1351. It goes through differents parts of Europe gathering the most amount of information possible since there isn't that many registers of it. That's why is focuses on England, whith their administrative mindset there was a lot of writings about it, and extrapolates that information throughout the continent. It's very thorough and detailed, but it has wonderful moments of insight and emotion. The best conclusion that Ziegler does is when he says that the change to the Renaissance wasn't principally for the plague, but the amount of feudal burdens that the villeins had to endure and the Black Death was the pressure on the finger on the trigger which made Europe transform in the next decades. It's inevitably repetitive but Ziegler makes it entertaining. Apparently the theories for this period hasn't developed that much, so reading this book won't get you out of the loop if it's all you're gonna read about it.
The terrors of the Black Death drove man to seek a more intense, a more personal relationship with the God who thus scourged him, it led him out of the formal paths of establishment religion and, by only a short remove, tumbled him into the darkest pit of Satanism.
The terrors of the Black Death drove man to seek a more intense, a more personal relationship with the God who thus scourged him, it led him out of the formal paths of establishment religion and, by only a short remove, tumbled him into the darkest pit of Satanism.
March 4, 2020
Sooooooooooooooo boring, sooooooooooo dry
July 17, 2021
I was under several mistaken assumptions when I grabbed this book in a random attack of the munchies for plague-related knowledge: firstly, that it was a semi-current publication; secondly, that it would provide lots of epidemiological background; thirdly, that it would attempt a global perspective.
Instead, I got a 1969 publication that turned out to be mostly a historian's close focus on England during the Black Death (there are overview chapters on a few other European countries to begin with, but they are very short), with altogether too much information on livestock prices before and after 1348 and a puzzling presupposition of the reader's familiarity with medieval clerical terminology and the English manorial system, not to mention terms like villeinage, rodomontades and laic.
That isn't to say there wasn't a wealth of interesting information in this book (did I mention how much I know about the price of sheep in post-plague England now), it just wasn't quite the information I expected. (The publication year is on me, but I refuse to entirely assume responsibility for my other expectations when neither blurb nor title nor anything else mentions how incredibly specific this focus was, lol).
In his efforts to collect various historians' research on this period, the author also spends a lot of time arguing both sides of a position (the Black Death did cause massive economic upheaval but also it wasn't that bad; death rates were horrendous but also totally exaggerated, except all the numbers are just educated guesses anyway so who knows; moral decay was not as bad as reported, but also it totally was; etc. etc), which often ended up feeling a little futile.
I do wonder what this author - who writes with a certain wistful admiration about the English spirit during the Great War and the Blitz (the latter clearly somewhat recent in memory at the time he wrote this book), and ascribed English medieval peasants a certain stolid Carry On mentality that supposedly helped them cope with the plague better than mainland Europe - would think about current events and British policies, especially regarding certain pandemics. (I assumed he was dead but apparently he isn't, oops.)
Faulty assumptions aside, most of this was very readable, and if I ever end up time-travelling to England during the plague, Doomsday Book-style, at least I'll know that the price of chicken should stay stable and that I need to stay the hell out of the cesspit that is London.
Instead, I got a 1969 publication that turned out to be mostly a historian's close focus on England during the Black Death (there are overview chapters on a few other European countries to begin with, but they are very short), with altogether too much information on livestock prices before and after 1348 and a puzzling presupposition of the reader's familiarity with medieval clerical terminology and the English manorial system, not to mention terms like villeinage, rodomontades and laic.
That isn't to say there wasn't a wealth of interesting information in this book (did I mention how much I know about the price of sheep in post-plague England now), it just wasn't quite the information I expected. (The publication year is on me, but I refuse to entirely assume responsibility for my other expectations when neither blurb nor title nor anything else mentions how incredibly specific this focus was, lol).
In his efforts to collect various historians' research on this period, the author also spends a lot of time arguing both sides of a position (the Black Death did cause massive economic upheaval but also it wasn't that bad; death rates were horrendous but also totally exaggerated, except all the numbers are just educated guesses anyway so who knows; moral decay was not as bad as reported, but also it totally was; etc. etc), which often ended up feeling a little futile.
I do wonder what this author - who writes with a certain wistful admiration about the English spirit during the Great War and the Blitz (the latter clearly somewhat recent in memory at the time he wrote this book), and ascribed English medieval peasants a certain stolid Carry On mentality that supposedly helped them cope with the plague better than mainland Europe - would think about current events and British policies, especially regarding certain pandemics. (I assumed he was dead but apparently he isn't, oops.)
Faulty assumptions aside, most of this was very readable, and if I ever end up time-travelling to England during the plague, Doomsday Book-style, at least I'll know that the price of chicken should stay stable and that I need to stay the hell out of the cesspit that is London.
