Rome
From EpiMedDat
In Rome, a total of 20 epidemic events are known so far. It is a capital and largest city of Italy in Italy. The coordinates are 41° 53' 0.00" N, 12° 29' 0.00" E.
Map of Rome
Table
| Disease | DateStart date of the disease. | SummarySummary of the disease event | OriginalOriginal text | TranslationEnglish translation of the text | ReferenceReference(s) to literature | Reference translationReference(s) to the translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1167-08-15-Rome | 14 August 1167 JL | The army of Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa suffers from an epidemic while being near Rome, interpreted as divine punishment for treatment of the Pope. | Sed Deus ab alto cuncta prospectans iniuriam summi regis genitrici eiusque vicario beato Petro illatam nequaquam tulit impune. Extimplo siquidem nebula quedam pestilens ac fetida totum pene exercitum attaminavit, primoque Coloniensem archiepiscopum compluresque episcoporum, duces ac quosque in exercitu prepotentes inficiens sine mora extinxit; eademque mortifera lues regem quasi vitabundum cum reliquiis recedentem prosecuta, nunc hos, nunc illos et illos diversis in locis miro divine ulcionis iudicio, cuique nigro quodam caractere inter scapulas apparente, exanimavit. | But God, looking down from on high, by no means allowed the injustice inflicted upon the blessed mother of the supreme king and his vicar, blessed Peter, to go unpunished. Immediately, indeed, a certain pestilent and foul mist contaminated almost the entire army, and it swiftly extinguished the Archbishop of Cologne and several bishops, leaders, and those powerful in the army, infecting them without delay; and this deadly plague, pursuing the king as if fleeing, relentlessly struck him with remnants, now here, now there, and those in various places, with a wondrous judgment of divine vengeance, with a certain black mark appearing between their shoulders, causing them to expire. | Template:Chronicon Sancti Petri 1899, p. 184 | Translation by Martin Bauch |
| 1191-00-00-Neapel 0002 | 1191 JL | After the coronation of Henry VI. he conquered all the land to Naples. The siege of Naples falled because a plague broke out among the soldiers and Henry and his wife Constance fell ill as well. Constance died shortly after that. (Actually she died only the 27th November 1198) | Come lo 'mperadore Arrigo conquistò il regno di Puglia Come il detto Arrigo fu coronato imperadore [1191], e isposata Gostanza imperadrice, onde ebbe in dota il reame di Cicilia e di Puglia con consentimento del papa e della Chiesa, e rendendone il censo usato, e già nato Federigo suo figliuolo, incontanente con sua oste e colla moglie n'andòe nel Regno, e vinse tutto il paese infino a la città di Napoli, ma que' di Napoli non si vollono arrendere, onde Arrigo vi puose l'assedio, e stettevi tre mesi. E nella detta oste fue tanta pestilenzia d'infermità e di mortalità, che 'l detto Arrigo e la moglie v'infermaro, e della sua gente vi morì la maggiore parte; onde per necessità si levò dal detto assedio con pochi quasi inn-isconfitta, e infermo tornò a Roma, e la 'mperadrice Gostanza per malatia presa ne l'oste poco appresso si morìo, e lasciò Federigo suo figliuolo piccolino in guardia e in tutela di santa Chiesa. […] | How the emperor Arrigo conquered the kingdom Puglia As the said Arrigo was crowned emperor [1191], and married empress Gostanza, so he had the kingdom of Sicily and Apulia as a dowry, with the consent of the pope and the Church, and making the fee used, and already Federigo his son was born, He went into the kingdom with his entourage and his wife and conquered the whole country as far as the city of Naples, but the people of Naples did not want to surrender, so Arrigo laid siege to it and stayed there for three months. In the camp there was such a plague of sickness and death that the said Arrigo and his wife fell ill, and most of his people died there; so that he had to leave the siege with a few almost unconquered, and he returned to Rome sick, and the empress Gostanza died a short time later of a disease caught in the camp, and left Federigo his young son in the custody of the Holy Church. | Giovanni Villani 1990,Vol. 1, p. 247. | Translation by DeepL |
| 1259-00-00-Bohemia | 1259 JL | Flagellants appear in Bohemia, go through the whole country and come into conflict with the established clergy. Many Bohemians (men and women) go with them. They are persecuted by the Roman Church. | Von gotes geburt her abe / czwelfhundirt gar / vnd dar nach nun vnd funfzcig iar; / Von den, di in der buz / gingin mit dez tufils gruz. / vnd der sel ein swer val / vndir einer neuwen tat / waz czu licht komen drat, / in dem vorgnantin iar / czu Behem quam fur war. / Do gingin blose leut / durch daz gancze lant wit, / di indecktin dy ruk / vf er cleins gluk / vnd slugin sich mit geisziln / den ruk voln kreiszil. / Si stracktin sich in daz kot, / vnd daz waz der sel tot. / Gotis dinst si smechtin, / di pristirschaf si echtin; / si sprachin: "Vnsir buzze ist der sel suzse / vnd beszir, wen vwir schrein." / Si hiszin laszin sin / gotis ampt vor nit, / und daz tetin dy lut. / Di bemisch herrin / sohin si von verrin / also durch daz lant gen. / Si sprachin zcu den: / "Wi turt er daz getun / an vnsir viszin iczun?" / Mit in gingin si bi nom / vnd slugin sich alsom. / Di frouwen in irn scharin / sach man alsam gebarin; / si tetin als di gouch / vnd geisiltin sich ouch. / Hettin si gewolt, / daz ez der sel frumen solt, / so soltin si ez bi tagin / czu buz intphangin habin / von den pristirn gelesin; / so wer ez der sel nucz gewesin. / Abir dy erstin nacktin / bosen vorsacz trachtin, / wan si slugin sich ser / vm den tufil Lucifer, / daz der gar vngenem / uf sinen stul widir quem. / Vnd do von in dysze mer / virnomen dy Romer, / si in aln czu stur / gabin ein buz mit dem fur / als andern keczern, / di si woltin mern. / Di keczir sint mit ganczir ger / des tufils diner, / vnd daz warn dy. / Dar vm offintin si / ir heilkeit misstetlich, / daz schied si von dem himilrich. | After the birth of God in the twelfhundred and fifty ninth year; of those who went in penitence with the salute of the devil. Doing their souls no good choice by this new deed that came to light in the named year in Bohemia. Naked people went through the whole land. They covered their backs with beatings by whips. They layed down in excrement and that was the death for their souls. They reviled the devine service and the clergy and they said: "Our penitence is the food of the soul and it is better than your shouting." They demanded the devine service to stop and the people did so. The Bohemian lords saw them go through the land from far and said: "How come they do this without our knowledge?" But they went with them and beated themselves. The flock of the women behaved likewise: they did the same and joined them. If they had wanted to help their souls they should have received the order of penitence by day and from the priests. But those nakeds had a bad scheme from the beginning: They beated themselves hard in order to bring the devil Lucifer back on his throne. When the Romans came to know of them, they let them atone by fire as they did with other heretics. The heretics are with their whole desire servants of the devil and so they were. Therein they advertised their failed holiness and this seperated them from the kingdom of heaven. | Di tutsch kronik von Behem lant, ed. Vlastimil Brom, Brno 2009, pp. 504-508 | Translation by Christian Oertel |
| 1276-07-00-Italy | July 1276 JL | Months of continuous rain destroys crops, famine feared; livestock dies, famine, disease and deaths in Rome and throughout Italy | Eodem tempore [1276] quasi per totum mensem Julij, Augusti, Septembris & Octobris Deus tantum pluit super terram in Italia, quod quasi omnes segetes de Plano guastatae sunt & perditae, & timetur multum de caristia temporis in Italia, & propter multas aquas quasi omnes boves & vaccae & oves & caprae mortuae sunt in Italia, & Romae, & in illis partibus magnae fames, infirmitates, & mortalitates hominum et personarum etiam fuerunt | Template:Giovanni Mussi 1730, p. 480 | Translation needed | |
| 1285-00-00-Parma | 1285 JL | Epidemics near Parma and Rome with many deaths. | De magna mortalitate hominum que in diversis partibus mundi fuit. Item, millesimo supraposito, in villa Pupilii, que est in episcopatu Parmensi, infra tres menses LXXX homines mortui sunt. Nam ista est regula generalis sive argumentum probatum, ut quotiens boum precedit mortalitas, totiens sequenti anno hominum mortalitas subsequatur. Et eodem millesimo in urbe Romana maxima fuit mortalitas et infirmitas, ita ut mitrati inter abbates et episcopos a Pascha usque ad Assumptionem beate Virginis sub papa Honorio quarto XXIIII morerentur. | About the great mortality of men which occurred in various parts of the world. Likewise, in the aforementioned year, in the village of Pupilii, which is in the diocese of Parma, within three months, eighty men died. For this is a general rule or proven argument, that as often as there is a mortality among cattle, so often in the following year there follows a mortality among men. And in the same year, there was a great mortality and sickness in the city of Rome, so that between Easter and the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, twenty-four mitred abbots and bishops died under Pope Honorius IV. | Salimbene De Adam 1966, p. 849 | Translation by Martin Bauch |
