The Black Death

The Black Death (1346—1353) was the largest demographic catastrophe in human history, killing between 30 and 50 percent of Europe's population. The disease came from Central Asia: in 1346 Mongol forces brought it during the siege of Genoese Caffa in Crimea. Genoese refugees carried the epidemic to Messina in 1347, and within two years the plague swept across Europe from Spain to Norway. Boccaccio described it in The Decameron, flagellants whipped themselves in public squares, and Jewish communities were massacred at Strasbourg. The pandemic shattered feudalism and accelerated the Renaissance.