Egypt
From EpiMedDat
In Egypt, a total of 20 epidemic events are known so far. It is a country.
Map of events in Egypt
Table
| Disease | DateStart date of the disease. | SummarySummary of the disease event | OriginalOriginal text | TranslationEnglish translation of the text | ReferenceReference(s) to literature | Reference translationReference(s) to the translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1216-11-28-Egypt | 28 November 1216 JL | In a letter a lethal disease in Egypt is mentioned, dated November 28, 1216. | אלמהדב אלמתסוק מן מצר... | In a letter that has survived as a fragment, a member of one of Egypt’s Jewish communities informs the addressee that a lethal disease (Arab. amrāḍ, Hebr. negef, dever) has affected an unnamed place in Egypt. The letter is dated November 28, 1216 (Kislev 16, 1528 Seleucid era). | Princeton Geniza Project (PGP), T-S 6J6.20, ed. by Alan Elbaum PGP | Translation by Undine Ott |
| 1217-03-00-Cairo | March 1217 JL | The fragment of a letter mentions a great epidemic (al-wabāʾ al-ʿaẓīm) which has struck the different parts of Cairo and has affected the physician and head of the Jews in Egypt (nagid), Avraham Maimonides (d. 1237), and his daughter. The fragment bears no date, but see here. | recto: ואמא חאלנא פאן אלמולי אלרייס הנגיד יג יק[ | As to us, our lord, the Rayyis, the Nagid [may his] gl[ory be] in[creased], the chief [Rav] is seriously ill, may God heal him, and so is his daughter; he is unable to treat her, and confined to his bed; throughout the week he could not get up, neither at night, nor at daytime, which caused him great grief; may God grant him health. Yesterday, I received a note from his father-in-law, our master, Hananel, the chief justice, may his high position endure, saying: "These days are like the Last Judgment; everyone is occupied only with himself." We strive to save ourselves from the great plague. In Miṣr [Fustat] and Cairo, there is no house belonging to important persons and, in fact, to anyone else, where not one or several persons are ill. People are in great trouble, occupied with themselves and unable to care for others, let alone for strangers. | Princeton Geniza Project (PGP), T-S NS 321.93, lines 8-14 recto, 3-6 verso, ed. by Shelomo D. Goitein, Chief Judge R. Ḥanan'el b. Samuel, In-law of R. Moses Maimonides (in Hebrew), in: Tarbiẕ 50, no. 10 (1980), pp. 371-395 PGP | None; None; |
| 1217-03-00-Cairo 002 | March 1217 JL | A letter mentions that a disease raged in Cairo, dated on March 17, 1217. | לקד כאן קלובנא ועיוננא מתטלעה אלי אללה סובחאנה ותעאלי | A letter to Avraham Maimonides (d. 1237), the head of the Jews in Egypt (nagid), in Cairo, written by the teacher, cantor, and clerk Yehuda b. al-ʿAmmānī in Alexandria. Yehuda mentions that the Jewish community in Alexandria had been fasting and supplicating on behalf of the addressee's health and for God to lift the disease (Hebr. dever) that raged in Cairo and had afflicted Avraham, too. The letter is dated to the end of Adar 1528 Seleucid era (the month ended on March 17, 1217). | Princeton Geniza Project (PGP), T-S 16.305, lines 24-31 verso, ed. by Miriam Frenkel, The Compassionate and Benevolent. The Leading Elite in the Jewish Community of Alexandria in the Middle Ages (in Hebrew), Jerusalem 2006 PGP | Translation by Undine Ott |
| 1250-00-00-Egypt | 1250 JL | Deaths among the French army in Egypt due to plague and famine | 1250 - Sed et prius pestilentia et inedia multi periere. Habuerunt enim caristiam et penuriam comestibilium rerum et victualium, nec talem dispositionem aeris habebant qualem in terra sua. | Template:Salimbene De Adam 1966, p. 486 | Translation needed | |
| 1250-02-00-Damiette | February 1250 JL | The army of the Sixth Crusade under the leaderhsip of the French King suffers from an epidemic and dearth around Damiette. | Anno Domini MCCL captus est Lodoycus rex Francie, et maior pars exercitus Gallici qui cum rege transfretaverat a Saracenis est interfecta. Sed et prius pestilentia et inedia multi periere. Habuerunt enim caristiam et penuriam comestibilium rerum et victualium, nec talem dispositionem aeris habebant qualem in terra sua | In the year of our Lord 1250, King Louis of France was captured, and the majority of the French army that had crossed over with the king was killed by the Saracens. But even before that, many perished due to pestilence and famine. They experienced a scarcity and shortage of foodstuffs and provisions, and they did not have the favorable climate conditions they were accustomed to in their own land | Salimbene De Adam 1966, p. 486 | Translation by Martin Bauch |