| 1348-00-00-Avignon01 | 1348 JL | Arivval of the Black Death in many cities and regions of Southern France and Italy and consequences like changing burial habits, collapsing social bonds and abandoned settlements. | Eodem anno (1348) in Avinione, Marsilia, Monte Pessulano, urbibus Provincie, immo per totam Provinciam, Vasconiam, Franciam per omnemque mediterranei maris oram usque in Ytaliam et per urbes Ytalie quam plurimas, puta Bononiam, Ravennam, Venetias, Januam, Pisas, Lucam, Romam, Neapolim, Messanam et urbes ceteras epydimia tam ingens, atrox et seva violenter incanduit, quod in nullo dispar sexu, in etate nulla dissimilis, masculos et feminas, senes et juvenes, plebem et nobiles, pauperes, divites et potentes, precipue tamen plebem et laycos generali fedaque tabe delevit. Interimque lues oborta populum conripuit et depopulata est, ut in plerisque locis ministri sepeliendorum funerum primum multitudine cadaverum gravarentur, post difficulter invenirentur, post non sufficerent, et tandem penitus non essent. Jam etiam magne domus et parve per totas urbes, immo et urbes quam plures vivis hominibus vacue remanserunt et mortuis plene. In urbibus et domibus et campis et locis aliis opes et possessiones copiosissime, sed nulli penitus possessores. Denique tam sevi tabescentium etiam sub tectis et in stratis suis cadaverum putores exalabant, quod non solum in urbibus ipsis vivendi, sed etiam ad ipsas terras et urbes appropinquandi per duo milia passuum non erat facultas hominibus, nis inficerentur, subito (p. 274) corriperentur, post triduum morerentur, et jam nec sepilrentur. Et, ut paucis expediam, tam ingens, tam pestifer ignis epydimalis conflagravit, ut non, quantum hominum in partibus illis absumpserit, sed quantum reliquerit, inquirendum videatur. Vir uxorem et uxor virum, mater filiam et illa matrem, pater filium et e converso, frater sororem et illa fratrum et sororem, et postremo quilibet quemlibet amicum tabescere incipientem contagionis timore reliquit. | In the same year (1348), in Avignon, Marseille, Montpellier, the cities of Provence, indeed throughout entire Provence, Gascony, France, along every coast of the Mediterranean Sea up to Italy, and through many cities of Italy, such as Bologna, Ravenna, Venice, Genoa, Pisa, Lucca, Rome, Naples, Messina, and countless other cities, an epidemic so immense, fierce, and cruelly violent broke out that it spared no one of any sex, age, neither male nor female, nor exempt from any age group, afflicting men and women, old and young, commoners and nobles, the poor, the rich, and the powerful, especially the common people and laypersons, with a general and foul contagion. Meanwhile, the plague that had arisen seized the people and laid waste to them, so that in many places those responsible for burying the dead were first overwhelmed by the multitude of corpses, then one struggled to find them, later there were insufficient of them, and finally they couldn't be found at all. Now, both large and small houses throughout the cities, indeed, even many cities, were left empty of living people and full of the dead. In the cities, houses, fields, and other places, riches and possessions were abundant, but there were no owners anywhere. Finally, such a severe contagion of those wasting away caused the stench of corpses to waft even under roofs and in their beds, such that not only was there no opportunity for people to live in the cities themselves, but even approaching the lands and cities within a distance of two miles was impossible for people, unless they got infected, suddenly seized (p. 274) and died after three days. They were no longer buried. And, to summarize briefly, such a great, such a deadly epidemic fire raged that it seems not only necessary to investigate how many people it consumed in those regions, but how many it left behind. A husband abandoned his wife, and a wife her husband; a mother her daughter, and she her mother; a father his son, and vice versa; a brother his sister, and she her brothers and sisters; and, finally, everyone abandoned anyone at the first sign of the disease's spreading out of fear of contagion. | Heinrich von Herford 1859, pp. 273-274. | Translation by Martin Bauch |
| 1349-02-20-Oslo | 20 February 1349 JL | Three canons in Oslo announce that Bothild Arnesdatter ceded 12 öresbol (landed property with the rental value of 12 öre per year) in Faluvold in Nes Parish in Romerike to her husband Olaf Peterssön in order to go on a pilgrimage to Rome. Peterssön in turn sold the estate to the newly built St Sebastian's Altar in St Halvards Church in Oslo | Ollum monnum þæim sæm þetta bref sea ædr hœyra senda Æirik Œystæins son Haluarder Biærnar son Arnulfuer Stæinars son korsbrœdr j Oslo q. g. ok sina kunnikt gerande at ver varom j hia j garde varom brœdranna a friadaghen nesta firir Mathios messo anno domini mo. ccco. xlo. nono saam ok hœyrdom at Bottilder Arna dotter gaf ok afhendi Olafue Peters syni husbonda sinum xii aura boll j Faluuælli er ligger auster medr aani j Ness sokn medr ollum lunnindum sæm till liggia eder leget hafua fra forno ok nyu vttan gardz ok innan honom till Rumfærdar ok samstundis seldi fyrnemfder Olafuer medr ja ok handarbande altare hins hælgha Sebastiani er nybygt er j kirkiu hins hælga Haluardz j hender æreleghs manz sira Gyrdz Asla sonar sambrodor vars firir half fimtu mark ræidu gangs penigha huart œyris boll medr samþykt skylrikz manz Þronda Kraka sonar logmanz j kononghs garde er settir ero ok samþyktir ok lystir vmbods men vm þa almoso ok salo hialper sæm gefner ero ok gefuazdz kan till fyrnemfdz sancti Sebastiani altares honom at hagnyta ok till nytsæmdar venda sæm þæir sia firir gudi at haglaste se. jattade ok en Botilder medr handarbande ef fyrnemfd jord Falu uoller verder æighi friollss æder j nokorom lutt amaghæt skall oftnæmft altare æigha xii aura boll j Folmo er ligger j samre sokn medr ollum foruord ok skilmala sæm seghir ok till sannynda þessa þæira kaups ok vare hiauero settum vær var insigli firir þetta bref er gort var deghi are ok stad sæm fyr seghir. | DN II, no. 298. In: Chr. C. A. Lange, C. R. Unger: Diplomatarium Norvegicum. Vol. 2. Christiania 1851, p. 246 | Translation by Carina Damm | |
