Template:1347-10-00-Messina3

1347, October – 1347

Most plague refugees from Messina fail to enter Catania and spread the Black Death to Siracusa, Agrigento and Trapani.

Quid ultra? Adeo fuerunt abominabiles & timorosi, quod nemo cum eis loquebatur, nec conversabant, sed fugiebant velociter eorum visionem, eorum anelitus penitus recusantes, & quasi in derisione omnibus Cataniensibus sunt effecti. Et si aliquis eorum cum aliquo loquebatur, respondebat sibi vulgariter, non mi parlari ca si Missinisi, & nemo eos hospitabatur. Domos pro eorum habitaculis ad conducendum penitus non inveniebant. Et nisi quod Messanenses aliqui in civitate Catanie cum eorum familia habitantes eos clam hospitabantur, fuissent quasi omni auxilio destituiti. Disperguntur itaque Messanenses per univerfam insulam Sicilie, & pergentes in civitatem Siracusie, adeo illa egritudo sic infecit Siragusanos, quod diversos immo immensos letaliter interfecit; terra Xacce, terra Trapani, & civitas Agrigenti.

What more? They were so abominable and feared that no one would speak to them or interact with them; instead, people fled swiftly from their sight, completely avoiding their breath, and they became a subject of mockery to all the people of Catania. And if any of them spoke to someone, they would be answered rudely, "I don’t speak to those from Messina." No one would give them shelter. They could not find houses to rent as living quarters. If it had not been for some Messinese families living in the city of Catania who secretly hosted them, they would have been completely without help. Thus, the Messinese dispersed throughout the entire island of Sicily, and when they reached the city of Syracuse, the plague so thoroughly infected the Syracusans that it lethally afflicted many, even in great numbers. The lands of Sciacca, Trapani, and the city of Agrigento were similarly affected. (Translation: Martin Bauch)

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