Plague and the Poor in Renaissance Florence Cambridge Studies in the History of Medicine Series

Originally published in 1986, this book uses Florentine death registers to show the changing character of plague from the first outbreak of the Black Death in 1348 to the mid-fifteenth century. Through an innovative study of this evidence, Professor Carmichael develops two related strands of analysis. First, she discusses the extent to which true plague epidemics may have occurred, by considering what other infectious diseases contributed significantly to outbreaks of 'pestilence'. She finds that there were many differences between the fourteenth- and fifteenth-century epidemics. She then shows how the differences in the plague reshaped the attitudes of Italian city-dwellers toward plague in the fifteenth century. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in the history of the plague, Renaissance Italy and the history of medicine.

List of graphs, maps, and tables; Introduction; 1. Recurrent epidemic diseases: plague and the other plagues; 2. Florentine deaths in the first plague century; 3. Plague in Florence; 4. The social effects of plague in France; 5. Plague controls become social controls; Conclusion; Appendix 1. Limitations of the Books of the Dead and the means for estimating numbers of children; Appendix 2. Deaths by quarter in Florence (parts 1-6); Notes; Bibliographical essay; Index.