| 1350-00-00-Denmark 002 | 1350 JL | Black Death around the world. Jubilee year and indulgence in Rome | Annus jubileus fuit et magne indulgencie in Roma, remissio videlicet omnium peccatorum. Item maxima epidemia toto illo anno fuit per totum mundum | It was a jubilee year and a great indulgence in Rome, namely the remission of all sins. Also, there was a great epidemic throughout the whole world that year. | Annales Scanici Sialandie. In: Ellen Jørgensen: Annales Danici medii ævi. København 1920, p. 189 | Translation by Carina Damm |
| 1350-00-00-Rome | 25 December 1350 JL | Great mortality still in many parts of Europe, meanwhile high numbers of pilgrims went to Rome because of the Holy Year. | Nelli anni di Cristo della sua Natività MCCCL, il dì di Natale, cominciò la santa indulgenzia a tutti coloro che andarono in pellegrinaggio a Roma, faccendo le vicitazioni ordinate per la santa Chiesa alla bassilica di Santo Piero e di San Giovanni i lLaterano e di Santo Paolo fuori di Roma: al quale perdono uomini e femine d'ogni stato e dignità concorse di Cristiani, maravigliosa e incredibile moltitudine, essendo di poco tempo inanzi stata la generale mortalità, e ancora essendo in diverse parti d'Europia tra' fedeli cristiani […] | In the years of Christ of his Nativity 1350, on Christmas Day, the holy indulgence began for all who went on pilgrimage to Rome and made the visits ordered by the holy Church to the Basilica of St Peter and St John Lateran and St Paul Outside the Walls of Rome: to this indulgence men and women of every rank and station flocked in marvellous and incredible multitudes, although shortly before that general mortality had prevailed and still prevailed in various parts of Europe among believing Christians [...]. | Template:Matteo Villani 1995, p. 108. | Translation by ChatGPT-3.5; Translation by DeepL; |
| 1350-00-00-Rome-Bohemia | 1350 JL | The Plague took place in Bohemia and many who fled to Rome (jubilee year) to escape it died there or on the way. | Anno Domini MCCCL in pluribus terris epydimia sive pestilencia genus humanum devastavit, sed tunc in Boemia eciam locum habebat, quam ob rem multi effugere volentes Romam iter arripuerunt et tamen ipsam non evaserunt. Unde de iis idem potest dici versus: Incidit in Cillam volens vitare Caribdim. Verumtamen securius et melius fuit eis ad animarum salutem in peregrinacione decedere, quam in propria patria in periculis manere. Et quia iste annus erat annus gracie et iubileus, multi Romam transeuntes pro indulgencia et gracia obtinenda de hac vita migraverunt: quidam in urbe Romana, quidam vero ab ipsa recedentes, quidam ad eandem accedentes. | In the year of our Lord 1350, in many lands, an epidemic or plague devastated the human race, and at that time it also took place in Bohemia, for which reason many desiring to escape undertook a journey to Rome, yet they did not escape it. Hence concerning them the same thing can be said as the verse: "He fell into Scylla wishing to avoid Charybdis." However, it was safer and better for them to depart on a pilgrimage for the salvation of souls than to remain in their own country in danger. And because this year was a year of grace and jubilee, many passing through Rome for the sake of obtaining indulgence and grace migrated from this life: some within the city of Rome, some coming from there, some approaching it. | Francis of Prague, Chronicon Francisci Pragensi, ed. Jana Zachová, Prague 1997, p. 212. | None |
| 1350-00-00-Rome-Bohemia-2 | 1350 JL | Jubilee year in Rome. A grave pestilence happened in all lands. Everybody wanted to evade the plague and receive indulgence in Rome but many died on the way or in the Holy City. | Iste fuit annus gracie et iublileus in Romana, unde per totum hunc annum fuit maximus concursus illuc hominum ex omnibus mundi partibus pro gracia et indulgencia obtinendis. Et quia pestilencia erat gravissima in omnibus terris, omnes volentes penitere et mortem effugere, illuc properabant. Multi eundo et redeundo et ibi morando mortui sunt. | In this year there was celebrated a Jubilee year of grace in Rome and throught the whole year, a great number of people from all parts of the world travelled there to receive grace and indulgence. And since the plague was most grave in all lands everybody hurried to do penance and avoid the death. Many died on the way to and from [Rome] and while staying there. | Beneš Krabice of Weitmil, Cronica ecclesie Pragensis, in: Fontes rerum Bohemicarum, vol. IV, ed. Emler (1884), pp. 457-548, 520 | Translation by Christian Oertel |