March 18, 2020
A fine collection of historical sources and tales regarding the Great Plague(s) of 1346-1352. The author reviews them through a modern lens and explains his interpretations along with evidence he's selected, without telling you how to think or seeming arrogant as he criticizes the reliability of the accounts. He does however make it clear that a majority of people recording at the time had hardly any understanding of how disease spreads or of its origins, which had various theories surrounding it from Almighty punishment, the works of supernatural forces to even sweeping clouds of gas, on top of their dubious record keeping abilities heightened by the chaos, all of which would greatly affect their work. Despite the aforementioned and thanks to Ziegler the reader can walk away from the book with a linear timeline and an intermediate understanding of the events from a relatively brief read.
I found it thoroughly enjoyable (albeit morbid) and I'm glad I picked it up before it became relevant again.
I found it thoroughly enjoyable (albeit morbid) and I'm glad I picked it up before it became relevant again.
September 28, 2020
Mr. Ziegler presents brings forth an informative book in The Black Death. Instead of placing focus on one point in time or one place, this book pushes a narrative of a full picture of at least one that can be viewed on such a vast topic.
I enjoyed the approach he took in his presentation as it was easy to understand the topics put forth without it being over the top or bland.
I strongly suggest this book be a starting place if you are interested in the Black Death and the time period. It is easy to understand as well as a great resource to branch out from if considering to delve deeper into the topic.
I enjoyed the approach he took in his presentation as it was easy to understand the topics put forth without it being over the top or bland.
I strongly suggest this book be a starting place if you are interested in the Black Death and the time period. It is easy to understand as well as a great resource to branch out from if considering to delve deeper into the topic.
June 29, 2025
This book was very informative and readable. I had read the book Plagues and Peoples which was a really good overview of all the plagues that had affected the world throughout history. This book by concentrating on just the Bubonic Plague gave a much more detailed coverage of this particular disease and how it affected the world of the 14th century. The other aspect of this book that I liked was its final chapters dealing with the aftermath of the plague. These chapters look at the social and economic consequences, how education, agriculture and architecture were affected and finally the effects that the plague had on the church and the minds of man. Overall á very interesting text, especially as I read after the COVID pandemic.
May 11, 2025
A very readable, informative and fascinating history of the Black Death within its historical and cultural context. A first rate introduction to a bleak epoch.
September 13, 2015
The Black Death by Philip Ziegler was first published in 1969. It's probably a bit out of date but it's still a good book for the general reader. It's a pretty standard text and starts with the origins of the plague, then covers the state of Medieval Europe then the spread of the plague across Europe as it heads towards Britain. Ziegler admits in the introduction that he has concentrated more on England in an attempt to confine the subject to a manageable length but I suspect it's also partly because he is English himself and he was writing predominately for an English audience.
The speed with which the Black Death spread across Europe is amazing (roughly from 1347 to 1350) and must have been truly shocking for everyone caught up in it. Not knowing the cause of the disease was another aspect of the terror it inflicted on the Medieval mind. The book got bogged down with statistics at times, debating whether the percentage that died in such-and-such a place was 25% or 27% and whether that could be extrapolated to the rest of the country or to the whole of Europe. Usually the answer the author gave was 'no, it couldn't' so it did seem a bit boring and pointless at times. However, the chapter on the Brotherhood of the Flagellants and the Persecution of the Jews was particularly interesting. The Flagellants travelled around Europe scourging themselves in towns and recruiting more members. The movement virtually died out once the plague was over. The Jews, along with lepers and Arabs in Spain were often made scapegoats for the disease, where they were accused of poisoning the wells of Christians or otherwise deliberately spreading the disease. Massacres followed which were often encouraged by the Flagellants. In England persecution of the Jews was almost nonexistent but only because Edward I had expelled most Jewish people in 1290. Meanwhile the Flagellants didn't seem to impress the English.
