I ran into some trouble trying to find primary sources. I quickly realized after scouring Artstor that the vast majority of painted art depicting the Bubonic Plague in Europe was not created until the 15th Century. This lag in time between the Plague and its depiction (in Europe) is something I will take into consideration when I write the final draft of my research paper. So instead, I turned my attention to other forms of art that was created while the Plague was going on or shortly after. As for primary sources outside of Europe, I struggled to find a trend in art that relates directly to the Black Death in the Middle East. I did, however, find some first hand accounts of historians describing the Plague while it was going on in the city they were in. Meanwhile for the Yuan Dynasty in Asia, painters seemed to shift their artistic focus from human life to nature.

The first primary source I looked at was The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio. This book was written by an Italian author who lived through the Black Death in Italy. The book is about a group of people living in Florence, Italy in 1348. Boccaccio completed writing his book around 1853, roughly five years after the Black Death swept trough Florence. During the height of the Plague, ten young people decide to flee the city. Although this source is a fictional book, it still provides accounts of historically relevant information on the Plague from someone who lived through the disease in the same city. Boccaccio uses his knowledge of the Plague to craft these stories and descriptions. Since Florence was particularly impacted by the Black Death, Boccaccio’s experience is invaluable to the study of the Plague in Europe. I am using his descriptions in order to further my understanding of what it was like to actually live through the Black Death. In addition, The Decameron is a work of literary art from the time period. It is a perfect example of how art (in its many forms) was shaped by the Black Death. Also, the novellas within the The Decameron serve as essentially one hundred different stories from the time period rather than one single narrative. These many short stories provide vital glimpses into the different ways European individuals processed and dealt with the horrors of the Plague. Due to the abundance of stories within the book, one can analyze the full range of emotions felt by those who lived through the Plague. Some of the stories are deeply tragic and macabre, while others are humorous and lively. From this source, I realized that people had different outlets for their reactions. Boccaccio is actually somewhat critical of the Catholic church within many of the tales he wrote. This seemed odd since most of the physical artworks I could find from 14th century Europe were all religious in nature. One could make the argument from the Decameron that some people felt duped by the Church because they did not provide enough relief to the suffering of the Plague.

The next primary source I utilized was an excerpt from “An Essay on the Report of the Pestilence” by Ibn al-Wardi. Al-Wardi was an Arabic scholar who lived through, but did not survive, the Plague in Aleppo, Syria during 1348. In this essay, al-Wardi explains the movement of the Plague throughout the Middle East and what specific cities were effected. He even goes to great lengths to talk about how the people in Aleppo are attempting to treat the illness. Finally, al-Wardi pleads with God to end the suffering, which he believes is some sort of punishment. As I have continued my research, I have found that the vast majority of Europe also believed that the Plague was God punishing them. It was enlightening to read the words of a man describing the symptoms of the Black Death in Aleppo when he himself would succumb to the disease by 1349. Al-Wardi seems to believe that is is worthless to spend time trying to treat the disease with earthly things such as food or clay, but rather your fate is totally in the hands of God. He even criticizes scholars pouring over their medical textbooks. This leads me to believe that not everyone agreed with al-Wardi on the hopelessness of the Plague. I learned from Dr. McAlister that in Europe, many of the texts used in the 14th century by European scholars were ones preserved by Muslims. Because al-Wardi is in the Middle East, I wonder if the medical books he was referring to were related to the Humors and Galen. In Europe, the 14th century medical professionals thought you could treat the Plague by balancing out your four “humors”. Many the people eating onion and spreading clay on their buboes were also trying to accomplish that balance.

The third primary source I looked at was the works of art by Wang Meng (1308-1385), especially his Forest Grotto in Juqu piece. As I stated earlier, during the Yuang Dynasty, there was a shift in art from depicting social life to nature scenes. The Yuang Dynasty was affected by the Black Death, but its art is markedly different from that of Europe. European art went down a religious route, possibly because they some of them believed their piety determined whether or not they would contract the Plague. Wang Meng was the most famous artist from this time period and he only created nature scenes. His Forest Grotto piece is famous for pioneering a new heavier art style that many of Yuang Dynasty artists copied. The works of Wang Meng (many of which can be found on Artstor) are significant because they exemplify Asian reactions to the Plague. Rather than turning towards religion to deal with the stress of living through such a tumultuous time period, they found resolve in nature. Asian depictions of nature during this era also relate to the European sentiment that fresh-air and getting away from the cities could be good to avoid the Plague. This is exactly why the character’s in Boccaccio’s The Decameron flee Florence for the countryside. The Yuan Dynasty was neither a Christian nor Muslim society during this time. The most influential religion in the Dynasty was Tibetan Buddhism. Since this form of religion is more based on the individual and achieving inner peace rather than on omnipotent supreme being, it does not seem out of the ordinary for its art to manifest itself differently than that of European art. If the people of the Yuan Dynasty did not view the Plague as a punishment from God, but rather a form of miasma or corruption of nature, they may have turned to depicting beautiful, tranquil nature scenes. These scenes would have been a pleasant escape from the atrocious reality of the Black Death.