| 1369-08-00-Bohemia | August 1369 JL | After having been crowned empress in Rome earlier this year, Elisabeth (of Pomerania) returns to Prague on August 20 where she is ceremonially received. Because there is pestilence in Bohemia, the emperor, Charles IV, returns after the celebration to Lombardy. The pestilence raged during the whole year and with the greatest intensity in the regions towards Austria. | Eodem anno die XX mensis Augusti domina Elizabeth, Romanorum imperatrix, hoc anno, ut supra dicitur, Rome per manus domini pape coronata, Pragam venit et cum omni solempnitate a clero et populo in civitate et ecclesia Pragensi suscipitur. Imperator vero, quia pestilencia erat in Bohemia, postquam reversus est de Lombardia. [...] Eodem anno, ut supra meminimus, permitente Deo propter peccata populi fuit maxima pestilencia in Boemia, et precipue in plaga illa versus Austriam, et duravit per annum integrum. Et cum appropinquaret Pragam et ibidem incepisset eciam invalescere, indicte sunt processiones et ieiunia, et placatus est dominus Deus paciens et multum misericors, et cessavit continuo pestilenciam. | In this year at the 20th day of the month of August, Lady Elizabeth, empress of the Romans, who in this year, as said above, had been crowned in Rome by the hands of the pope, returned to Prague and was received with all solemnity by the clergy and the people in the city and in the church of Prague. The emperor, however, because there was a pestilence in Bohemia, had returned to Lombardy afterwards. [...] In the same year, as mentioned above, by God's permission due to the sins of the people, there was a great pestilence in Bohemia, especially in that region towards Austria, and it lasted for a whole year. And when it approached Prague and began to intensify there, processions and fasts were instituted, and the Lord God, patient and very merciful, was appeased, and the pestilence ceased immediately. | Beneš Krabice of Weitmil, Cronica ecclesie Pragensis, in: Fontes rerum Bohemicarum, vol. IV, ed. Emler (1884), pp. 457-548, 539f. | Translation by Christian Oertel |
| 1383-00-00-Rome | 1383 JL | Plague in Rome which led among other things to the flight of the pope Urban to the city Tivoli. | 835. In deme jare Cristi 1383 do toch van Rome paves Urbanus mit sinen cardinalen to Neapolis; dar bles he langhe tiid, unde en dachhte nicht wedder to Rome to komende dorch groter bedwengnisse willen unde not, de he let to Rome. he sprak, dat he wolde theen ute der pestilencie, de do grot was to Rome. he toch in de stad Tiburtin mit (p. 578) der Prignisse. | 835. In the year of Christ 1383, Pope Urban, along with his cardinals, left Rome for Naples; there he stayed for a long time and did not plan to return to Rome because of the great hardships and troubles he had left behind there. He said that he wanted to escape the plague, which was then widespread in Rome. He withdrew to the city of Tibur (Tivoli) with the Curia. | Detmar's Croneke van Lubeke 1884/99, Vol. 1, pp. 577-578. | Translation by ChatGPT-3.5 |
| 1390-00-00-Wallonia-Rom | 1390 JL | Great mortality in Rome, in Metz and in Liège. | In diebus illis fuit magna mortalitas hominum Rome et eciam Metis, specialiter supra Leodium. Dominus enim papa propter brevitatem vite humanae reduxerat quinquagesimum annum indulgenciarum ad XXXIII annos. Unde propter indulgencias multi peregrini et clerici hoc anno iruerunt Romam. Et nescio si ex corruptione aeris vel occulto Dei judicio propter multitudinem populi illuc convenientis fuit tunc tempus ibi carum in victualibus specialiter in pane, et magna mortalitas hominum ita quod plusquam CCC milia hominum ibi obierunt, ut famabatur. Ymmo etiam dominus papa Bonifacius fuit percussus illa infirmitate, sed per misericordiam Dei evasit et fugit usque Griet. | At that time, there was a great mortality in Rome, in Metz and especially in Liege. Understanding to the brevity of human life, the Pope reduced the jubilee cycle from 50 years to 33 years. Because of this new indulgences, many pilgrims and clerics went to Rome. And, I do not know if this happened because of a corrupted air or because of a secret divine judgment, but because of the multitude of pilgrims the price of food, especially bread, increased a lot. There was also a great mortality, so that it is said that 300,000 people died. Even Pope Boniface was affected by this disease, but thanks to God he escaped. | La chronique liégeoise de 1402, p. 417 | Translation by Thomas Labbé |