In one chapter Ziegler uses a narrative form to show how the plague may have spread through a typical English village. Although Ziegler admits that the academic historian would mistrust such an approach, I agree with the author when he states:
There are some contemporary written records of the plague and one that is quoted in this book I found particularly powerful and descriptive. It was written by a Welsh poet called Jeuan Gethin and was originally written in March or April 1349. The quoted passage came from a book by W. Rees on the Black Death in Wales:
The speed with which the Black Death spread across Europe is amazing (roughly from 1347 to 1350) and must have been truly shocking for everyone caught up in it. Not knowing the cause of the disease was another aspect of the terror it inflicted on the Medieval mind. The book got bogged down with statistics at times, debating whether the percentage that died in such-and-such a place was 25% or 27% and whether that could be extrapolated to the rest of the country or to the whole of Europe. Usually the answer the author gave was 'no, it couldn't' so it did seem a bit boring and pointless at times. However, the chapter on the Brotherhood of the Flagellants and the Persecution of the Jews was particularly interesting. The Flagellants travelled around Europe scourging themselves in towns and recruiting more members. The movement virtually died out once the plague was over. The Jews, along with lepers and Arabs in Spain were often made scapegoats for the disease, where they were accused of poisoning the wells of Christians or otherwise deliberately spreading the disease. Massacres followed which were often encouraged by the Flagellants. In England persecution of the Jews was almost nonexistent but only because Edward I had expelled most Jewish people in 1290. Meanwhile the Flagellants didn't seem to impress the English.
In one chapter Ziegler uses a narrative form to show how the plague may have spread through a typical English village. Although Ziegler admits that the academic historian would mistrust such an approach, I agree with the author when he states:
But if the effect of the Black Death is really to be understood then it must be studied at work in a small village community and some attempt be made to evoke the atmosphere which it created and which it left behind.So Ziegler uses 'imaginative reconstruction' to synthesise known details about different towns and villages to describe what might have happened to this fictional town called Blakwater that consists of about thirty families. It's certainly effective and is an approach that John Hatcher uses in a more recent book, The Black Death by John Hatcher only Hatcher uses a real village, Walsham in Suffolk, as his starting point. I'm looking forward to reading that book.
There are some contemporary written records of the plague and one that is quoted in this book I found particularly powerful and descriptive. It was written by a Welsh poet called Jeuan Gethin and was originally written in March or April 1349. The quoted passage came from a book by W. Rees on the Black Death in Wales:
We see death coming into our midst like black smoke, a plague which cuts off the young, a rootless phantom which has no mercy for fair countenance. Woe is me of the shilling in the arm-pit; it is seething, terrible, wherever it may come, a head that gives pain and causes a loud cry, a burden carried under the arms, a painful angry knob, a white lump. It is of the form of an apple, like the head of an onion, a small boil that spares no one. Great is its seething, like a burning cinder, a grievous thing of an ashy colour. It is an ugly eruption that comes with unseemly haste. They are similar to the seeds of the black peas, broken fragments of brittle sea-coal and crowds precede the end. It is a grievous ornament that breaks out in a rash. They are like a shower of peas, the early ornaments of black death, cinders of the peelings of the cockle weed, a mixed multitude, a black plague like halfpence, like berries. It is a grievous thing that they should be on a fair skin.In the end the plague killed about a third of the population of Europe; and there were further plagues to come in the fourteenth century, though none were as violent as the Black Death. The aftermath of the Black Death is covered as well and how it affected society and the church.
February 27, 2015
This book is getting on for fifty years old now, and I fear it's starting to show. As a single-volume, pan-European introduction to the Black Death of the fourteenth century it is still admirably worthy of praise, but the years do tell. Some of the language and attitude, some of the pro-English, almost imperialist asides, the Anglo-centric focus, all definitely date it. But as I said, it still has its place in the Plague literature - and the Anglo-centric focus is excusable given the embarrassment of riches this country possesses in the way of surviving medieval archives comparable to countries on the continent.
Philip Ziegler is a biographer, not a medievalist, as himself states from the outset - but for a non-historian, for the general interested reader, that is not necessarily a bad thing. Historians will look for facts and figures, statistical analysis, thematic breakdowns - the average reader prefers narrative and human interest. Luckily both are present here. Ziegler takes a relatively chronological approach, tracing the spread of the Black Death from its roots somewhere in Asia, through the Mediterranean and on into continental Europe, focusing particularly on Italy, Germany, France, and most particularly on England. In fact, once the chapters on the former countries are dealt with the rest of the book is exclusively on England; and the concluding chapters analysing how much of a role the Black Death played in the collapse of the feudal system and the Peasants Revolt makes no mention of the situation in Europe at all.
And that arguably is my main criticism of this book - but perhaps it is an unfair one. I recognise that England possesses a great wealth of medieval records, a result of our lack of invasion and disruption over the years and also a testament to the love of record-keeping and bureaucracy that clearly runs deep in our roots. But any book purporting to be a history of the Black Death, rather than a history of the Black Death in England, needs more than just a single chapter each on a handful of European countries and scarcely a page or two on Scotland, Wales and Ireland. So I'm not entirely sure, as good and as readable as it was, I could recommend this now, so many years on. It has been overtaken in the years since by other books with both a narrower, purely English focus, or a wider global approach.
