Mussis, Giovanni Boccaccio And Ahmed Al-Maqrizi

The Black Death “was probably the greatest public health disaster in recorded history.”(449) It spread across the Eurasian continent and in parts of Africa in the 1340’s, killing and estimated 70 million people and over 60% of the European population. It was used as the first ever form of biological warfare by the Mongols. Three Authors named Gabriele de’ Mussis, Giovanni Boccaccio, and Ahmad al-Maqrizi wrote about their first and second hand accounts of the decease; and how it affected people both mentally and physically. I will be discussing each author’s narrative while comparing and contrasting their point of views and experiences regarding the Black Plague. Unlike the other two authors Gabriele de’ Mussis’s accounts of the Black Plague were purely second hand and uncorroborated, however historians believe him to be in general a reliable source. De’ Mussis writes about the plague outbreak in Caffa. How entire families were dying out overnight, and the priest and doctors who came to care for the sick were “fallowing the dead immediately to the grave.”(458) The death count was so high they ran out of individual graves, and started having to bury people in large pits. He talks about people abandoning their families who were sick and dying for …show more content…
He goes into great detail the symptoms of the decease. First there was swelling in the groin or armpit that was described as a large egg shaped mass, this was referred to as the gavocciolo. Second was dark blotches or bruises covering most of their body. Boccaccio states “to anyone unfortunate enough to contract them, were just as infallible a sign that he would die as the gavocciolo had been