| 1400-04-00-Florence | April 1400 JL | A terrible plague came to Florence and many people died; in June there were more than 200 corpses a day. The citizens fled to the countryside and Bologna and Arezzo after the feast of Johan Baptist (24 June), but many people died there too. In other cities such as Rome, Naples, Pisa or Lucca, the mortality rate was just as high. In Florence, they had to reorganise because so many people had left. | Capitolo IV. — Come grande mortalità fu in Firenze e altrove questo anno. In questo anno fu in Firenze grande mortalità e cominciò del mese d'aprile, come che prima s'era veduti segnali pestilenziosi assai; però che quelli che morivano, tutti aveano aposteme velenose e pestilenziose, e grande paura n'aveano i cittadini. Poi seguitò di maggiore malizia, però che ne moriano per di cento, tutti d'aposteme; e poi di giugno seguitò maggiore però che erano per di nella città dugento corpi e' più; e poi di luglio molto maggiore, e durò insino a settembre troppo grande nella città; e ancora nel contado di Firenze fu maggiore che nella città, però che in molti popoli morirono la metà delle persone che v'erano e in alquanti molti più che la metà; e molti cittadini ch'erano fuggiti in contado morirono; e fu questo grande numero; e molte castella rimasono mezzo vòte e molte famiglie disfece. E come fu fatta la festa di santo Giovanni, grande numero di buoni cittadini si fuggirono fuori della città e andaronne colle loro famiglie nel contado di Firenze in più ville e castella; e ancora n'andarono assai a Bologna, e molti ve ne moriro nondimeno; e chi andò ad Arezzo e anche assai ve ne morí; e cosí dove n'andarono ne morí in ogni luogo che fu in tutte le terre di Toscana. Era ancora la detta mortalità nel detto tempo grandissima a Roma, che fu tal di che volle settecento o ottocento corpi morti; ma la maggior parte romei ; e ancora fu la detta mortalità in molte terre d'Italia in questo tempo, dove grande e dove minore, però che allora n'era dove a Pisa, a Lucca, a Perugia e a Napoli e in tutto il paese; e ancora era in Lombardia dove grande e dove grandissima in molte città la detta mortalità. Li Fiorentini, veggendo la città vòta di buoni e ricchi cittadini, diliberarono di soldare insino in secento provigianati a guardia de la città e infino in settecento e cinquanta lance di soldati tra per di fuori e per dentro, e cosí feciono ; e aveano allora al soldo mille trecento soldati di fanti. E cosi perché li cittadini s'erano partiti, fu ordinata la città e 'l contado e distretto loro. | Chapter IV - On the great mortality in Florence and elsewhere this year. This year there (1400)was a great mortality in Florence, which began in the month of April, although numerous plague-like signs were already visible beforehand. For the deceased all had poisonous and pestilential boils, and the citizens were greatly afraid of them. Then a greater malice followed, for a hundred people died every day, all from boils. And then in June it increased so that there were two hundred or more corpses a day in the city. And then in July it was even worse and continued on a very large scale in the city until September. It was also worse in the countryside around Florence than in the city, because in many villages half the population died and in some even more than half; many citizens who had fled to the countryside also died. It was a large number, and many places were left half empty, and many families were destroyed. After the feast of St John had been celebrated, many good citizens fled the city and went with their families to various villages and castles on the countryside surrounding Florence. Many also went to Bologna, and many died there anyway; some went to Arezzo, and many died there too. Wherever they went, people died everywhere in all areas of Tuscany. At that time, mortality was also very high in Rome, and there were days when there were seven hundred or eight hundred deaths, but most of them were Romans. Mortality was also high in many other Italian cities at this time, sometimes more, sometimes less, for example in Pisa, Lucca, Perugia and Naples, as well as throughout the country. In Lombardy, too, mortality was high to very high in many cities. The Florentines, seeing that the city was emptied of good and rich citizens, decided to pay up to six hundred guards for the defence of the city and up to seven hundred and fifty lances of soldiers both inside and outside, and so they did.They had a thousand and three hundred foot soldiers in their pay at the time. So the city and its environs and district were organised because the citizens had left. | Anonymus: Cronica volgare 1915, p. 250. | Translation by ChatGPT-3.5; Translation by DeepL; |
