Middle Ages: Plague in 14th Century Wasn’t as Deadly as Thought – Knowledge

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Jacob Wetzel

How deadly was the plague in the Middle Ages? How many people fall victim to an illness is not always easy to clarify, even in the present. It is much more difficult with epidemics in history. Brought from Asia, the Black Death killed millions in Europe from 1347; but how many there were in detail can at best be estimated. Around a third of the population died, it is often said in medieval research. Depending on the region, between one tenth and two thirds of the people were affected. A few historians even write that the plague depopulated half the entire continent or raged even worse. But it wasn’t that bad – at least that’s what it is a study close now in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution has appeared.

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