Philip Ziegler is a biographer, not a medievalist, as himself states from the outset - but for a non-historian, for the general interested reader, that is not necessarily a bad thing. Historians will look for facts and figures, statistical analysis, thematic breakdowns - the average reader prefers narrative and human interest. Luckily both are present here. Ziegler takes a relatively chronological approach, tracing the spread of the Black Death from its roots somewhere in Asia, through the Mediterranean and on into continental Europe, focusing particularly on Italy, Germany, France, and most particularly on England. In fact, once the chapters on the former countries are dealt with the rest of the book is exclusively on England; and the concluding chapters analysing how much of a role the Black Death played in the collapse of the feudal system and the Peasants Revolt makes no mention of the situation in Europe at all.
And that arguably is my main criticism of this book - but perhaps it is an unfair one. I recognise that England possesses a great wealth of medieval records, a result of our lack of invasion and disruption over the years and also a testament to the love of record-keeping and bureaucracy that clearly runs deep in our roots. But any book purporting to be a history of the Black Death, rather than a history of the Black Death in England, needs more than just a single chapter each on a handful of European countries and scarcely a page or two on Scotland, Wales and Ireland. So I'm not entirely sure, as good and as readable as it was, I could recommend this now, so many years on. It has been overtaken in the years since by other books with both a narrower, purely English focus, or a wider global approach.
June 20, 2008
Ziegler compiled The Black Death in the late 60s from current and historical scholarly writing. As a comprehensive overview of the Bubonic Plague in Europe during the mid-14th century I think it works. As a read...
...the repetitivity the repetitivity of the first half of the the book iss tedious. That is to say, much is repeated in the course of the Black Plague and therefore, in saying as much in his book titled The Black Death, Ziegler (who wrote The Black Death in the 60s) repeats himself, albeit necessarily, by comprehensively covering the bubonic plague in Europe. The book becomes even more repetitive as it covers the plague in Great Britain - which takes up about a quarter of the the piece.
On the up and up I'd say that the last half of the book, those sections detailing or speculating (what more can a historian do after all?) on the impact of the plague on Europe were not so very tiresomely tedious in their tedious tiresome repetitiveness. They were actually quite interesting.
As an introduction to the plague this book is grand. As a read I'd suggest having your smelling salts handy.
...the repetitivity the repetitivity of the first half of the the book iss tedious. That is to say, much is repeated in the course of the Black Plague and therefore, in saying as much in his book titled The Black Death, Ziegler (who wrote The Black Death in the 60s) repeats himself, albeit necessarily, by comprehensively covering the bubonic plague in Europe. The book becomes even more repetitive as it covers the plague in Great Britain - which takes up about a quarter of the the piece.
On the up and up I'd say that the last half of the book, those sections detailing or speculating (what more can a historian do after all?) on the impact of the plague on Europe were not so very tiresomely tedious in their tedious tiresome repetitiveness. They were actually quite interesting.
As an introduction to the plague this book is grand. As a read I'd suggest having your smelling salts handy.
December 11, 2019
This is an excellent survey of an incredibly important but often overlooked aspect of the Middle Ages. Ziegler focuses primarily on how the plague affected Europe and especially England. He goes country by country following death's steady progress across the land. Sometimes he can get a bit dry, but he spices his statistical/historical account with random tidbits that are just great to read (like the one day priest, the guy dumping his sewage in his neighbors basement, medieval aphrodisiacs, etc) Overall, I enjoyed the book but if you aren't already interested in medieval history it is probably one you would want to pass on.
June 17, 2011
Excellent coverage of the plague and its various effects, both physical and mental. The ending chapters about how it affected the mindset of the medieval people were the highlight of the book, particularly the relationship with the church. The endless chapters about each separate area of England was a little tedious, though given the fact that England provides the best preserved records makes this understandable. The historical-fiction chapter about life in a village made me think of Willis' Domesday Book favorably.
October 1, 2024
I enjoyed this book on The Black Death, but it suffers a bit from dryness a little over halfway through. I enjoyed "The Great Mortality" better, the prose was more lively, but Mr. Ziegler's book is not short on detail or careful treatment of its subject. He focuses more on the plague in England though he does trace its path from Italy, France & Germany into England. His chapters on how the plague affected men's minds, his relationship to his Church, etc. were extra factual goodies that gave the subject a broader perspective.
April 15, 2010
What a great book. I would have given it four starts, but I could only take so much death! Ziegler tells a fascinating story of not only the cause and facts of the plague traveling through Europe, but he tells you so much about emotional impact of the plague as well. I picked this up after Bill Bryson mentioned he had been reading it while traveling through Europe. One more reason to love Bill Bryson!