| 1438-11-28-Rome | 28 November 1438 JL | A number of German priests flees the Roman curia because of a ravaging plague | Arnoldus Cuper Arnoldus (Arnaldus) Cuper (Cupere) (de Embrica) et Nicolaus Vighe cler. Colon. dioc., Johannes Dorenborch al. Muleken cler. Monast. dioc., Ruthgerus Kock cler. Colon. dioc., Borchardus Truytelaet cler. Hildesem. dioc., Engelbertus de Marcka cler. Leod. dioc., Mathias Veyt cler. Eistet. dioc., Albertus Gertener cler. Magunt. dioc., Petrus Doenen cler. Magunt. dioc., Adrianus Martini de Breda cler. Leod. dioc., famm. D[ominici de Capranica] s. Marie in via lata diac. card., qui propter pestem a R. cur. ultra term. se absentaverunt | Arnoldus Cuper (de Embrica), and Nicolaus Vighe, clerics of the Diocese of Cologne; Johannes Dorenborch, also known as Muleken, cleric of the Diocese of Münster; Ruthgerus Kock, cleric of the Diocese of Cologne; Borchardus Truytelaet, cleric of the Diocese of Hildesheim; Engelbertus de Marcka, cleric of the Diocese of Liège; Mathias Veyt, cleric of the Diocese of Eichstätt; Albertus Gertener, cleric of the Diocese of Mainz; Petrus Doenen, cleric of the Diocese of Mainz; Adrianus Martini de Breda, cleric of the Diocese of Liège; familiares of Domenico de Capranica, cardinal of S. Maria in Via Lata, have been absent beyond the established term from the Roman Curia due to the plague. | RG Online, RG V 00478, URL: Repertorium Germanicum Online | Translation by Martin Bauch |
| 1448-00-00-Florence | 1448 JL | The plague raged in Florence. Many people fled to other cities. The plague spread to Rome. The passages talks also about the social responses, for instance that people avoided the contact to the infected, even if they were their relatives. | Interea anno Domini MCCCCXLVIII, pestis invadere cepit Florentiam et per biennium civitatem infectem tenuit, que tamen quasi erat evacuata, non solum maioribus et divitibus, sed et plebeis et pauperibus ex urbe egredientibus et per villas et castra refugientibus. Diutina quidem fuit, sed lenta et paucos de medio subtraxit, sicque morbus ille contagiosus a MCCCC anno, quo grassatus est ita ut prope tertiam partem viventium absumeret, usque ad MCCCCLVII, in quo sumus peste a Domino visitati iam per menses quatuor, septies Florentiam occupaverit, videlicet anno MCCCCXI, anno supra Millesimum CCCCXXXVIII demum, ut dictum est, anno MCCCCXLVIII et VIIII civitas Florentina ea contagione infecta est: que cum postea urbem romanam attigisset, in qua presulabatur Nicolaus V cum curia sua, [p. 83] Fabrianum se contulit. Ubi tunc facta inquisitione et processu contra quosdam hereticos, infectos lepra erroris Fraticellorum, qui ibi diu habuerant magnum receptaculum et favorem, obstinati in sua perfidia igni traditi sunt, miracula consueta ostendentes pulveris et cineris. In anno autem isto LVII supra CCCC, pauci adhuc de hac luce subtracti sunt, necdum cessavit; quid autem in futurum erit, novit Deus. Nunquam autem apparet tantum exterruisse homines talis contagio morbi ut nunc, ita quod parentes filiorum et filii parentum obliviscantur infectorum et cum difficultate reperiantur qui necessaria eis administrent tam corpori quam anime, vel procurent ut sacramenta et ecclesiasticam sepulturam habeant. Quamvis autem nulla sit lege prohibitum ad loca divertere ab infectione libera, ex quo morbus est valde contagiosus (ut quotidiana docet experientia), ac eciam conversationem domesticam et locutionem cum infectis et venientibus a locis infectis [effugere] nisi cura animarum eis immineat, quos de necessitate salutis sue oportet per se vel alium idoneum sacramenta ministrare quantumcunque infectis, tantum tamen abhorrere infectos ut necessaria subtrahantur est contra omnem caritatem, humanitatem et xpistianam pietatem. Itaque etsi humane prudentia est et de ratione medicine vitare infectos, tamen contra dilectionem et xpistianam pietatem est subtrahere infectis necessiara seu non ministrare anime et corpori et ita abhorrere eis ministrantes sacramenta et corpori necessaria ut habeantur tanquam ethnici et publicani nec audiantur eorum misse et officia nec patiantur sacerdotes ire ad infirmos, in quo nullo modo debent eis assentire. Communitas autem pie et caritative providit infirmis ex eo morbo illo tempore scilicet anno domini MCCCCXLVIII et nono pestis. Nam tria milia florenorum statuit assignanda archiepiscopo civitatis certo tempore, modo et forma, ut infectis provideretur. Unde quidam optimi iuvenes per civitatem discurrebant, querendo infectos et dando pullos, confectiones et alia necessaria. | Meanwhile, in the year of our Lord 1448, the plague began to invade Florence and for two years it kept the city infected. The city was almost emptied, not only by the departure of the wealthy and nobles but also by the common people and the poor, who fled from the city to villages and towns. It was indeed prolonged, but slow, and removed only a few people. That contagious disease, which had ravaged since the year 1400, when it nearly consumed a third of the living, until 1457 (the year we are currently in), struck Florence seven times: in 1401, again in 1438, and finally, as mentioned, in 1448 and 1449, when the city of Florence was infected by this contagion. When it later reached the city of Rome, where Pope Nicholas V resided with his court, he withdrew to Fabriano. There, an inquiry and trial were conducted against certain heretics infected with the leprosy of the Fraticelli error, who had long found a haven and favor there. Persisting in their stubborn wickedness, they were handed over to the flames, displaying the usual miracles of ashes and dust. However, in this year 1457, few have been taken from this life, and the plague has not yet ceased. What