De Mussis and the Great Plague of 1348 FREE

Vincent J. Derbes, MD

[+] Author Affiliations

Reprint requests to 1430 Tulane Ave, New Orleans 70112 (Dr. Derbes).

From the Division of Allergy and Dermatology, Department of Medicine, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans.

JAMA. 1966;196(1):59-62. doi:10.1001/jama.1966.03100140113030

Text Size: A A A

Published online

Article

References

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT | REFERENCES

Efforts to defeat the enemy by deliberate spread of contagious disease among his forces greatly antedate the brilliant advances in microbiological science of the 19th and 20th centuries. A major instance, related by Gabriel de Mussis, was the hurling of plague-infected cadavers over the walls of Caffa in 1346. Another episode was described by the eminent historian Varillas,¹ who writes:

At his unsuccessful siege of Carolstein in 1422, Corbut caused the bodies of his soldiers whom the besieged had killed to be thrown into the town as well as 2,000 cartloads of excrement. A great number of the defenders fell victim to the fever which resulted from the stench, and the remainder were only saved from death by the skill of a rich apothecary who circulated in Carolstein remedies against the poison which infected the town.

Caffa, whose siege de Mussis describes, is presentday Feodosia, a seaport of South

REFERENCES

ABSTRACT | REFERENCES

Varillas: Histoire de l'Hérésie de Viclef, Jean Hus, et de Jerome de Prague , Lyon, France: Chez Iean Certe, 1682;, vol 2, p 117.

Vernadsky, G.: The Mongols and Russia , New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press, 1959;.

De Mussis, G.: Historia de Morbo s. Mortalitate quae fuit Anno Dni MCCCXLVIII , original manuscript in codex 59, library of the University of Wroclaw, Poland.

Henschel, A.W.: Document zur Geschichte des schwarzen Todes , Archiv Ges Med 2:26-59, 1842;.

Pollitzer, R.: Plague , Geneva: World Health Organization, 1954;.

Nicephoras, Gregoras: " Byzantina Historia ," in Niebuhr, B.G.: Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae , Bonn, Germany: Impensis Ed. Weberi. 1830;. vol 2, pt (19) , Liber Decimus Tertius, 12, p 685.

Cantacuzenus, J.: " Historiae Byzantinae ," in Niebuhr, B.G.: Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae , Bonn, Germany: Impensis Ed. Weberi, 1830;, IV 2b, vol 20, p 191.

Payne-Gallwey, R.: The Crossbow , ed 2, London: The Holland Press, 1958;.

Daru, P.: Histoire de la République de Venise , ed 2, Paris: Firmin Didot Père et Frès., 1821;, vol 1, pp 602-604.

Froissart, J.: The Chronicle of Jean Froissart , J. B. Berners (trans.), London: David Nutt, 1901;, vol 1, cap. CVI, pp 244-245.

Tura del Grasso, A.: " Cronaca Senese ," in Muratori, L.A.: Rerum Italicarum Scriptores , new edition by Giosue Carducci, Fiorini, vol 15, pt (6) ,1934;.

Villani, M.: Cronica: A miglior lezione ridotta coll'aiuto de' festi a penna , compiled by F. G. Dragomanni, Florence, Italy: Sansone Coen Tipografo Editore, 1846;, vol 1, pp 10-12.

First Page Preview

Figures

Tables

Interactive Graphics

Video

Country-Specific Mortality and Growth Failure in Infancy and Yound Children and Association With Material Stature

Use interactive graphics and maps to view and sort country-specific infant and early dhildhood mortality and growth failure data and their association with maternal