| 1258-00-00-Bilbeis | 1258 JL | Plague in Syria and Egypt. | In this year (i.e. 1258), plague struck across Syria, the regions of Egypt, and the like […] A fever and cough occurred in Bilbeis such that not one person was spared from it, yet there was none of that in Cairo. Then after a day or two, something similar happened in Cairo. I was stationed in Giza at that time. I rode to Cairo and found that this condition was spreading across the people of Cairo, except a few. | None | ||
| 1258-00-00-Syria 001 | 1258 JL | Famine and plague raged in the East. | Cette année, la famine et une maladie dangereuse, désolerent toutes les contrées de l’Orient.[…] Cette meme année, une maladie pestilentielle fit, en Syrie, de grands ravages. Il mourait, à Alep, douze cents personnes par jour. Und grand nombre d’ inhabitants de Damas fut victim de ce fléau | This year, famine and a dangerous disease devastated all the regions of the East. [...] In the same year, a pestilential disease caused great havoc in Syria. In Aleppo, twelve hundred people died per day. A large number of inhabitants of Damascus fell victim to this scourge. | Histoire des Sultans Mamlouks 1845, pp. 77-78. | Translation by Martin Bauch |
| 1300-09-16-Egypt | 1300 JL | Epidemic disease (fanāʾ) in cattle in Egypt in 700 AH (Sept. 16, 1300-Sept. 4, 1301). A lot of cattle died. Subsequently, water wheels could not be operated anymore, draft animals were lacking in farming, and cattle prices hiked. Sugar cane could not be cultivated, thus sugar prices rose. (A marginal note in one manuscript adds: It was related that an elder [shaykh min ahl al-filāḥa] from Ushmūm [Ashmūn al-Rummān, in the Nile Delta] lost all but eight of his 1,011 Khaysiyya cows to the disease.) |  | Baybars al-Mansuri - Zubdat al-fikra 1998, p. 351 | Translation needed | |
| 1300-09-16-Egypt 2 | 1300 JL | Epidemic disease (fanāʾ) in cattle, mainly in Egypt, in 700 AH (Sept. 16, 1300-Sept. 4, 1301). Cattle prices hiked. Subsequently, water wheels could not be operated with cattle anymore. Sugar cane could not be cultivated and sugar prices hiked. |  | Template:TN | al-Mufaḍḍal 1919-1929, pt. 3, p. 30 | None |
| 1300-09-16-Egypt 3 | 1300 JL | Epidemic disease (fanāʾ) in cattle in Egypt in 700 AH (Sept. 16, 1300-Sept. 4, 1301) that killed a great number of cows. It was related that the disease had killed 1,003 out of 1,021 Khaysiyya cows of an elder (shaykh) of Ushmūm-Ṭanāḥ (Ashmūn al-Rummān, in the Nile Delta). Cattle prices hiked and water wheels could not be operated with cattle anymore. | Al-Nuwayri - Nihayat al-arab 1964-1998, vol. 31, ed. by Albāz al-ʿArīnī and ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Ahwānī, Cairo 1992, p. 416 | Translation needed | ||
| 1309-06-11-Egypt | June 1309 JL | Epidemic (wabāʾ) in Cairo and other parts of Egypt in 709 AH (June 11, 1309 - May 30, 1310). Many people died, most of them were mamluks of amirs. |  | In that year the plague became widespread in Cairo, in Egypt, and throughout the Egyptian lands, and many people died from it. Most of those who died were the dependents (households) of the emirs. | Baybars al-Mansuri - Zubdat al-fikra 1998, p. 413 | ChatGPT 5.2 |
| 1346-00-00-Florence | 1346 JL | The mortality in those years was worse and greater than the deaths and disaster that god broughtt with the Flood, described in the Holy Scripture. For the author a conjunction in the year 1346 was not the reason for the plague, but instead the will of god.The passage describes the horrific symptoms and the route of spread through the world, via Africa, Italy, Germany, England and northern and eastern countries. Many people fled to areas, where they hoped to be spared. In addition, Matteo Villani observed that the people were more cruel to each other and didn't help their infected family members. This behavior first came from the barbaric nations, but was also widespread