Template:1348-04-18-Avignon

1348, April 18 VN: 80.000

The Black Death strikes Avignon and unusual mild weather combines with devastating frosts that damage fruits and crops.

Quo tempore eciam ibidem maxima fuit mortalitas, ut lxxx milia hominum infra tre menses Avinion. obiisse referantur. Fuit etiam tanta aeris temperies quod usque quarto idus aprilis nulla nix cecidit, sed idus aprilis venit nix que vinum et nuces lesit. Et tunc in nive cum philomela cuculus cecinit, […] Sed xiiii. Kal. Maii, que erat dies parascaphe, maior nix cecidit quam tota hieme cecidisset, et fere omnes fructus arborum consumpsit. Sed postea tanta temperies supervenit, quod aliqualiter fructus et segetes reparavit.

During that time (1348), there was also a great mortality there, with as many as eighty thousand people reported to have died in Avignon within three months. There was also such a temperate air that until the fourth day before the Ides of April, no snow fell. However, on 13 April, snow fell, damaging the vines and nuts. And then, in the snow, the blackbird and cuckoo sang. But on 18 April, which was Good Friday, more snow fell than had fallen in the whole winter, and it almost entirely consumed all the fruits of the trees. But afterward, such a temperate climate ensued that it somewhat restored the fruits and crops. (Translation: Martin Bauch)

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