Forest Grotto in Juqu by Wang Meng, after 1368.

Sources

Boccacio, Giovanni. The Decameron. Translated by Wayne Rebhorn. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013.

Ibn al-Wardi, An Essay on the Report of the Pestilence, 1348. http://wp.lps.org/lmann/files/2014/01/Black-Death-Primary-Documents.pdf

Wang Meng, 1308-1385. after 1368. Forest Chamber Grotto at Chu-Ch’u. hanging scroll. https://library.semo.edu/asset/ARTSTOR_103_41822001846839.

The Bubonic Plague played a crucial role in life during the Fourteenth Century. One could make the argument that the death and suffering caused by the epidemic became mainstream culture, especially in Europe. As with many mainstream phenomena, the Plague heavily influenced the arts and humanities from this time period. There is a plethora of research on how the disease became a common motif in European art. However, there is less research on how the Plague had an impact on parts of the Eastern world.

In order to understand how the Plague affected the world and their art, I first wanted to learn more about this epidemic and how it spread. I used this map in order to visualize the spread of the Black Death into Europe over time. The citation for this source is Cesana, D., et al. “The Origin and Early Spread of the Black Death in Italy: First Evidence of Plague Victims from 14th-Century Liguria (Northern Italy).” Anthropological Science, vol. 125, no. 1, 16 Oct. 2016, pp. 15–24., http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ase/125/1/125_161011/_article/-char/en. In most cases, I use the Kent Library database to find the vast majority of my resources. In this case, I did use Google to search for maps. Then I sifted through the many maps until I found one with relevant information and from a scholarly source. I am fairly certain the source I found this map from is scholarly because the authors’ credentials are located right below their names, it was published in a journal, and was published online on a database used for the spreading of information on science and technology within Japan. In addition, this article was published on J-Stage in 2017, so the information is still fairly up to date. I mostly used this source for the map, but there is an entire article that goes along with it. The main argument that the authors’ are making is that ‘ospital’ of San Nicolao, which is located in Genoa, Italy, served as an epicenter for the Bubonic Plague and helped facilitate the spread of the disease throughout Europe. The evidence used to support this thesis is that bustling port cities like Venice and Genoa imported the disease from rats on merchant ships and then exported those same rats to other parts of Europe. Those affected by the disease were sent to the ‘ospital’ and even buried on those grounds once they succumbed to the Plague. From these areas, the disease exploded across Europe. In order to support this argument, archaeological data is used from an excavation campaign in Genoa from 2001 to 2006. The mass burial sites and genetic information from the corpses help further their argument that the remains found in these graves died of Y. Pestis at the beginning of the outbreak. Further research goes on the show how the disease spread along trade routes from Genoa to the rest of Europe. The lens this article uses is a scientific one. This article is less focused on the history of the spread of the Plague and more on the biology of how the pathogen could spread. One key aspect of this whole article is the statement that the Plague came to Europe from Crimea. This statement is not supported by further research in the article because it seems to be the general consensus of the historical discussion. Nonetheless, this statement, as well as the map, gives me the gateway to the East to research where the disease spread before reaching Italy. If I know where the Plague was before roughly 1346, I can search for art from areas like Crimea and farther East in the earlier Fourteenth Century.

Before delving into my secondary source research that tries to put the effects of the Plague on art outside the Eurocentric perspective, I first want to showcase my findings that do fit into that lens.

One Eurocentric source I found was using JSTOR through Kent Library. Its citation is as follows, Boeckl, Christine M. “Giorgio Vasari’s “San Rocco Altarpiece”: Tradition and Innovation in Plague Iconography.” Artibus Et Historiae 22, no. 43 (2001): 29-40. doi:10.2307/1483649. I believe this is a scholarly source since I found it on JSTOR and was published by the IRSA (an Italian acronym that translates to the Institute for Art History Research). From my previous knowledge of the Fourteenth Century and the Plague Era, I know that the vast majority of people from this time period believed the Black Death was the wrath of God and some form of punishment. Boeckl is making the argument that in Vasari’s Iconography of the Plague diverges from that traditional idea. Rather than the suffering caused by the disease being a punishment, Boeckl states that Vasari is depicting the Plague as more of a test from God in order to reward the people once they overcome their suffering. In order to make this argument, the author visually analyzes Vasari’s Iconography. She unpacks all of its elements to explain how these images are more about hope than suffering. The images she uses are digital copies of primary sources. From what I can tell, the author is using religion to analyze the primary sources. By religion, I mean Boeckl is objectively using her knowledge of Biblical texts and how integral religion was to the Medieval Period in order to try and figure out the messages Vasari was trying to spread with his art. In addition, Boeckl juxtaposes Vasari’s work to other works of art from the time period. The reason why I included this source in my research is because it strays away from the typical art that was influenced by the Plague. These works of art were created several decades after the Black Death, so I think it is interesting to look at how artists were still influenced by the Plague after quite some time has passed and how the views on the Plague had shifted from focusing on suffering and punishment to resilience and faith. This perspective is valuable to my research because it allows me to build on the fact that the Black Death had a lasting impact on society, culture, and especially art.