among Christians. With the time the people recognized that people who helped others were more likely spared by the plague. He thinks that the transmissions occur through sight and touch. The doctors were clueless about the reasons and nobody found a remedy. In Florence, the plague lasted from April 1348 to September 1348 and 3 out of 5 people regardless of sex and age died. Only the class had a influence, poor people were more affected. The mortality was everywhere similar in number and kind, like the reports suggested. | Della inaudita mortalità. Truovasi nella Santa Scrittura, che avendo il peccato corotto ogni via della umana carne, Iddio mandò il diluvio sopra la terra: e riservando per la sua misericordia l'umana carne inn-otto anime, di Noè, e di tre suoi figliuoli e delle loro mogli nell'arca, tutta l'altra generazione nel diluvio sommerse. Dappoi per li tempi, multipricando la gente, sono stati alquanti diluvii particulari, mortalità, coruzioni e pistolenze, (p. 6) fame e molti altri mali, che Idio ha permessi venire sopra li uomini per li loro peccati. […] Ma per quello che trovare si possa per le scritture, dal generale diluvio in qua, non fu universale giudicio di mortalità che tanto comprendesse l'universo, come quella che ne' nostri dì avenne. Nella quale mortalità, considerando la moltitudine che allora vivea, in comperazione di coloro (p. 7) ch'erano in vita al tempo del generale diluvio, assai più ne morirono in questa che in quello, secondo la estimazione di molti discreti. Nella quale mortalità avendo renduta l'anima a dDio l'autore della cronica nominata la Cronica di Giovanni Villani cittadino di Firenze […] (p. 8) Quanto durava il tempo della moria in catuno paese. Avendo per cominciamento nel nostro prencipio a racontare lo isterminio della generazione umana, e convenendone divisare il tempo e modo, la qualità, e quantità di quella, stipidisce la mente apressandosi a scriver la sentenzia, che lla divina giustizia co molta misericordia mandò sopra li uomini, degni per la curuzzione del peccato di finale giudicio. Ma pensando l’utolità salutevole che di questa memoria puote adivenire alle nazioni che dopo noi seguiranno, con più sicurtà del nostro animo così cominciamo. Videsi nelli anni di Cristo, dalla sua salutevole incarnazione MCCCXLVI, la congiunzione di tre superiori pianeti nel segno dell’Aquario, della quale congiunzione si disse per li astrolaghi che Saturno fu signore: onde pronosticarono al mondo grandi e gravi novitadi; ma simile congiunzione per li tempi passati molte altre volte stata e mostrata, la infruenza per altri particulari accidenti no parve cagione di questa, ma più tosto (p. 9) divino giudicio secondo la disposizione della assoluto volontà di Dio. Cominciossi nelle Parti d’Oriente, nel detto anno [1346], in verso il Cattai e l'India superiore, e nelle altre province circustanti a quelle marine dell’Occeano, una pestilenzia tra li uomini d’ogni condizione di catuna età e sesso, che cominciavano a sputare sangue, e morivano chi di sùbito, chi in due o in tre dì, e alquanti sostenevano più al morire. E Aveniva, che-cchi era a servire questi malati, appiccandosi quella malatia, o infetti, di quella medesima coruzione incontanente malavano, e morivano per somigliante modo; e a’ più ingrossava l’anguinaia, e a molti sotto le ditella delle braccia a destra e a sinistra, e altri in altre parti del corpo, che quasi generalmente alcuna enfiatura singulare nel corpo infetto si dimostrava. Questa pestilenzia si venne di tempo in tempo e di gente in gente aprendendo: comprese infra 'l termine d'uno anno la terza parte del mondo che si chiama Asia. E nell'ultimo di questo tempo (p. 10) s'agiunse alle nazioni del mare Maggiore, e alle ripdel mare Tirreno, nella Soria e Turchia, e in verso l'Egitto e lla riviera del mare Rosso, e dalla parte settantrionale la Rossia e lla Greccia, l'Erminia e l'altre conseguenti province. E in quello tempo galee d'Italiani si partirono del mare Maggiore, e della Soria e di Romania per fuggire la morte, e recare le loro mercantie inn-Italia: e' non poterono cansare che gran parte di loro no morisse in mare di quello infermità. E arivati in Cicilia conversaro co' paesani, e lasciarvi di loro malati, onde incontanente si