MAY HistoryCAT: 1300 - 1500 CE: Plagues & Disasters

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*****Book cover from 'The Black Death', by Philip Ziegler (Folio Edition)

Welcome to the May HistoryCAT! This corner of the 2015 Category Challenge will covers the Post Classical Era/Late Middle Ages in the Western hemisphere; the latter part of the Mongol reign in Chinese history (Yuan Dynasty) as well as a good portion of the Ming Dynasty...

"Some Notable Events"
• 1297 - Kublai Khan dies
• 1307 - The Knights Templar was destroyed
• 1310 - Dante began Divine Comedy
• 1337 - The Hundred Years' War begins
• 1368 - The Mongol Empire/Yuan Dynasty falls; The Han Chinese Ming Dynasty begins
• 1380 - The Canterbury Tales
• 1415 - Battle of Agincourt; Jan Hus was burned at the stake
• 1430 - Joan of Arc
• 1439 - Johannes Gutenberg first used movable type printing in Europe
• 1485 - Thomas Malory (Le Morte d'Arthur)
• 1492 - Christopher Columbus reached the "New World"
• 1497 - 1498 - Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama's first voyage reached India after circumnavigating Africa
***** (From Wikipedia article about the Late Middle Ages, The Mongol EMpire)

"Disaster Dates"
• 1327 - The Great Fire of Munich
• 1332 - Bubonic plague originates in India
• 1347 - Black Death devastates Europe
• 1349 - Black Death kills a third of the population of Europe
• 1347-1351 - Approximately 75 million people die of the Black Plague
• 1361 - Black Death Reappears in England
• 1443 - English plague order on quarantine and cleansing
• 1479 - Destruction of Arras
• 1495 - Syphilis epidemic spreads from Naples throughout Europe courtesy of French soldiers
• 1497 - Severe famine in Florence
*****(From 'The Timetables of History', by Bernard Grun, based in Werner Stein's "Kulturfahrplan")

A Selection of Books written in the The Late Middle Ages
• The Canterbury Tales (by Chaucer)
• The Divine Comedy (bu Dante Alighieri)
• La Morte d'Arthur (by Sir Thomas Malory)
• Journey to the West (compiled in the 16th century by Wu Ch'eng-en)

A Selection of Books written about the The Late Middle Ages
• The Yellow Cross: The Story of the Last Cathars' Rebellion Against the Inquisition: 1290-1329 (by Rene Weis) #NF
• A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century (by Barabara W. Tuchman) #NF
• The Wars of the Roses (by Alison Weir) #NF
• 1421: The Year China Discovered America (by Gavin Menzies) #NF

A Selection of Books set in the The Late Middle Ages
• Kristin Lavransdatter series by Sigrid Undset #HistFic
• The Name of the Rose (by Umberto Eco) #HistFic
• Crispin series (by Avi) #HistFic #ChildrensLit

A Selection of Books written about the The Black Plague
• The Black Death (by Philip Ziegler) #NF
• The Black Death: The Great Mortality of 1348-1350 (by John Aberth) #NF

A Selection of Book(s) set with the The Black Plague
• Year of Wonders (by Geraldine Brooks) #HistFic (Out of the time frame for the CAT; but still...)

Also, for an interesting take on world history as if Europe had been utterly decimated by the plague you might be interested in the epic alternative history novel, The Years of Rice and Salt (by Kim Stanley Robinson.) This is an extremely well researched story of reincarnations in a world in which the Eastern philosophies have dominance instead of Western thought.

Some Keywords
Plague, Black Death, Bubonic Plague, Templars, Cathars, Reformation, Columbus, deGama, Ming Dynasty, Fall of the Mongol Empire/Yuan Dynasty, Late Middle Ages...

I've read a book that fits the Plagues & Disasters part of the HistoryCAT. It was The Day of Atonement by David Liss, and was an adventurous thriller set in mid 18th century Lisbon, Portugal. The great earthquake of 1755 was central to the plot.

I'm usually racing to finish a suitable book by the end of the month. It's fun to have finished a suitable book at the beginning of the month.

I finished Doomsday Book yesterday. It fits both the time period (14th century) and the theme (Black Death). It also fits this month's SFFF Cat. It's a time travel book written by a female author with a strong female protagonist.

For this month's challenge, I'm working on Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond. It talks about how various societies (including the Mayans and Easter Island, for example) survived or failed as a result of their responses to environmental problems. I hope this book fits well enough with this month's theme, even if it's not about natural disasters like plagues or earthquakes. I suppose a civilization's collapse, no matter what the causes were, could be considered a disaster. :)

>1 Tanya-dogearedcopy: Thanks for creating such a great thread on such short notice!

>2 RidgewayGirl: I've been meaning to read some David Liss - The Day of Atonement looks particularly good.