June 4, 2016
Not great for students of history, but decent for someone with curiosity or needs a good jumping point to delve more into the Black Death.
February 21, 2022
Very informative, though it gets redundant at times. Author doesn’t like Christians much, it appears…
May 31, 2020
This is a scholarly account of the bubonic and pneumonic plague which ravaged Europe between 1348 and 1350. Most historians agree that 1/3 of the European population perished from it.
Ziegler does a great job explaining the socio-economic context in which the plague played itself out.
These were still feudal times, with Lords of the Manor and peasant-serfs (also called villeins in England), living in the countryside making up the majority of the population. Cities were still relatively small. The devastation in the countryside was therefore very significant.
The plague arrived from Asia via the silk road and the trading ships. It was propagated either by plague ridden rats on these ships or by infected sailors or by both.
Ziegler relates how the plague played itself out in the different countries and cities for which he could find sufficient data.
The course of the plague was very similar in Italy, France, Germany and England, since all of Europe shared similar socio-economic structures and belief systems.
All European countries were still ruled by the Pope and the Catholic Church. The common belief was that the plague was a punishment from God for the sins of the people.
The status of doctors was lower than that of priests.
The doctors had no scientific understanding of the illness. They believed the plague was caused by noxious fumes in the air that poisoned the blood. They practiced blood letting in the hope of cleaning the body of that poisonous blood.
The priests' remedy was to hold barefoot processions through towns and villages and to declare days of fast to placate the angry God.
Wealthy people made large donations to the Church as some sort of insurance policy against the wrath of God, and as per Ziegler, probably as an insurance against popular upheaval as well.
The plague was a catalyst for the revival of fanaticism among the people. A very popular group of fanatics was that of the "Flagellants". They held processions where they self-flagellated themselves with whips with nails attached at the end until blood was flowing on their backs.
The people also made up conspiracy theories about lepers and the Jews. They believed lepers wanted others to share in their misery and therefore were active in spreading the plague. Countless lepers were burned to death.
The Jews had always been disliked by Christians as "Christ killers" and now they were the perfect scapegoat to blame the plague on.
Ziegler relates that the fact that usury was the only trade that the authorities allowed Jews to practice in the Middle Ages resulted in Jews becoming known as money lenders and pawn brokers. This added to the hatred of those who owed money to them and the wish to get rid of them.
They were accused of poisoning the wells with plague-causing magic powders. The fact that the Jews fell prey to the plague just the same as their Christian neighbors, and maybe even more in their cramped ghettos, made no difference.
About two hundred and ten Jewish communities all over Europe were exterminated, mostly by burning the Jews alive.
Some preventive measures by the authorities did have an impact. For example, in Milan the authorities walled in any home where someone had fallen ill with the plague, including healthy family members and servants and let them asphyxiate and starve to death. Thus they were able to minimize the spread of the disease more than in other cities and towns.
Ziegler describes the absolutely unimaginable lack of hygiene in the medieval cities such as London.
There were open sewers in the streets, leading the sewage to the river. People used to throw their garbage out the window. This included the contents of their chamber pots. These conditions were undoubtedly a factor in propagating the plague.
Ziegler reminds us that the plague did not totally disappear from Europe until the 1700s, and that it regularly made a reappearance in the years after 1350, but never which such vehemence as what became known in history as the Black Death.
Ziegler concludes the book with a short analysis about the changes that the Black Death brought to Europe. It seems logical that a catastrophe of this magnitude had to shake the established societal norms. It could have laid the foundation for the future abolishment of feudalism and the birth of the reformation. Ziegler quotes historians who believe these changes would have happened anyway but that the Black Death accelerated them.
Ziegler does a great job explaining the socio-economic context in which the plague played itself out.
These were still feudal times, with Lords of the Manor and peasant-serfs (also called villeins in England), living in the countryside making up the majority of the population. Cities were still relatively small. The devastation in the countryside was therefore very significant.
The plague arrived from Asia via the silk road and the trading ships. It was propagated either by plague ridden rats on these ships or by infected sailors or by both.
Ziegler relates how the plague played itself out in the different countries and cities for which he could find sufficient data.
The course of the plague was very similar in Italy, France, Germany and England, since all of Europe shared similar socio-economic structures and belief systems.
All European countries were still ruled by the Pope and the Catholic Church. The common belief was that the plague was a punishment from God for the sins of the people.
The status of doctors was lower than that of priests.
The doctors had no scientific understanding of the illness. They believed the plague was caused by noxious fumes in the air that poisoned the blood. They practiced blood letting in the hope of cleaning the body of that poisonous blood.
The priests' remedy was to hold barefoot processions through towns and villages and to declare days of fast to placate the angry God.