comincià quella pistolenza ne’ Ciciliani. E venendo le dette galee a Pisa, e poi a Genova, per la conversazione di quelli uomini cominciò la mortalità ne’ detti luoghi, ma non generale. Poi conseguendo il tempo ordinato da dDio a’ paesi, la Cicilia tutta fu involta in questa mortale pistilenzia; E Il’ Africa nelle marine, e nelle sue province di verso levante e le rive del nostro mare Tirreno. E venendo di tempo in tempo verso il ponente, comprese la Sardigna, la Corsica, e l’altre isole di questo mare; e dall’altra parte, ch’è detta Europia, per simigliante modo agiunse alle parti vicine verso il ponente, volgendosi verso il mezzo giorno (p. 11) con più aspro asalimento che sotto le parti settantrionali. E nell’anni di Cristo MCCCXLVIII ebbe infetta tutta Italia, salva che lla città di Melano, e certi circustanti a l'alpi, che dividono la Italia dall'Alamagna, ove gravò poco. E in questo medesimo anno cominciò a passare le montagne, e stendersi in Provenza, in Savoia, nel Dalfinato, e in Borgogna, per la marina di Marsilia e d'Aguamorta, per la Catalogna, nell'isola di Maiolica, e in Ispagna e in Granata. E nel MCCCXLVIIII ebbe compreso fino nel ponente le rive del mare Occeano, d’Europia e d'Africa e d'Irlanda, e l'isola d’Inghilterra e di Scozia, e l'altre isole di ponente, e tutto infra terra con quasi iguale mortalità, salvo in Brabante ove poco offese. E nell MCCCL premette li Alamanni, li Ungheri, Donnismarche, Gotti, e Vandali, e li altri popoli e nazioni settantrionali. E la successione di questa pistolenzia durava nel paese ove s'aprendea cinque mesi continovi, overo cinque lunari: e questo avemmo per sperienza certa di molti paesi. Avenne, perché parea che questa impestifera infezione s’appiccasse per la veduta e per lo toccamento, che come l’uomo o lla femina e' fanciulli si conoscevano malati di quella enfiatura, molti n’abandonavano, e inumerabile quantità ne morirono che sarebbono campati se fossono stati aiutati (p. 12) delle cose bisognevoli. Tra lli infedeli cominciò questa innumanità crudele, che lle madri e' padri abandonavano i figiuoli, e i figliuoli i padri e lle madri, e l'uno fratello l'altro e li altri congiunti, cosa crudele e maravigliosa, e molto strana dalla umana natura, ditestata tra' fedeli cristiani, ne' quali seguendo le nazioni barbere, questa crudeltà si trovò. Essendo cominciata nella nostra città di Firenze, fu biasimata da’ discreti la sperienza veduta di molti, i quali si providono, e rinchiusono i luoghi solitari e di sana aria, forniti d’ogni buona cosa da vivere, ove non era sospetto di gente infetta; in diverse contrade il divino giudicio (a ccui non si può serrare le porti) li abatté come li altri che no s'erano proveduti. E molti altri, i quali si dispuosono alla morte per servire i loro parenti e amici malati, camparono avendo male, e assai non l’ebbono continovando quello servigio; per la qual cosa ciascuno si ravide, e cominciarono sanza sospetto ad aiutare e a servire l'uno l'altro; onde molti guarirono, ed erano più sicuri a servire li altri. (p. 13) Di detta matera. Di questa pestifera infermità i medici in catuna parte del mondo, per filosofia naturale, o per fisica, o per arte di strologia non ebbono argomento né vera cura. Alquanti per guadagnare andarono visitando e dando loro argomenti, li quali per la loro morte mostrarono l’arte essere fitta e non vera: e assai per coscienza lasciarono a ristituire i danari che di ciò avieno presi indebitamente. Nella nostra città cominciò generale all’entrare del mese d’aprile li anni Domini MCCCXLVIII, e durò fino al cominciamento del mese di settembre del detto anno. E morì tra nella città, contado e distretto di Firenze, d’ogni sesso e di catuna età, de’ cinque i tre e più, compensando il minuto popolo e i mezzani e’ maggiori, perché alquanto fu più menovato perché cominciò prima, ed ebbe meno (p. 14) aiuto e più disagi e difetti. E nel generale per tutto il mondo mancò la generazione umana per simiglante numero e modo, secondo le novelle ch'avemmo di molti paesi strani e di molte province del mondo. Ben furono province nel levante dove vie più ne moriro. | Of the outrageous mortality It is found in Holy Scripture that when sin had corrupted every human way of life, God sent the Flood upon the