>3 cbl_tn: I love Doomsday Book, Carrie - I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

>4 mathgirl40: I'm a big fan of Jared Diamond - and I'd agree that the collapse of any civilization is a disaster!

I'm reading a bunch of books about volcanoes this month, so I suspect I have several books that fit. I've already finished Tambora: The Eruption That Changed the World by Gillen D'Arcy Wood, so that's one down.

I intend to read The Plague by Camus after I finish up a couple of ERs. May is usually a bad reading month for me so I doubt I'll attempt anything else. I do have the Winchester book about the San Francisco earthquake calling my name, however...

Definitely agree with the Doomsday Book recommendation -- just make sure you have tissues handy! Another great book for the time period is Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, set in 1327. Not sure it fits the theme, though (although there is a catastrophic fire in it!).

I'm reading Lords of Misrule, by Nigel Tranter, which is set in Scotland during the period from 1388 to 1390.

Thanks for creating the thread!

Now, I have this planned for May:
In the Wake of the Plague / Norman F. Cantor

>9 LibraryCin: Just finished that. I'll be interested to see what you think.

My review: This is an interesting, insightful and ultimately unsatisfying book. One major improvement would have been to move all the comments aimed at gaining the attention of American law students who know nothing of European history to the footnotes.

Starting Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which was written in our period.

Finished Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. Not time period but covers the theme. I liked it until the end. I thought the book was good with strong characters and a well developed look at how people would react under the circumstances. Too bad she had to come up with an ending which did not fit the book.

>12 Kristelh: I felt the exact same way about that book when I read it.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thought the ending ruined the book.

>10 MarthaJeanne: hmmm, thanks for that info. I have it from the library, but I do have a couple of other books ahead of it in the queue.

>12 Kristelh: I really liked it and the end didn't seem to bother me, but I have heard lots of people say that it did bother them, as well.

>15 LibraryCin: It's at least short and an easy read. It's certainly got a lot in it that is worth reading.

As he is probably writing for US readers, the legal things that are still in the US system that came out of that period are legitimate, just totally uninteresting to me. Also, I've read a lot about British history, including several books this year. So many of the explanitory asides that drove me crazy are probably helpful to others.

If you want a book that is about the plague, find a different book. this really is about how the plague affected the subsequent history, and I found that very interesting.It's not something that those history books above mentioned, and make the period a little clearer.

>17 MarthaJeanne: Thank you (again!) for the more detailed info about it. I should be ok with learning how it affected the subsequent history. It is already on my tbr so this is a good excuse to get to it! :-)

COMPLETED Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

My review:
Gawain has to meet a challenge from the Green Knight, but the true test is not at all what he thinks it is.

I struggled with parts of this. I definitely remember it being easier to read when I read it before, in my 20s.

I have started Katherine by Anya Seton for this month's HistoryCat. It will fit the time period and as it is tagged "Black Death", it should also fit the theme of plagues and disasters.

Azincourt fits the time, it's about the battle of Agincourt in 1415. Very well done.

I absolutely loved listening to Katherine by Anya Seton. Telling the story of the life of Katherine Swynford, the book totally drew me in and the author stayed very true to the historical facts that are known about these times. This book was a match for both the time period and the theme of Plague and Disaster, as not only was Katherine a survivor of the plague herself, she nursed others through this terrible disease.

I read Nemesis by Philip Roth for another challenge and discovered that it is about the flu epidemic that hit New Jersey during WWII. So it fits theme but not time. Good book.

In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death & the World It Made / Norman F. Cantor
3 stars

In this book, Cantor looks at the Black Death that hit Europe in the mid-1300s. It is mostly attributed to the plague, but Cantor suggests it might not only have been the plague; there might have been some anthrax at the same time. In the book, he also looks at people (individual and groups of people) who were affected in some way or another and how and how it changed history.

I liked his writing style – that is, it was informal and easy to read. But, for some reason, I will still losing focus at times. It felt like he was going off tangents a lot, though he did bring things back to the Black Death, but it just seemed a bit disjointed, I guess. Overall, I'm going to give it an “ok”, as I thought the topics he presented were interesting; I just wish I could have stayed more focused while reading.

>24 LibraryCin: My impression was that he hadn't thought through who his intended public was. I think that made it 'out of focus' at times.

>25 MarthaJeanne: Ah, good thought.

Finished Doomsday Book. So glad I read it. Very good.

>27 Kristelh: I loved Doomsday Book too. It's my favourite of the Connie Willis books I've read.

I'm a bit late in updating this thread, but I did manage to finish Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond. It was a very long and dense read but extremely interesting and thought-provoking, with plausible explanations of how the Easter Island, Maya and Viking societies disappeared and what modern societies can learn from these disasters.