The next Eurocentric source I used was also found on JSTOR. This is the citation: Marshall, Louise. “Manipulating the Sacred: Image and Plague in Renaissance Italy.” Renaissance Quarterly 47, no. 3 (1994): 485-532. doi:10.2307/2863019. I know that this is a scholarly source because it was published by Cambridge University Press. I have been taught that University Presses are generally peer reviewed and trustworthy sources. In this article, Marshall makes the argument that researches can get a good grasp on the lasting psychological effects of the Black Death by analyzing their art and the images they created. She later goes on to argue that many of the art created during this time period is not what most people think. As I stated before, I was under the impression that the general argument about this time period is that the people of the Fourteenth Century believed they were being punished by the Plague. While Marshall does not refute this idea, she claims that their art was less about punishment and suffering and more about the people of this time period finding different ways to appeal to the heavens for divine intervention so they could regain control of their environment, Marshall makes this argument by visually analyzing primary sources in a way that refutes other historians arguments. The primary sources she uses are various pieces of artwork. The author takes on a psychological perspective to try and understand how the people living through the Plague were coping with the disease. I was caught off guard to find another valuable source that refuted the general beliefs around this field of study. I will use this source in my research by how Marshall makes the people the Fourteenth Century not that different from today. She explains how these people were trying their best to regain control of their environment. During this time period, people often turned towards religion and divine intervention to answer their problems. This is why many of the images hey produced may seem hopeful. If there were a massive epidemic today, most people would hope that medicine and antibiotics could solve their problems. This article has helped me realize that the people living through this time period were not just illogical religious fanatics, they were turning to the best options they had available to them. I am hoping to remember this sentiment and see if this dark hopefulness is common in Eastern art from the Fourteenth Century as well.

The next source I found provides me with a more global perspective. As I have uncovered from my other sources, the understanding among historians and scientists alike is that the Plague (Y. Pestis) originated in East Asia. The source (Wiechmann, Ingrid, Ole Jørgen Benedictow, Raffaella Bianucci, and Sacha Kacki. “History of the Plague.” RCC Perspectives, no. 3 (2012): 63-74. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26242596.) argues how the Black Death found its way back into Europe. There have been various outbreaks of the Plague for centuries, but Weichmann argues that the epidemic in the 1300s most likely traveled from rats and fleas in East Asia to cities in the Middle East before reaching the port cities of Italy. This makes sense as trade needs to pass through the Middle East in order to go West. To contribute to her argument, the author claims that the Middle Eastern cities provided the breeding ground for the disease to mutate into a form that could sweep through Europe. The reason why these cities were a key point in the spread is because their populations were big enough for the disease to grow. This source is from 2012 and feels slightly dated. I think this may because the author is taking on a historical perspective to explain the spread. Because of this, it seems that Wiechmann is more so proposing a hypothesis as to how the disease spread rather than making a strong argument claiming it swept through Middle Eastern cities before reaching Europe. She backs up her historical perspective with other researchers who have proposed the same idea, but she does not use archaeological data or primary sources. As I result, I do not think I will use this source too directly in my research paper. I think it is useful to have a source that explains that the disease originated in the East, but she does not talk about art or culture anywhere in her article. Her claims about the Middle East will simply give me more ideas as to where I should be looking for art and other primary sources.