earth: and by his mercy saved eight souls, namely Noah, his three sons and their wives in the ark, while all the rest of mankind perished in the flood. Since then, in the course of time, as men multiplied, there have been some local floods, mortalities, corruptions and diseases, famines, and many other evils which God has permitted to come upon men because of their sins. [...] But from all that can be found in the Scriptures, there has been no universal judgement of mortality since the general deluge, which has affected the whole world so much as that which has taken place in our day. In this mortality, considering the multitude of people then living, as compared with those who lived at the time of the general deluge, far more people died in this than in that, according to the estimation of many experts. In this mortality, the author of the chronicle called "La Cronica" Giovanni Villani, citizen of Florence, gave his soul back to God. [...] How long the plague lasted in each country As we must begin our narrative by describing the destruction of the human generation, and by setting forth the time, type, quality, and quantity of this pestilence, a horror seizes the mind as it prepares to write the judgement which divine justice brought with much mercy upon men who, through the corruption of sin, had deserved final judgement. But when we think of the salutary benefits that can come from this report for the nations that will come after us, we begin with greater confidence. In the years of Christ, from his salvific incarnation in 1346, the conjunction of three upper planets was seen in the sign of Aquarius. The astrologers said that Saturn was the ruler of this conjunction and prophesied great and grave news to the world; but similar conjunctions had occurred many times in the past, and the influences of other particular events did not seem to be the cause of it, but rather divine judgement according to the absolute will of God. In that year 1346, in the eastern regions, towards Cathay and Upper India and in the neighbouring provinces on the coasts of the ocean, a plague began among the people of all classes, ages and sexes. The diseased began to spit blood and died either immediately, within two or three days and some only after prolonged suffering. It happened that those who cared for the sick were themselves infected, fell ill immediately and died in a similar way. In many, the groin swelled up, in others lymph nodes under the arms and in other parts of the body, and there was almost always a unique swelling on the infected body. This plague spread from time to time and from people to people: Within a year it covered a third of the world called Asia. At the end of this period it reached the peoples of the Black Sea and the coasts of the Tyrrhenian Sea, Syria and Turkey, Egypt and the coast of the Red Sea, the northern part of Russia, Greece, Armenia and other neighbouring provinces. At this time, Italian galleys left the Black Sea, Syria and Romania to escape death and bring their goods to Italy, but many of them died at sea from the disease. When they arrived in Sicily, they infected the locals, causing an immediate outbreak of the plague among the Sicilians. When the aforementioned galleys reached Pisa and then Genoa, mortality began in these places due to contact with these people, but not on a generalised scale. Then, when the time appointed by God for the countries came, the deadly plague seized the whole of Sicily; the coasts of Africa and the eastern provinces and the coasts of our Tyrrhenian Sea. It spread from time to time further westwards, and seized Sardinia, Corsica, and the other islands of that sea; and on the other side, which is called Europe, it reached the western parts in like manner, turning southwards, and attacking more violently than in the north. In the years of Christ 1348, it had infected the whole of Italy, with the exception of the city of Milan and some areas near the Alps that separate Italy from Germany, where it raged very little. In the same year, it began to cross the mountains and spread to Provence, Savoy, Dauphiné and Burgundy, along the coasts of Marseille and Aigues-Mortes, Catalonia, the island of Mallorca, Spain and Granada. In 1349, it finally reached