Wealthy people made large donations to the Church as some sort of insurance policy against the wrath of God, and as per Ziegler, probably as an insurance against popular upheaval as well.
The plague was a catalyst for the revival of fanaticism among the people. A very popular group of fanatics was that of the "Flagellants". They held processions where they self-flagellated themselves with whips with nails attached at the end until blood was flowing on their backs.
The people also made up conspiracy theories about lepers and the Jews. They believed lepers wanted others to share in their misery and therefore were active in spreading the plague. Countless lepers were burned to death.
The Jews had always been disliked by Christians as "Christ killers" and now they were the perfect scapegoat to blame the plague on.
Ziegler relates that the fact that usury was the only trade that the authorities allowed Jews to practice in the Middle Ages resulted in Jews becoming known as money lenders and pawn brokers. This added to the hatred of those who owed money to them and the wish to get rid of them.
They were accused of poisoning the wells with plague-causing magic powders. The fact that the Jews fell prey to the plague just the same as their Christian neighbors, and maybe even more in their cramped ghettos, made no difference.
About two hundred and ten Jewish communities all over Europe were exterminated, mostly by burning the Jews alive.
Some preventive measures by the authorities did have an impact. For example, in Milan the authorities walled in any home where someone had fallen ill with the plague, including healthy family members and servants and let them asphyxiate and starve to death. Thus they were able to minimize the spread of the disease more than in other cities and towns.
Ziegler describes the absolutely unimaginable lack of hygiene in the medieval cities such as London.
There were open sewers in the streets, leading the sewage to the river. People used to throw their garbage out the window. This included the contents of their chamber pots. These conditions were undoubtedly a factor in propagating the plague.
Ziegler reminds us that the plague did not totally disappear from Europe until the 1700s, and that it regularly made a reappearance in the years after 1350, but never which such vehemence as what became known in history as the Black Death.
Ziegler concludes the book with a short analysis about the changes that the Black Death brought to Europe. It seems logical that a catastrophe of this magnitude had to shake the established societal norms. It could have laid the foundation for the future abolishment of feudalism and the birth of the reformation. Ziegler quotes historians who believe these changes would have happened anyway but that the Black Death accelerated them.
November 23, 2018
Philip Ziegler’s The Black Death is a pretty comprehensive, although not exhaustive, history of the Bubonic Plague that swept Europe from approximately 1348 to 1350. But it is a fascinating read. And considering the size of the subject, it isn’t too long.
I have sort of a morbid fascination with the plague, both in fictional and non-fictional accounts. This book, curiously, has both. It is intended primarily as a history of the time, but by way of illustrating the effect the plague had on the manor system in England at the time, the author includes a short fictional account of what might have happened on one manor during the plague years – sort of a composite of occurrences in several areas.
Mostly though, it is a straight history of the plague, with sources and footnotes and everything. The author also includes information on what is now known about the plague that was not known at the time.
There is a discussion of how the plague came to Europe from central Asia via the Crimean and the Black Sea, and how it was spread through the ports first. There is a discussion of the plague in Italy, in France, Spain, and Germany, and even mention of it being carried to the Scandinavian countries.
The most extensive discussion, though, is of the plague in England, possibly because more records remain there, or perhaps because they were easier to access. In any case, he once again discusses where the plague made its first appearances and how it spread inland, and how the death toll varied from one part of the country to another. There is also a discussion of how the plague changed the economy and the social structure in England at the time.
It appears that about a third of the population of England was carried off by this plague, although its severity varied from one part of the country to another.
There were some facts mentioned in this history that I had not encountered in other accounts of the plague. For example, I had previously read about two variations of the plague; the common Bubonic type and the somewhat rarer but almost always fatal Pneumonic plague. But this history mentions an apparent third type of plague – the Septicemic plague which, again, was almost always fatal, and which caused death in a day or less (as opposed to two days for the Pneumonic plague and about five days for the Bubonic plague).
There was also a discussion of the methods of transmitting the plague. Of course, there were the rats and their fleas, which we know about now but they didn’t at the time. I was surprised to learn that the plague is harbored only a certain type of rat and one, or maybe two, types of fleas. But in its home territory, there may be some other small mammals that can also harbor the plague virus.
I have sort of a morbid fascination with the plague, both in fictional and non-fictional accounts. This book, curiously, has both. It is intended primarily as a history of the time, but by way of illustrating the effect the plague had on the manor system in England at the time, the author includes a short fictional account of what might have happened on one manor during the plague years – sort of a composite of occurrences in several areas.
Mostly though, it is a straight history of the plague, with sources and footnotes and everything. The author also includes information on what is now known about the plague that was not known at the time.
