Five plague stories
The arrival in Sicily, the pope behind the fire, the flagellants, the famine, and the dancers.
5 questions. Pick an answer to see the explanation. Share your result at the end.
At which Sicilian port did the Black Death first arrive in Europe in October 1347?
Twelve Genoese galleys arrived at Messina in October 1347 carrying sick and dying men. The port authorities ordered the ships back out to sea — too late. From Messina the pandemic spread across the Mediterranean within months.
How did Pope Clement VI survive the Black Death in plague-ridden Avignon?
On the prescription of his physician Guy de Chauliac, Clement VI spent the worst of the Avignon plague (spring 1348) confined to a chamber between two large fires. The smoke and heat were thought to drive away corrupted air; whether the regime worked or the imposed seclusion did is unrecoverable. He did not contract plague.
Which pope banned the flagellant movement during the Black Death?
Pope Clement VI banned the flagellant Brethren of the Cross in the bull *Inter sollicitudines* on 20 October 1349. The movement had become a parallel religious authority — preaching publicly, distributing forgiveness without clerical mediation, and increasingly anti-clerical and anti-Jewish in its public performances. Within six months of the bull the movement had been suppressed across most of Europe.
What weather event triggered the Great Famine of 1315–1322?
The English chronicler John Trokelowe recorded that the rain that began on Pentecost — 15 May 1315 — was 'wet beyond memory.' It continued through the summer, the wettest documented in northern Europe between approximately 800 and 1500. The grain crops failed across the affected region; the pattern repeated in 1316 and 1317. The Great Famine opened the Little Ice Age.
Who began the 1518 Strasbourg dancing plague?
In early July 1518, a woman named Frau Troffea stepped out of her house in Strasbourg and began dancing in the street. She did not stop for several days. Within a week, thirty-four others had joined her. By August, around four hundred people were dancing. The Strasbourg city council's official response was to build stages and hire musicians.