will happen in the future, God knows. Never before has such a contagious disease so greatly terrified people as it does now, so much so that parents forget their children and children forget their parents when they are infected, and it is difficult to find anyone willing to provide them with the necessities for both body and soul, or to ensure they receive the sacraments and Christian burial. Although there is no law prohibiting people from fleeing to places free from infection, since the disease is highly contagious (as daily experience shows), and it is prudent to avoid domestic interactions and conversations with the infected or those coming from infected areas—except when the care of souls is at stake and they must, for the sake of their own salvation, administer the sacraments either in person or through a suitable intermediary to those infected—it is nonetheless against all charity, humanity, and Christian compassion to withhold necessities from the infected or refuse to minister to their bodies and souls, treating them as outcasts and pagans. It is wrong not to hear their masses and services or allow priests to go to the sick, and no one should agree to such practices. However, the community provided for the sick with piety and charity during this outbreak in the year 1448 and the ninth plague. Indeed, 3,000 florins were allocated to the archbishop of the city at a specific time, in a particular manner, and form, to provide for the infected. As a result, certain noble youths went around the city, seeking out the infected and giving them chickens, remedies, and other necessities. | Antoninus of Florence: Chronicon sive summa historialis 1913, p. 82-83. | Translation by ChatGPT-3.5 |
| 1450-00-00-Rome | 1450 JL | Jubilee year and grave pestilence in Rome | Anno Domini mcdl°. Fuit Rome annus iubileus et magna pestilencia. | The year of our Lord 1450. In Rome there was jubilee year and a great pestilence. | Claes Gejrot: Vadstenadiariet. Latinsk text med översättning och kommentar. Stockholm 1996, p. 262 | Translation by Carina Damm |
| 1465-12-13-Finland | 13 December 1465 JL | Plague death of a laymen in the diocese of Turku in 1465 and penitential issued in Rome on 12 December 1465. Unsatisfied with the layman’s work, the Dominican friar Henricus Bella from the diocese of Turku had once assaulted the later plague victim who had been responsible for the maintenance of the organ bellows. After having received five blows with a stick on the back, the layman was struck down three days later with a pestilent abscess in his left armpit. Considering the absence of bruises after the blows and a plague wave in Southern Finland at that time, it was considered that the layman had died because of the inflamed abscess and not from the priest’s ill-treatment. | Tertio vero die sub assella sinistra dictus laicus apostemate pestilentiali fuit percussus. Cum pestis ibidem vigerit et super verberibus baculi huiusmodi nichil lesionis rubei sive lividi per examinem deputatum extitit eventum sed ex inflatione dicti apostematis ingressus est viam carnis universe. | On the third day, the said layman was struck with a pestilential abscess under the left armpit. With the pestilence raging there, and upon the whippings of the staff, no red or bruised lesion of this kind was found, as was determined by the examination. Rather, from the inflation of the said abscess, it had entered the way of the flesh. | Sara Risberg, Kirsi Salonen, and Riksarkivet. Auctoritate Papae: The Church Province of Uppsala and the Apostolic Penitentiary 1410-1526. Acta Pontificum Suecica 2. Stockholm 2008, p. 116. | Translation by Carina Damm |
| 1486-08-05-Sweden | 5 August 1486 JL | The Swedish laymen Magnus “Pigerii” (perhaps Birgersson), the servant of the knight Åke from the diocese of Strängnäs, dies of the plague in 1486 in Åkerö. Earlier, Magnus had been attacking Nicolaus Finvidi, a cleric from the diocese of Linköping in Kalmar who, in order to defend himself, had thrown a stone at Magnus. Even though Magnus confirmed on his deathbed Nicolaus’ innocence, Magnus’ relatives obtained that Nicolaus was summoned to appear in court. This penitential issued in Rome in 1486 by regent Julianus, bishop of Bertinoro, refers the case to the local bishop and authorizes him to declare Nicolaus innocent. | Et deinde post aliquot septimanas, antequam ex peste epidemica ibidem tactus nature sue debitum persolvisset, denuo in ultimis suis similiter inquisitus dictum exponentem illius mortis causam minime fuisse neque esse dixit et excusavit. | And then after some weeks, before he had paid his debt by nature, touched there by an epidemic pestilence, again, in his last words, he [= Magnus] was similarly investigated and said that there was no reason for that death, and he apologized. | Sara Risberg, Kirsi Salonen, and Riksarkivet. Auctoritate Papae: The Church Province of Uppsala and the Apostolic Penitentiary 1410-1526. Acta Pontificum Suecica 2. Stockholm 2008, p. 293 | Translation by Carina Damm |
