The Black Death killed up to two thirds of Europe’s population, yet medieval records rarely mention it.
Articles on Bubonic plague
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A new study reveals that plague was lethal thousands of years ago, during the Neolithic.
To stop the spread of infectious diseases, governments need information and other resources that countries around the globe share through international organizations.
Despite the deadliness of the disease, it was possible to recover from plague, and medieval chroniclers mention the possibility – however unlikely – of survival.
From the Black Death to the COVID-19 pandemic, combining the genetic data of a pathogen with historical records, archaeological artifacts and epidemiological studies can uncover its origins.
Romy Ash’s second novel, Mantle, asks what would happen if a pathogen made us wake up to ourselves – and change course.
Medieval teeth reveal how childhood hunger echoes through generations.
But today it’s rare – and can be effectively treated with antibiotics.
Public health officials in Colorado recently confirmed that a man has plague.
Pandemics often have animal origins, so prevention is often dominated by health and veterinary sciences. However, social sciences’ role in understanding human behaviour is also crucial to prevention.
Keeping a diary has been a common pandemic pastime throughout history.
The narrator of Charlotte Wood’s new novel has shed her life to live with nuns. The world intrudes in the form of COVID, a mouse plague and recovered bones, delivered by someone from her past.
China’s Xi Xinping had trialled his COVID lockdown measures on what he callously called the ‘virus’ of the Uighurs, writes Stan Grant. COVID lockdowns are now over, but the trace of tyranny remains.
This whirlwind tour of social history describes how infectious diseases have shaped humanity at every stage. It suggests reducing inequality will give us our best chance of surviving future plagues.
Recent research suggests rats may not have played the critical role in keeping plague going in Europe.
Nights of Plague is set on a fictional island in the early 20th century. Is it an allegory of empire’s fall; a contemplation on corruption and East-West tension or a reflection on pandemic life?
The Black Death evolved around Kyrgyzstan, according to new research.
A scholar of Greek classics revisits the texts to bring lessons on how to honor the lives lost to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Churches’ struggles to respond to the plague and constant warfare in the 14th and 15th centuries helped shape the kinds of Christianity in the world today.
Indigenous stories of survival in fictional post-apocalyptic landscapes draw from actual events and experiences. These stories preserve histories and the possibility of hope.
Top contributors
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Professor of Classical Studies, Brandeis University
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Researcher in Medical Anthropology, University of Edinburgh
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PhD Candidate in History, University of Cambridge
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Associate Professor of Medieval History, Durham University
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Senior Lecturer in English, Loughborough University
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Associate Professor of Health History, Glasgow Caledonian University
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Professor of English and University Orator, Birmingham City University
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Chair in the History of Finance and Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor Research, Prosperity and Resilience, Henley Business School, University of Reading
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Professor of Infectious Diseases, Monash University
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Professor of History, University of Glasgow
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Associate Professor of History, University of Stirling
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Associate Professor of History, Rutgers University - Newark
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Associate Professor in Medieval History, The University of Queensland
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Research Fellow, Pacific Institute on Pathogens, Pandemics and Society, Simon Fraser University
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Associate Professor in Ancient History, Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Macquarie University