There is a discussion of how the plague came to Europe from central Asia via the Crimean and the Black Sea, and how it was spread through the ports first. There is a discussion of the plague in Italy, in France, Spain, and Germany, and even mention of it being carried to the Scandinavian countries.
The most extensive discussion, though, is of the plague in England, possibly because more records remain there, or perhaps because they were easier to access. In any case, he once again discusses where the plague made its first appearances and how it spread inland, and how the death toll varied from one part of the country to another. There is also a discussion of how the plague changed the economy and the social structure in England at the time.
It appears that about a third of the population of England was carried off by this plague, although its severity varied from one part of the country to another.
There were some facts mentioned in this history that I had not encountered in other accounts of the plague. For example, I had previously read about two variations of the plague; the common Bubonic type and the somewhat rarer but almost always fatal Pneumonic plague. But this history mentions an apparent third type of plague – the Septicemic plague which, again, was almost always fatal, and which caused death in a day or less (as opposed to two days for the Pneumonic plague and about five days for the Bubonic plague).
There was also a discussion of the methods of transmitting the plague. Of course, there were the rats and their fleas, which we know about now but they didn’t at the time. I was surprised to learn that the plague is harbored only a certain type of rat and one, or maybe two, types of fleas. But in its home territory, there may be some other small mammals that can also harbor the plague virus.
August 4, 2019
This book charts the arrival and spread of the black death of the 14th century in Europe, and particularly England. This isn't a subject I really knew anything about, so I was coming in with a pretty blank slate. The book doesn't really cover the plague's origins in Asia other than to note that it probably arrived in Europe along trade routes into Italy, and spread throughout the continent from there.
It's a good overview book, pulling together academic research from multiple different sources, and synthesising an overview, pitched at the interested layman, rather than the academic world.
Possibly the most interesting notion that came out of the book for me was the psychological state of the population into which the plague spread. The idea that medieval man was conditioned to just accept what was happening as a punishment from God, and so didn't make any serious efforts to learning what caused it and steps to mitigate it. This is fascinating, and alien. Another reminder that the past really is another country.
Beyond that, I learned something about the Flagellants (who I'd never heard of) and the persecution of the Jews (not that Christian Europe needed any additional excuse for that) as well as the state of medicine during the period.
The least interesting part, for me, was the region by region description of how the plague spread across England (and, as I said, it is mostly England, with Wales, Ireland and Scotland getting one chapter between them - and even that is shared with the Welsh border counties in England). As Ziegler himself says, the pattern was fairly similar across the country, as it spread from county to county and region to region.
More interesting was the analysis towards the end, regarding the long-term consequences of the plague and the arguments for and against it being the catalyst for long-term political and economic changes across Europe.
I've come away feeling more informed about the period, which is the best case after reading a history book aimed at a general audience. Recommended as an historical overview of a grisly period.
It's a good overview book, pulling together academic research from multiple different sources, and synthesising an overview, pitched at the interested layman, rather than the academic world.
Possibly the most interesting notion that came out of the book for me was the psychological state of the population into which the plague spread. The idea that medieval man was conditioned to just accept what was happening as a punishment from God, and so didn't make any serious efforts to learning what caused it and steps to mitigate it. This is fascinating, and alien. Another reminder that the past really is another country.
Beyond that, I learned something about the Flagellants (who I'd never heard of) and the persecution of the Jews (not that Christian Europe needed any additional excuse for that) as well as the state of medicine during the period.
The least interesting part, for me, was the region by region description of how the plague spread across England (and, as I said, it is mostly England, with Wales, Ireland and Scotland getting one chapter between them - and even that is shared with the Welsh border counties in England). As Ziegler himself says, the pattern was fairly similar across the country, as it spread from county to county and region to region.
More interesting was the analysis towards the end, regarding the long-term consequences of the plague and the arguments for and against it being the catalyst for long-term political and economic changes across Europe.
I've come away feeling more informed about the period, which is the best case after reading a history book aimed at a general audience. Recommended as an historical overview of a grisly period.
February 22, 2021
Well, I finally got to the end of it. I appreciate the pain-staking time taken to compile the statistics, and that really, only the statistics from religious sects were available at the time, but it was a gruelling read, that I found repetitive. There was so much more going on at the time with the king forming the first parliament and trying to help the population, but the king is not even mentioned.
In 1349 Edward III wrote a letter to the Mayor of London asking that the streets should be cleaned as of old, where he complained that the streets and lanes of London were 'foul with human faeces, and the air of the city poisioned to the great danger of men passing, especially in this time of infectious disease'. On 18 June 1349 the Ordinance of Labourers was passed in an attempt to keep pay the same as pre-plague levels. In 1352 Parliament cited violations with wages at x2 and x3 pre plague levels. Stocks were ordered to be set up in every town for offenders.