The final secondary source I found a book I found on Google Scholar. I really try to avoid using Google and try to stick to using Kent Library’s databases. I was struggling to find secondary sources that talk about the Plague outside of Europe. I know the Black Death had multiple epidemics throughout history and it’s process into Europe was not linear. However, I was hoping to find more scholarly literature on the Black Death in Asia around the Fourteenth Century. This book focuses on the Plague in the Middle East during the Fourteenth Century. Here is the citation, Dols, Michael Walters. Black Death in the Middle East. S.1.: Princeton Univ Press, 1977. The author goes on to explain how there is very little literature on the Black Death outside of Europe. Dols argues that this is because there is little interest in translating and analyzing Arabic texts from this time period. From his research, Dols, claims that many Muslim scholars also believed that the Plague was the wrath of god, just like the European’s believed. He supports his argument with primary sources and accounts from the texts from this time period. One concern I have with Dols is that he originally published this book in 1977. Because of this, the text could be outdated. Unfortunately, I am having a hard time locating secondary sources that are not focused on Europe. Despite this, I trust Dols argument. This source was published by the Princeton University Press, so there must be some merit to his claims. I appreciate the author’s attempt to break out of the Eurocentric research on the Black Death. His focus on the Islamic world’s approach to the Plague provides me with some crucial information to bring my own research into a global perspective. Another concern I realized after reading Dols was that I may struggle to find primary source art from the Middle East in the Fourteenth Century. This is because Islamic art does not depict Allah (God). It is against their religion to do so. If the Islamic world also believed the Plague was punishment from God, they may not create art that shows a divine being causing the disease. As a result, I may have to look for calligraphy from the 1300s in order to analyze how the Plague effected art in the Middle East. Calligraphy is its own special form of art in the Islamic world since they cannot personify their God through humanly depictions.

With another opportunity to begin again, I would like to elaborate upon my research idea. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I find the 14th Century to be a particularly fascinating time period. In particular, the Black Death and its overall cultural impact on society and art is incredibly intriguing. One specific motif in art I would like to explore more is the Danse Macabre. As I understand it now, the Danse Macabre is the inclusion of dancing skeletons in paintings from the 14th Century. I would like to research the origin and use of the Danse Macabre throughout this century. In addition, I will also ask questions about the larger cultural impacts of the Black Death. Seeing that this Plague was fatal to roughly 25 million people, the entire cultural landscape of Europe, and even the world, was changed. The drastic demise in much of the population led to things like increased social mobility, the rise of urbanization, and mistrust with the Catholic Church. I want to explore how those changes manifested themselves into the art, literature, and culture of the world. I am purposely keeping this topic slightly broad at the moment due to somewhat limited sources. There is an expansive secondary literature of the Black Death and the 14th century, I am just not certain exactly how much of that has to do with the culture. I am hoping that as I visit Kent Library and scour the online databases, I can find more primary and secondary sources that discuss the cultural impact of the Black Death on art, literature, and other humanities from this time period. Another source I am hoping to utilize if necessary would be one of the professors on campus. Dr. McAlister, I believe, specializes in Medieval and Middle Age European History. In her EH103 class, she does a whole section on the Plague. Many classes gloss over this event in history, meanwhile, Dr. McAlister makes the argument that this era is what ultimately led to the Renaissance. Because of her expansive knowledge of the 14th century, I am hoping to reach out to Dr. McAlister to help me locate good sources, especially if I find myself getting stuck. I can potentially see myself getting stuck in the weeds of my research. This is often the case when I chose my own topics to research. The biggest pitfall I am afraid of is not finding enough research that is relevant to my topic. There may be plenty of scholarly sources discussing the greater economic effects of the 14th century, or the effects the 14th century had on manorialism; however, that does not mean there is a lot of research being done on the cultural and artistic effects of the Black Death. I would also like to look to see if there are any parallels between the cultural effects in Europe and other parts of the world, like Asia and the Middle East. Generally, people focus on European cities during this time period, because they were hit particularly hard by the disease. Despite that, scientists have determined that the Plague originated somewhere in Asia and spread throughout much of the Eastern world as well as the Western. To take my research out of the typical eurocentric narrative, I want to open up my research to the effects of this disease on the world and how different cultures were changed. Some global questions I want to ask are, “Did motifs like the Danse Macabre manifest in the art of non-European cultures?” and “Did different culture explain the Plague in similar ways?”. Overall, I am excited to start researching this topic. I think researching the Black Death and its effects on different cultures throughout the world could produce some good historical work. Finally, I am looking forward to comparing and contrasting those differences around the world.

With the entirety of history to choose from, I find myself struggling with what I should research for my EH305 research paper. I have one other research paper to write as well as two annotated bibliographies due by the end of the semester. Because this class covers as much of history as possible, I am excited to write about a topic I find interesting. My other research assignments are based on a specific time. For the moment, my goal is to research how the Black Death changed and influenced the arts in the Late Middle Ages. I am hoping to look at the Danse Macabre and research why it became such a popular theme in art. Also, I want to include poetry, music, and other forms of art other than just paintings. I find it fascinating how the societies of the Late Middle Ages dealt with the atrocities of the Bubonic Plague through artistic expression. This period as a whole is very interesting to me especially because it had such a lasting effect on the future. Because much of the European population was wiped out in the pandemic, new economic opportunities arose and social mobility became more attainable than ever before. However, at the time people were too worried about their health and the health of their loved ones to think about how they may be better of if they survived the Plague. Instead, death became a normal part of their lives and eventually became a normal and reoccurring theme in art.