1350-07-25-Erfurt
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| Date startStart date of the disease. | 1350-07-25 Saturday | + |
| Date endEnd date of the disease. | 1351-02-2 | + |
| SeasonSeason (spring, summer, fall or winter) | ||
| Date otherOther mentioned dates. | ||
| PlacePlace(s), city or location of the disease. | Erfurt | |
| RegionHistorical region(s) | Thuringia | |
| CountryCurrent country | ||
| RiverMentioned river(s) | ||
| Natural eventMentioned natural event(s) | ||
| PersonMentioned persons(s) | ||
| GroupGroup(s) of people mentioned | ||
| VictimIndication of victims | 12.000 absolute | + |
| AnimalMentioned animal(s) | ||
| DiseaseMentioned disease(s) | ||
| Epidemic waveAssociated epidemic wave | Black Death | |
| Social responseSocial response that happened in reaction to the disease | ||
| LanguageLanguage of the original text | Latin | |
| KeywordFurther keyword(s) | Cemetery, Mass grave, Mortality | |
| last edited | 6. 01. 2026 by EpiMedDat-Bot. |
Arrival of the Black Death in Erfurt and Thuringia, great mortality of 12.000 people. Victims are buried, according to doctors' advice, in mass graves outside the city. The epidemic last half a year.
Text originalOriginal text
Eodem anno (1350) pestilencia epydimialis in Thuringia exorta est et fere in tota Alamania et precipue in Erphordia, ita ut maxima pars hominum moreretur, quia morbus contagiosus erat. Porro consules cum consilio magistrorum phisicorum inhibuerunt, ut nemo amplius inibi sepeliri deberet; tanta erat multitudo sepulchrorum in cimiteriis ubique, ut duo vel tres ad unum sepulchrum ponerentur. Deinde facta sunt XI fossata magna in cimiterio ville Nuzezse prope Erphordiam, ad que deducta sunt circa XII milia corpora hominum in bigis et in curribus oneratis; de festo sancti Iacobi usque ad purificacionem virginis gloriose cottidie tres bige vel quatuor corpora mortuorum in cimiteriis et in viis circumquaque sustulerunt. Exceptis his multi alii sepulti sunt in civitate occulte et in villis ubique circumiacentibus, quorum anime cum electis Dei requiesant in pace! Amen. Unde dixit quidam: Mille trecentenis decies quinis simul annis / Hic hominum necifex locat aer milia bis sex. / Hir zwenzig hunder liche lin / Unde hunderwert hundert, / Dy sint vorscheiden al in dem sterben leydir.
Text translationEnglish translation of the text
In the same year (1350), an epidemic plague arose in Thuringia and nearly throughout all of Germany, especially in Erfurt, to the extent that a great majority of the people perished, as the disease was contagious. Furthermore, the city authorities, in consultation with the council of physicians, forbade any further burials there; such was the multitude of graves everywhere that two or three bodies were placed in a single grave. Subsequently, eleven large pits were dug in the cemetery of the village of Neuses, near Erfurt, into which around twelve thousand bodies of people were brought in wagons and loaded carts. From the feast of Saint James until the purification of the glorious Virgin, daily three or four wagons carried the bodies of the deceased to cemeteries and streets everywhere. Besides these, many others were secretly buried in the city and in the surrounding villages, may their souls rest in peace with the chosen ones of God! Amen. As someone said: "In the year thirteen hundred fifty, / the human-slaying air / killed two times sixthousand. / Here lie twenty times a hundred corpses / and a hundred times a hundred / who have all sadly passed away in death".
