the black death first started in europe on october 1347.
the black death first started in europe on october 1347.
where did the black death first start in europe?
october 1347
strong opposition to french officialdom due to mistreatment and taxation saw the local peoples of sicily rise up, leading in 1282 to an insurrection known as the war of the sicilian vespers, which eventually saw almost the entire french population on the island killed. during the war, the sicilians turned to peter iii of aragon, son-in-law of the last hohenstaufen king, for support after being rejected by the pope. peter gained control of sicily from the french, who, however, retained control of the kingdom of naples. a crusade was launched in august 1283 against peter iii and the kingdom of aragon by pope martin iv (a pope from île-de-france), but it failed. the wars continued until the peace of caltabellotta in 1302, which saw peter's son frederick iii recognised as king of the isle of sicily, while charles ii was recognised as the king of naples by pope boniface viii. sicily was ruled as an independent kingdom by relatives of the kings of aragon until 1409 and then as part of the crown of aragon. in october 1347, in messina, sicily, the black death first arrived in europe.
sicily
when the black death first struck europe in 1347, popular opinion blamed the jews for the plague, and violence directed at them erupted throughout the continent. the "black death" pandemic swept through asia and the middle east and into europe between 1347 and 1350, and is believed to have killed between a third and two-thirds of europe's population. in defence of the jews, pope clement vi issued two papal bulls in 1348 (6 july and 26 september), the latter named "quamvis perfidiam", which condemned the violence and said those who blamed the plague on the jews had been "seduced by that liar, the devil." he went on to emphasise that “it cannot be true that the jews, by such a heinous crime, are the cause or occasion of the plague, because through many parts of the world the same plague, by the hidden judgment of god, has afflicted and afflicts the jews themselves and many other races who have never lived alongside them.” he urged clergy to take action to protect jews and offered them papal protection in the city of avignon.
catholic church and judaism