the coasts of the Atlantic in Europe and Africa, as well as Ireland, the islands of England and Scotland and other western islands, and also spread inland with almost the same mortality rate, with the exception of Brabant, which was only slightly affected. In 1350 it reached Germany, Hungary, Denmark, the Goths, Vandals and other northern peoples and nations. The duration of this pestilence in the countries affected was five consecutive months or five lunar months, and this we have learnt as certain knowledge from many countries. It came about because it appeared that this pestilential infection was transmitted by sight and touch, that as the man or woman or children recognised the disease of the swelling, many left it and countless people died who could have been saved if they had been given the necessary remedies. Among the unbelievers this cruel inhumanity began, that mothers and fathers left their children, children left their parents, brothers and sisters left each other - a cruel, strange and very unhuman act, which was widespread even among Christians, following the barbaric nations. When it began in our city of Florence, it was condemned by the wise people, that many people took the precaution of moving to remote places with healthy air, equipped with all the necessities of life, in places where no infected people were suspected. They were struck by the divine judgment, to which no doors can be closed, like others who had not prepared themselves. Many others who had chosen to die in the service of their sick relatives and friends survived despite the illness, and many who continued this service did not fall ill. This led to everyone regaining courage and beginning to help and serve one another without fear, resulting in many recovering and being more confident to help others. About this subject The doctors in all parts of the world had no remedy or true cure for this pestilential disease either by natural philosophy, medicine, or astrology. Some, for gain, visited the sick and gave them advice, but their deaths showed their art to be deceitful and untruthful: many others, for conscience sake, returned the wrongfully obtained money. In our town, the general plague began at the beginning of April 1348 and lasted until the beginning of September of the same year. In the city, neighbourhood and district of Florence, more than three out of five people of each sex and age died, with the poor being more affected than the middle and richer part of the population, as they started earlier and had less help and greater inconveniences and shortcomings. On the whole, the human population in the world was similarly lacking in number and kind, according to the reports we have received from many foreign countries and provinces of the world. However, there were provinces in the East where even more people died. | Template:Matteo Villani 1995, Vol. 1, pp. 5-14. | Translation by ChatGPT-3.5; Translation by DeepL; |
| 1347-00-00-China | 1347 JL | The Black Death with presumed origins in China or Ethiopia, spreading to Syria and Egypt. Discussion of its spread via Caffa and Constantinopel, Genoa and reaching the Iberian Peninsula. | Die Meinungen über die Herkunft dieses Ereignisses gehen auseinander. Der Gewährsmann erwähnte nach dem Zeugnis mancher christlichen Kaufleute, die nach Almeriah kamen, daß die Krankheit in dem Lande Hata entstanden sei; Hata heißt in der persischen Sprache China, wie ich es von einem Gewährsmann aus Samarkand gelernt habe. China ist die Grenze der bewohnten Erde nach Osten zu. Die Seuche ist in China verbreitet und von da aus ist sie nach dem persischen Irak, den türkischen Ländern gewandert. Andere erwähnten nach dem Bericht christlicher Reisenden, daß sie in Abessinien entstanden sei und von dort aus in die Nachbarländer bis nach Ägypten und Syrien vorgedrungen sei. Diese verschiedenen Berichte beweisen, daß die Katastrophe allgemein alle Länder und Zonen heimgesucht hat. Der Grund der Verschiedenheit der Berichte ist, daß, wenn sie in einem an der (p. 42) Grenze der Erde liegenden Lande erscheint, dessen Einwohner denken, daß die Krankheit dort entstanden sei; und von dort aus verbreitet sich diese Ansicht. Es ist uns auch von vielen Seiten berichtet worden, daß sie