Re: Black Death timeline

On Wed, 5 Nov 2008 18:09:27 -0700, "J Antero" <ae@xxxxxx> wrote:


"Eric Stevens" <eric.stevens@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1c24h4pf1gcl2eur8mmmovfdshgedudkjs@xxxxxxxxxx
On Thu, 6 Nov 2008 10:39:44 -0500, "Sheila EJ" <mydog@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

I have been trying to come up with a definitive timeline for the Black
Death - that is, the 'exact' dates that the plague arrived in each city
and
the routes it travelled. I have literally read through 46 books to date
and
no two seem to agree on the same time frame. For example:

Arrival in Genoa ranges from Nov 1347 to Jan 1348
Marseille ranges from Dec 1347 to Jan 1348 to Feb 1348
Lyon - Feb 1348 to 22 April 1348
Bordeaux is either March, April or June 1348
Weymouth is the widest spread from 8 May 1348 to 01 Aug 1348

I believe I have read through just about every major academic work done on
the topic - but for the life of me I can't come up with two books
espousing
the same dates. Does anyone have any suggestions? Or, perhaps care to
wade
in with some discussion on same?

If you have not already done so, I suggest you read 'New Light on the
Black Death' by Mike Baillie of Queens University, Belfast. The Amazon
site describing it is:

http://www.amazon.com/Light-Black-Death-Mike-Baillie/dp/0752435981/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225919051&sr=1-1
or http://tinyurl.com/6fdyhf

To quote one of the reviewers:

"It is interesting to note that historians would rather rearrange
facts to make them fit their theories, and nothing points it out
like what happened in explaining the Black Death. Rather than
take what was being said by those who experienced at face value,
those who were studying this seemed to think that these people
just simply couldn't have known what they were talking about.

Now, Baillie has shown with tree ring and ice core samples just
how wrong the historians got it. And this is not a dry read. It is
put in fairly plain language for all to understand.

One might ask just why the historians would not even look at the
fact that comets may have been to blame for the plague, when
everyone who wrote about it mentioned the fire from the skies,
rain of fire, fiery snow, bad air.....the list is endless. "

You might think from that, that Mike Baillie is from the lunatic
fringe,

I wouldn't.

The best way to get plagues going, is climate shifts that cause migrations
in host / carrier animals into new areas with populations of animals without
resistance to what the hosts are carrying. Starved and weakened host /
carrier animals that are migrating might be particularly infested..

One way to cause climate shifts or temporary spasms, is big meteors / comets
whacking the earth.

We have known so little about comets and meteors that we have been
unable to properly anticipate the consequences of close encounters or
impacts. Obviously a mighty wallop will have consequences but the
evidence now is that there is much more that comets and meteors can do
than just convey kinetic energy.

If an event of the kind postulated by Baillie (and others) happened to
day we would have some chance of understanding and explaining it. But
what about the population of the 6th or 14th centuries for example?
They didn't even have the basic concepts required to understand and
explain such things.



but he is an internationally respected Professor Emeritus of
Palaeoecology in the School of Archaeology at Queens University,
Belfast. He has gathered together a great deal of data, including
conflicts and inconsistencies within the accepted datings. There is
not a simple table of dates that I can quote but, even if you do not
accept his theory, I am sure you will find a great deal of information
about the events and dates of the the Black Death.



Eric Stevens





Eric Stevens
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Black Death timeline
    ... the 'exact' dates that the plague arrived in each city and ... Black Death' by Mike Baillie of Queens University, ... "It is interesting to note that historians would rather rearrange ...
    (soc.history.medieval)
  • Re: Black Death timeline
    ... One could start at the Center for Disease Control ... necessesary) of Ole J. Benedictow's "The Black Death ... century plague, because of its dependence on the homebound rat, spread ...
    (soc.history.medieval)
  • Re: Black Death timeline
    ... One could start at the Center for Disease Control ... necessesary) of Ole J. Benedictow's "The Black Death ... century plague, because of its dependence on the homebound rat, spread ...
    (soc.history.medieval)
  • The plague killed the already weak
    ... Clues to Black Plague’s Fury in 650-Year-Old Skeletons ... Many historians have assumed that Europe’s deadliest plague, ... Death of 1347 to 1351, killed indiscriminately, young and old, hardy ... and frail, healthy and sick alike. ...
    (uk.philosophy.humanism)
  • Re: Black Death timeline
    ... One could start at the Center for Disease Control ... necessesary) of Ole J. Benedictow's "The Black Death ... century plague, because of its dependence on the homebound rat, spread ...
    (soc.history.medieval)