In five years, from 1347 to 1352, half of the European population disappeared. Swept away by the scourge of the black plague and its consequences. On this point, the written sources are in line with archaeology and genetics.
We are all survivors, wrote Professor at the Collège de France, Patrick Boucheron, in a remarkable book that questions everything we knew or thought we knew about this terrible epidemic wave. The historian and specialist in the Middle Ages questions everything. The way this story is told, the distance from the sources, the limits of archaeology and environmental sciences. But also, how all these contributions outline a different history from the clichés and preconceptions.
Numerous pogroms occurred. Despite its ravages, the black plague did not restructure European societies. Moments of panic were rare, but pogroms were numerous.
The major reservoir species were (and still are) marmots, which played an important role in subsequent outbreaks.
The origins of the black plague are to be sought in the East. Qinghai, north of the Tibetan plateau, is the likely region where the presence of the bacillus exploded. Issyk-Kul (in Kyrgyzstan), a convergence point for caravans from the steppes and Western merchants, is the epicenter of the epidemic, starting in 1338. And of course, often forgotten, this pandemic also affected the Middle East with a peak in Mecca in 1349.
The plague in its bubonic form was not the only to spread. Unknown episodes of pulmonary plague (100% fatal in three days) have been identified. We carry in our genes the memory of this epidemic, which favored individuals with supposedly identified resistance genes.
Without delving into the easy trap of embodying characters, the historian brings poetry into his ultra-sourced knowledge, and notably highlights the literary and pictorial works inherited from this plague, both previous and subsequent. This book’s strength is also in its demanding moments, being precise without being dry.
Black Plague, Patrick Boucheron, Seuil, 549 pages.