in der genuesischen Festung Kaffa gewesen sei, die unlängst durch ein Heer von mohammedanischen Türken und Romäern belagert wurde, dann in Pera, dann in dem großen Konstantinopel, auf den Inseln von Armania an der Küste des Mittelmeeres, in Genua, in Frankreich. Sie griff weiter über nach dem fruchtbaren Andalusien, überschwemmte die Gegenden von Aragon, Barcelona, Valencia u. a., verbreitete sich in dem größten Teil des Königreichs Kastilien bis Sevilla im äußersten Westen, erreichte auch die Inseln des Mittelmeeres Sizilien, Sardinien, Mallorca, Ibiza, sprang über nach der gegenüberliegenden Küste von Afrika und ging von da aus weiter nach Westen. | Opinions differ as to the origin of this event. According to the testimony of some Christian merchants who came to Almeriah, the author mentioned that the disease originated in the land of Hata; Hata means China in the Persian language, as I learnt from an author from Samarkand. China is the border of the inhabited earth to the east. The disease spread in China and from there it travelled to Persian Iraq and the Turkish countries. Others mentioned, according to the report of Christian travellers, that it originated in Abyssinia and from there spread to neighbouring countries as far as Egypt and Syria. These different reports prove that the catastrophe affected all countries and zones in general. The reason for the diversity of reports is that when it appears in a country lying on the (p. 42) frontier of the earth, its inhabitants think that the disease originated there; and from there this opinion spreads. It has also been reported to us from many quarters that it was in the Genoese fortress of Kaffa, which was recently besieged by an army of Mohammedan Turks and Romæans, then in Pera, then in the great Constantinople, on the islands of Armania on the coast of the Mediterranean, in Genoa, in France. It spread further to fertile Andalusia, flooded the regions of Aragon, Barcelona, Valencia and others, spread through most of the kingdom of Castile as far as Seville in the far west, reached the Mediterranean islands of Sicily, Sardinia, Mallorca, Ibiza, jumped over to the opposite coast of Africa and from there continued westwards.. | Dinanah 1927, pp. 41-42 | Translation by Martin Bauch |
| 1348-04-00-Egypt | April 1348 JL | The Black Death in Egypt and other countries in 749 H (April 1, 1348 to March 22, 1349): People were taken by surprise by the epidemic (wabāʾ) whose death toll was high. The odors of death met them. People died quickly of the disease after buboes had appeared at their earlobes (marrāq). |   | al-Nuwayrī - Kitāb al-Ilmām 1968-1976, vol. 4 (1970), pp. 126-127; 143. | Translation needed | |
| 1348-04-00-Middle East | April 1348 JL | From April 1, 1348 to March 22, 1349), an unprecedented plague hit the Middle East, and lasted about a year, and one third of Greater Syria’s and Egypt’s population died. | The Black Death in the Middle East: In the year 749 H (April 1, 1348 to March 22, 1349), an unprecedented wave of plague hit the Middle East. It was the sixth plague which affected the Middle East in the Islamic period. It was called the Kinship Plague (Ṭāʿūn al-Ansāb) since the decease of a person was often followed by the death of some of his or her relatives. People developed pustules, spat yellow blood and died within 50 hours. When people started spitting blood they would bid farewell to their friends, close their shops, their burial would be prepared, and they would die in their homes. The daily death toll reached a maximum of ca. 500 in Aleppo, more than 1,000 in Damascus, and ca. 20,000 in Egypt. Mostly women, youths, poor people, and riffraff died. The plague wave lasted about a year, and ca. one third of Greater Syria’s (Shām) and Egypt’s population died. | Ibn Ḥabīb - Tadhkirat al-nabīh 1976-1986, vol. 3 (1986), pp. 110-112 | Translation by Undine Ott | |
| 1361-10-00-Egypt | October 1361 JL | A deadly disease (fanāʾ) hit Cairo, Alexandria and further places in 763 H (October 31, 1361 to October 19, 1362). Many people died. |  | "In the year 763 AH (1362-1363 AD), a plague struck Egypt, Alexandria, and other places, causing the death of many people. In the year 775 AH (1373-1374 AD), a calamity befell in Ben Saghta.
