The First Plague Pandemic in Italy: The Written Evidence

Abstract

Despite great interest in the history of plague, the written sources for the First Plague Pandemic (sixth to eighth centuries) in Italy have not received focused attention. The current study lays out the written evidence in its totality and subjects it to source-critical analysis. This investigation yields a catalogue of minimally nine and maximally fourteen attested outbreaks of plague across the First Pandemic. The study identifies the source of Paul the Deacon’s famous account of the plague in the 560s (and revises the consensus dating of this event), and it calls attention to several heretofore unnoticed reports of plague. The study also draws on comparative evidence from the much more richly attested experience of Italy during the Second Plague Pandemic of the late Middle Ages and early modernity. The analysis underscores that the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, and that there are genuine gaps in our knowledge of the long-term patterns of plague during this period. However, when we do have written testimony, close scrutiny underscores the emphasis of contemporary authors on the distinctive impact of plague.