"Now analysis suggests it was in Kyrgyzstan, central Asia, in the 1330s."
Hold up, WHAT?
Oh, this is cool.
I mean, really cool!
And I don't just say that because I'm a massive nerd and love all things disease-related. No, this is really cool because the origins of the Great Mortality (also known as 'The Black Death') have been hotly debated amongst historians for a long time.
And by 'origins' I mean everything from location to population to the year.
Some argue it came from China, others, that it originated in Mongolia. Most seem to agree it began somewhere in the 1340s on the Russian Steppes (a HUGE area of grassland that stretches from the middle of Europe, through the Middle East and into Asia), reaching Caffa, a city now known as Feodosija, on the shores of the Black Sea around 1345 or 1346.
(Remember the story of dead bodies infected with plague being thrown over the walls of a city, one of the first known instances of biological warfare? Yeah. That was the Mongols and the Siege of Caffa after relations between European and Mongol traders broke down).
From there the plague is thought to have spread into mainland Europe (around 1347) via the sea and the land.
But I digress.
Where was I?
Oh, yeah. Origins.
So, many people speculated it came from the Russian Steppes, mainly because in that time period, there was a major shift in climate (warming) that caused a lot of the frosts to melt, exposing flora and other microbes to the warm air for the first time in a loooong time. Basically, the Russian Steppes became the perfect petri dish for the bacteria, Yersinia pesitis (Y. pestis, the bug that causes the bubonic plague), to flourish quite happily.
It's thought that Y. pestis then infected the rodent population, which, in turn, infected the larger animals who ate them, including humans. In addition to this, there were new trade routes opening between Europe and Asia, meaning large amounts of (unwashed) people were now crossing over this new, exposed ground and carrying all sorts of pathogens with them. Y. pestis, being the stubborn and opportunistic bugger that it is, thought “Great! Time to hitch a ride on out of here!”
Now, we can speculate that the Black Death may have begun in that area, albeit much earlier.
Link to the original article can be found HERE
"Scientists from University of Stirling (Scotland) and Max Planck Institute and University of Tubingen (Germany) ... chose the area after noting a significant spike in burials there in 1338 and 1339."
They went on to analyse the teeth of seven said buried people and "the research team were able to find the plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis, in three of them."
I think I can speak for everyone when I saw that three positives is a tiny result, especially when your sample size is seven. However, if these scientists are right, and those people were buried between 1338 and 1339, many years before historians originally believed the plague to have begun spreading, then they are going to have to really reassess the toll this plague took on the human population. Currently, it's widely accepted that the Great Mortality killed anywhere from 25% to 30% of the population of Europe, however, some believe that number could have been as high as 60% to 70%, depending on one's location.
Now imagine a plague of that ferocity and lethality getting into our population today (looking at you, Bird Flu!). What would we do? How would we respond to it? (And I mean, how would we, The Public, *really* respond to it? In a group of 100 people, 60 to 70 fall down dead. . . We'd panic, for sure. Some of us would turn to the scientists. Some of us would look to our leaders in power. Some of us would pray.
It's these kinds of questions that really got me thinking one day... What if, in the 1350s, after the Great Mortality, people looked at the empty cities and overflowing graveyards and thought "How the hell am I still alive?"
What would they have done in response? How would they have acted?
One thing we do know is that, finally, peasants began to value themselves and their work. During the plague, the rich people fled the towns and cities in the vain hope that they wouldn't fall sick. Some succeeded, though not many. This meant that the poor folk were left to die in their thousands. Afterwards, the rich people needed workers to work their land again.
So what did the poor folk do? Demand higher pay and better working conditions! Essentially it was a case of "you want me to work for you? well pay me X amount more money because it's not like you have a massive pool of poor people to use and abuse anymore, is it?!"
Good for them, I say.
But what about their religion? Would their belief have been challenged? Would it have waned? Would it have vanished entirely? And, if it had (because, I know I would have had a hard time believing the whole all-loving, all-knowing, all-powerful rhetoric with all my friends and family dead)—what then? What would the world look like if everyone just went "Ya know what, I'm kinda done with this whole worshipping God thing" and went their own ways?
I fully believe that, without fear of persecution, science would have made massive leaps in a short space of time.
This is where my book comes in.