(3) In Ben: many people died. (4) In: the number increased in Ben and decreased elsewhere. (5) Among the original inhabitants, many died, and in Ben, the number increased and decreased elsewhere." | al-Nuwayrī - Kitāb al-Ilmām 1968-1976, vol. 4 (1970), p. 127. | Translation by ChatGPT-3.5 |
| 1362-10-00-Middle East | 20 October 1362 JL | A deadly disease (wabāʾ) hit Egypt in 764 H (October 20, 1362 to October 9, 1363), the maximum daily death toll reached 2,000. The disease was then transmitted to Greater Syria. | Mortalitas magna per totum fere mundum | There was a great mortality in almost all of the world. | Ibn Ḥabīb - Tadhkirat al-nabīh 1976-1986, vol. 3 (1986), p. 259 | Translation by Thomas Wozniak |
| 1363-06-00-Florence | June 1363 JL | The plague raged in Florence, Venice, Padua, Istria, Slavonia, Egypt, Syria and other parts of the Middle East | Della mortalità dell'anguinaia Nel presente mese di giugno, per vere lettere de' mercatanti fu in Firenze come in Egitto, e in Soria, e nell'altre parti di Levante la pistilenzia dell'anguinaia; gravissimamente offendea e in Vinegia, e in Padova, e nell'Istria, e in Ischiavonia, nonistente che i detti luoghi altra volta toccasse. Anche gravemente ritoccò le terre di Toscana, e quasi tutte comprese, e in Firenze, già stata generale tre mesi per tutto giugno con fracasso d'ogni maniera di gente. | The mortality of the inguinal plague In the current month of June, the inguinal plague was reported to be raging in Florence as well as in Egypt, Syria and other parts of the Middle East, according to reliable reports from merchants. It also caused serious damage in Venice, Padua, Istria and Slavonia, although it had already affected these areas at other times. Tuscany was also severely affected again, almost all places were hit, and in Florence, where it had already been affecting every kind of person for three months, the whole of July, with great noise. | Matteo Villani 1995, Vol. 2, p. 660. | Translation by ChatGPT-3.5; Translation by DeepL; |
| 1367-08-00-Egypt | August 1367 JL | A deadly disease (wabāʾ) hit Egypt in 769 H (August 28, 1367 to August 15, 1368). It lasted about four months. The daily death toll reached 1,000 and more. | Ibn Ḥabīb - Tadhkirat al-nabīh 1976-1986, vol. 3 (1986), p. 312 | Translation needed | ||
| 1374-03-16-Alexandria | March 1374 JL | Many people, mainly children, died of plague (ṭāʿūn, fanāʾ, wabāʾ) in Alexandria from Shawwāl 775 H (March 16 to April 14, 1374) to Rabīʿ I 776 H (August 10, 1374 to September 8, 1374). Up to 200 people died per day. In Shawwāl, 7,000 people perished within three days. In 775 H (1373), the Nile had failed to reach the necessary gauge (wafāʾ) during the summer flood, and many fields in Egypt could not be cultivated. Prices for grain and other foodstuffs rose in Egypt. Prices remained high also during the following year (776 H: June 13, 1374 to June 1, 1375) despite a sufficient Nile flood and the availability of grain. People became impoverished and died of hunger due to the rise in prices while grain merchants (khazzān) made huge profits. Finally, people revolted against inflation and famine. Plague came on top of famine. In Alexandria, 17,000 people reportedly died of plague, 12,000 of whom were male and female children. [...] |     | al-Nuwayrī - Kitāb al-Ilmām 1968-1976, vol. 3 (1970), pp. 253-254; vol. 4 (1970), p. 127-129; 143; vol. 6 (1973), pp. 423-425. | Translation needed |
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