{"title":"Out of the West: Formation of a Permanent Plague Reservoir in South-Central Germany (1349–1356) and its Implications","authors":"Philip Slavin","doi":"10.1093/PASTJ/GTAA028","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\n This article deals with the origins and spread of the second outbreak of fourteenth-century plague pandemic, the pestis secunda, which swept over West Eurasia and North Africa between 1356 and 1366. Unlike the Black Death, its immediate predecessor, which seems to have originated in Central Asia, the pestis secunda emerged in Central Germany, most likely in the Frankfurt region, in summer 1356. Having seeded its new reservoir, the plague radiated from Central Germany, a landlocked region, into other parts of West Eurasia and North Africa, via inland routes. The inland mode of transmission is at odds with the geographic spread of the Black Death, whereby the plague arrived in West Eurasian and North African ports via maritime trade routes. To appreciate the appearance of the Central Germany plague reservoir in the early 1350s, the wider ecological, climatic and socio-economic context of the Frankfurt region is scrutinized, on the basis of textual, palaeoclimatic and palaeogenetic evidence. Although beyond the remit of this article, it argues that the Central German reservoir may have become the origin of recurrent late-medieval and early-modern plague outbreaks.","PeriodicalId":47870,"journal":{"name":"Past & Present","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2021-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"21","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Past & Present","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/PASTJ/GTAA028","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"HISTORY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 21
Abstract
This article deals with the origins and spread of the second outbreak of fourteenth-century plague pandemic, the pestis secunda, which swept over West Eurasia and North Africa between 1356 and 1366. Unlike the Black Death, its immediate predecessor, which seems to have originated in Central Asia, the pestis secunda emerged in Central Germany, most likely in the Frankfurt region, in summer 1356. Having seeded its new reservoir, the plague radiated from Central Germany, a landlocked region, into other parts of West Eurasia and North Africa, via inland routes. The inland mode of transmission is at odds with the geographic spread of the Black Death, whereby the plague arrived in West Eurasian and North African ports via maritime trade routes. To appreciate the appearance of the Central Germany plague reservoir in the early 1350s, the wider ecological, climatic and socio-economic context of the Frankfurt region is scrutinized, on the basis of textual, palaeoclimatic and palaeogenetic evidence. Although beyond the remit of this article, it argues that the Central German reservoir may have become the origin of recurrent late-medieval and early-modern plague outbreaks.
期刊介绍:
Founded in 1952, Past & Present is widely acknowledged to be the liveliest and most stimulating historical journal in the English-speaking world. The journal offers: •A wide variety of scholarly and original articles on historical, social and cultural change in all parts of the world. •Four issues a year, each containing five or six major articles plus occasional debates and review essays. •Challenging work by young historians as well as seminal articles by internationally regarded scholars. •A range of articles that appeal to specialists and non-specialists, and communicate the results of the most recent historical research in a readable and lively form. •A forum for debate, encouraging productive controversy.