Perhaps the best-known piece of legislation was the Statute of Labourers of 1351, which addressed the labour shortage problem caused by the Black Death. The statute fixed wages at their pre-plague level and checked peasant mobility by asserting that lords had first claim on their men's services. In spite of concerted efforts to uphold the statute, it eventually failed due to competition among landowners for labour.[76] The law has been described as an attempt "to legislate against the law of supply and demand", which made it doomed to fail.[77] Nevertheless, the labour shortage had created a community of interest between the smaller landowners of the House of Commons and the greater landowners of the House of Lords. The resulting measures angered the peasants, leading to the Peasants' Revolt of 1381.
Edward III transformed the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe. His fifty-year reign was the second-longest in medieval English history, and saw vital developments in legislation and government, in particular the evolution of the English Parliament, as well as the ravages of the Black Death.
In 1349 Edward III wrote a letter to the Mayor of London asking that the streets should be cleaned as of old, where he complained that the streets and lanes of London were 'foul with human faeces, and the air of the city poisioned to the great danger of men passing, especially in this time of infectious disease'. On 18 June 1349 the Ordinance of Labourers was passed in an attempt to keep pay the same as pre-plague levels. In 1352 Parliament cited violations with wages at x2 and x3 pre plague levels. Stocks were ordered to be set up in every town for offenders.
Perhaps the best-known piece of legislation was the Statute of Labourers of 1351, which addressed the labour shortage problem caused by the Black Death. The statute fixed wages at their pre-plague level and checked peasant mobility by asserting that lords had first claim on their men's services. In spite of concerted efforts to uphold the statute, it eventually failed due to competition among landowners for labour.[76] The law has been described as an attempt "to legislate against the law of supply and demand", which made it doomed to fail.[77] Nevertheless, the labour shortage had created a community of interest between the smaller landowners of the House of Commons and the greater landowners of the House of Lords. The resulting measures angered the peasants, leading to the Peasants' Revolt of 1381.
Edward III transformed the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe. His fifty-year reign was the second-longest in medieval English history, and saw vital developments in legislation and government, in particular the evolution of the English Parliament, as well as the ravages of the Black Death.
October 25, 2023
The first couple of chapters of this book had me enthralled: it was well written, full of analysis and focus ranging from the grand to the minute details. By the time I got halfway, I was quite tired of reading musings over what percentage of the populace died in each region and how many of the clergy, rich, poor were affected in relation to each other because, as the author states himself, the plague affected each region in much the same way and people tended to react to it in much the same way.
This repetition of information (or rather, the results of looking at the same data for each country), made me think the author 's approach in breaking down about 2/3 of the text into regional investisgtions was flawed.
The switch in chapter 13 to what was essentially historical fiction was really jarring and out of place. I've never seen this done in a history text before - that said, it was the most enjoyable chapter in the book. I couldn't help thinking though, that the author could have found more primary accounts to detail rather than crafting his own - of course, he wanted to focus on the rural villein and there are presumably few, if any, accounts from them, but it seemed it would have been more appropriate to use such primary accounts as there are.
I also thought the social/economic changes would have made a better final chapter than the one about the church as it had much more of a conclusion about it. Overall, it was an interesting read with a lot of good arguments and plenty of analysis. It is however a constant repetition of the same or similar information which becomes a bit dull after a while. One might have a better reading experience if they read only one or two of the region based chapters and then skipped forward.
I read the folio society print of the book which has a wonderful cover and secent sized print, although there is a misprint on the contents page.
This repetition of information (or rather, the results of looking at the same data for each country), made me think the author 's approach in breaking down about 2/3 of the text into regional investisgtions was flawed.
The switch in chapter 13 to what was essentially historical fiction was really jarring and out of place. I've never seen this done in a history text before - that said, it was the most enjoyable chapter in the book. I couldn't help thinking though, that the author could have found more primary accounts to detail rather than crafting his own - of course, he wanted to focus on the rural villein and there are presumably few, if any, accounts from them, but it seemed it would have been more appropriate to use such primary accounts as there are.
I also thought the social/economic changes would have made a better final chapter than the one about the church as it had much more of a conclusion about it. Overall, it was an interesting read with a lot of good arguments and plenty of analysis. It is however a constant repetition of the same or similar information which becomes a bit dull after a while. One might have a better reading experience if they read only one or two of the region based chapters and then skipped forward.
I read the folio society print of the book which has a wonderful cover and secent sized print, although there is a misprint on the contents page.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 161 reviews