I'm just sat there, daydreaming about all this and BAM—suddenly, I'm designing a world in which this exact scenario played out. So. . . your book is about the Black Death?
No.
In fact, despite there being a modern-day interpretation of the plague doctor outfit on the cover of the book, the book itself does not feature a plague. The book doesn't even feature plague doctors themselves.
Allow me to explain . . .
Following on from my earlier train of thought, wherein religion was abandoned and science took over, I began to speculate who, then, would the people see fit to put in charge? Would they even need anyone in charge? Why? And, if so, who would be deemed worthy enough to be responsible for the recovery of society in the years following the greatest human catastrophe on record? Basically, we're talking about the science of belief. Who, if God was thrown out, would people choose to believe in? Do we, as humans, even need to believe in something?
For me, the answer was simple: Yes we do. And I'm going to make it doctors. In today's society, many doctors are involved in medical research and the creation of policies that govern healthcare delivery.
I simply expanded on this.
What if, all those years ago, society decided instead that doctors and men of science were now wholly in charge, and any and all religious officials were cast out?
What if, indeed....?
So, here we are. Religion is out, doctors (aka: Medics) are in charge and have taken to not only curing society, but policing it, too.
And you may have a completely different answer to this hypothetical scenario. If so, I'd love to hear it (and why!) in the comments below!
So. . . If there's no plague and they aren't plague doctors, why do they wear the plague doctor outfits?
Two reasons.
1). Coverage.
The plague doctor outfits were first mentioned in the early 1600s and consisted of masks, gloves, boots, a hat and a larger cloak or garment to cover the entire body, usually all made out of leather (much easier to clean/maintain). This intrigued me. Clearly, the outfit was designed to protect the doctors back in the day from whatever it was causing the pestilence because, back then, they had no idea about bacteria or infection control measures such as hand washing.
I couldn't help but notice the outfits offered another form of protection: anonymity.
Anonymity is, in of itself, a fascinating concept.
Why do people wish to remain anonymous? If you're a superhero, you may believe that remaining anonymous (by the wearing of a costume or mask) will protect you or your loved ones from enemies or nosy so-and-so's who wouldn't think twice to expose you if it meant getting their moment in the limelight. If you're a criminal, anonymity allows you to commit whatever crime or heinous acts you like and get away with it. You know there's truth to this—we've all seen trolls on the Internet spreading hate and misinformation because they are safe behind a computer screen and will face no (immediate) consequences for their actions. Again, it's a form of protection.
It's at this point I decided to cover up my Medics in my book. After all, they were the new elites: educated people who now held a lot of power and authority in society. As such, no Medic would be allowed to venture outside in public without first being completely covered from head to toe, unless they were in the presence of other Medics. Side Note: the Medics are all men. This is vital to the plot, so I won't cover it much here, but basically that was my middle finger to all the men who use their words, actions, religion and politics to control women's bodies and appearances.
2). Aesthetic
Personally, I find both the original outfit and the modern plague doctor outfits incredibly fascinating. I mean, have you seen some of the more gothic or steampunk-inspired outfits people have created? Talk about wow!
So, my decision to dress my Medics head-to-toe in plague doctor outfits, even though there's no plague in the story, basically stems from a fascination with human behaviour and a general love of the look of the outfits.
Back to the writing.
I didn't just want this to be yet another story about men being in power (and the inevitable abuse of that power). I wanted more. I wanted to know what would happen if these men were faced with something even more unbelievable than the devastation of the Black Death. After all, the book is set in 1550 CE, roughly 200 years since the end of the plague. By then, the Medics were well-established in their roles and enjoying all the privileges being in power could offer.
Before I know it, I'm throwing in some more 'magical' and fantasy elements into the mix, such as the Tale of the Children of Woolpit, the Tree of Death, the Undead and. . . I shan't say any more.
Right, well, I think I've rambled enough. To see exactly how this society functions (or doesn't) and what happens when a mysterious, magical girl appears on the scene, then give my book a read!
Get my book THE SCARLET FLOWERS OF ENGELSTADT here:
(Available in all formats and Kindle Unlimited)
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-Madeline
More Sources:
Wheelis, M. (2002) Biological Warfare at the 1346 Siege of Caffa. Emerging Infectious Diseases. Center for Disease Control and Infection.
Kelly, J. (2005) The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time. Harper Perennial