First plague pandemic

This article is about the series of outbreaks of plague, 541–767. For the first episode of the First Plague Pandemic, 541–549, see Plague of Justinian.
Saint Sebastian pleading for the life of a gravedigger afflicted with plague during the 7th-century Plague of Pavia, by South Netherlandish painter Josse Lieferinxe ca. 1498

The first plague pandemic was the first historically recorded Old World pandemic of plague, the contagious disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Also called the early medieval pandemic, it began with the Plague of Justinian in 541 and continued until 750 or 767. At least fifteen to eighteen major waves of plague following the Justinianic plague have been identified from historical records.[1][2][3] The pandemic affected the Mediterranean Basin most severely and most frequently, but also infected the Near East and Northern Europe,[4] and potentially East Asia as well.[5] The Roman emperor Justinian I's name is sometimes applied to the whole series of plague epidemics in late antiquity.

The pandemic is best known from its first and last outbreaks: the Justinianic Plague of 541–549, described by the contemporary Roman historian Procopius, and the late 8th century plague of Naples described by Neapolitan historian John the Deacon in the following century (distinct from the much later Naples Plague). Other accounts from contemporaries of the pandemic are included in the texts of Evagrius Scholasticus, John of Ephesus, Gregory of Tours, Paul the Deacon, and Theophanes the Confessor; most seem to have believed plague was a divine punishment for human misdeeds.[4]

  1. ^ Glatter, Kathryn A.; Finkelman, Paul (February 2021). "History of the Plague: An Ancient Pandemic for the Age of COVID-19". The American Journal of Medicine. 134 (2): 176–181. doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2020.08.019. PMC 7513766. PMID 32979306. S2CID 221882331.
  2. ^ Arrizabalaga, Jon (2010), Bjork, Robert E. (ed.), "plague and epidemics", The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acref/9780198662624.001.0001, ISBN 978-0-19-866262-4, retrieved 2020-05-16, The first - called the Plague of Justinian and described by Procopius - spread through Europe and Asia Minor from Egypt in 541 and included fifteen epidemics until 767
  3. ^ Stathakopoulos, Dionysios (2018), "Plague, Justinianic (Early Medieval Pandemic)", The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acref/9780198662778.001.0001, ISBN 978-0-19-866277-8, retrieved 2020-05-16, bubonic plague that began in 541 and returned in some eighteen waves (approximately one every twelve years) until 750
  4. ^ a b Stathakopoulos, Dionysios (2018), "Plague, Justinianic (Early Medieval Pandemic)", The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acref/9780198662778.001.0001, ISBN 978-0-19-866277-8, retrieved 2020-05-16
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference CompleteHistoryoftheBlackDeath was invoked but never defined (see the help page).