01-28-2007, 03:46 PM
Quote:There was a plague in Italy in 543AD and Gregory of Tours writes about a plague which was in the Rhone Valley in 543 AD too.I stand corrected (I must say I already wondered about the lack of Justinian plagues). Any idea where in Italy?I'm not an expert on that, see.
I´ve since read about plagues in Gaul - how St. Gall saved the people of Clermont-Ferrand in Gaul from the disease in 543 (Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks IV, 5) and around 580, which may be a recurrent plague. Why did this one not hit the Anglo-Saxons? No trade with the Franks? I mean, this Justinian plague even travelled across the Persian Empire and on to China-how ccome there are people who claim with dry eyes that it did not reach the Anglo-Saxons?
The plague itself actually occured in all three forms: bubonic, pneumonic (also called pulmonary), and septicaemic, but clearly the bubonic form predominated. This means it would have been as deadly in northern areas as it was in southern ones.
Still, if the plague seems not to have spread much outside the region around the ports (as suggested by others here), maybe it did not hit the British that much either, as it did not hit the Goths and Franks very much? Maybe the Anglo-Saxons were also hit, but also not thát much?
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)