The Black Death in the Fourteenth CenturyHecker, J. F. C. (Justus Friedrich Carl)
History
The Black Death in the Fourteenth Century
Hecker, J. F. C. (Justus Friedrich Carl)
Black Death
“It is known that in India, and the vicinity of the Great Sea, the
constellations which combated the rays of the sun, and the warmth of
the heavenly fire, exerted their power especially against that sea, and
struggled violently with its waters. Hence, vapours often originate
which envelope the sun, and convert his light into darkness. These
vapours alternately rose and fell for twenty-eight days; but at last,
sun and fire acted so powerfully upon the sea, that they attracted a
great portion of it to themselves, and the waters of the ocean arose
in the form of vapour; thereby the waters were in some parts, so
corrupted, that the fish which they contained, died. These corrupted
waters, however, the heat of the sun could not consume, neither could
other wholesome water, hail or snow, and dew, originate therefrom. On
the contrary, this vapour spread itself through the air in many places
on the earth, and enveloped them in fog.
“Such was the case all over Arabia, in a part of India; in Crete; in
the plains and valleys of Macedonia; in Hungary; Albania and Sicily.
Should the same thing occur in Sardinia, not a man will be left alive;
and the like will continue, so long as the sun remains in the sign
of Leo, on all the islands and adjoining countries to which this
corrupted sea-wind extends, or has already extended from India. If the
inhabitants of those parts do not employ and adhere to the following,
or similar means and precepts, we announce to them inevitable
death--except the grace of Christ preserve their lives.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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