Sheep

For Sheep, a total of 15 epidemic events are known so far. It is a animal.

Table

Table

Page	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
1205-00-00-Holy Empire	1205 JL	A mortality among sheeps breaks out in the Holy Roman Empire.	Mortalitas ovium per totum imperium.	Mortality of sheeps all across the Empire.	Reineri Annales, p. 657	Translation by Thomas Labbé
1258-00-00-Prague	1258 JL	In Prague frost and mortality among sheeps.	Hoc anno gelu laesit fructus arboreos et vineas, et mortalitas ovium fuit	This year, frost damaged the fruit trees and vineyards, and there was a mortality among the sheep.	Canonicorum Pragensium Contin. Cosmae, p. 176.	Translation by Martin Bauch
1258-00-00-St. Albans	1258 JL	Plague among sheeps in St. Albans.	et pecudes necuit pubescentes, ita ut ovium et agnorum pestis fieret generalis	and killed the young livestock, resulting in a widespread pestilence among sheep and lambs.	Matthaei Parisiensis: Chronica majora 1872–1884, Vol. 5, p. 674.	Translation by Martin Bauch
1277-00-00-Steterburg	1277 JL	Severe plague among animals	Anno sequenti pestilencia pecorum est exorta, ita ut nobis secundum veram computacionem mille et ducente oves et plus quam centum vacce morerentur; unde in comparandis lacticiniis multa expendere oportebat.		Gesta praepositorum Stederburgensium continuata, p. 728, l. 42	Translation needed
1284-00-00-Iceland 002	1284 JL	Plague, epizootic and a famine in Iceland in 1284	Sott mikil fiardaudi ok do mart folk i sulti ok margir bęir eyddvz.	There was a great plague, death of livestock, and many people died of starvation, and many towns perished.	Flateyjarannáll. In: Gustav Storm: Islandske Annaler indtil 1578. Kristiania 1888, p. 383	Translation by Carina Damm
1313-00-00-Iceland 002	1313 JL	Epizootic in Iceland in 1313	hrider og fiar fellir micill æ Islandi svo at vida vm sveiter vrdu menn mioc svo snauder at kvikfie og mest hrossa fie.	Snowstorms and mortality of cattle on Iceland so that in many parts of the countryside people became very destitute of livestock and mostly horses.	Gottskálksannáll. In: Gustav Storm: Islandske Annaler indtil 1578. Kristiania 1888, p. 343	Translation by Carina Damm
1313-00-00-Iceland 003	1313 JL	Epizootic in Iceland in 1313	Snio vetr allmikill vm allt ok þar með fial fellir.	Very harsh winter with snow all over the country and with it mortality of cattle.	Skálholtsannáll. In: Gustav Storm: Islandske Annaler indtil 1578. Kristiania 1888, p. 203	Translation by Carina Damm
1331-00-00-Iceland 003	1331 JL	Mortality of sheep in Iceland in 1331	fiar fellir.	Mortality of sheep.	Annálabrot frá Skálholti. In: Gustav Storm: Islandske Annaler indtil 1578. Kristiania 1888, p. 219	Translation by Carina Damm
1331-00-00-Iceland 005	1331 JL	Famine in Iceland in the winter of 1331	Vetur þenna var mjög hörð veðrátta og varð heylitið á búum staðarins en margt kvikfé. [...] Veðráttan tók að harðna og hélt svo sömu harðindum fram. Kom svo að sauðfénaður staðarins datt niður unnvörpum í megurð.	This winter was very harsh and the local farms lost a lot of livestock. [...] The weather began to harden and then continued the same hardiness. It came to pass that the sheep of the place were reduced to nothing through starvation.	Lárentíus saga biskups, A. In: Guðrún Ása Grímsdóttir: Árna saga biskups. In: Biskupa sögur III (= Íslenzk fornrit, 17). Reykjavík 1998, pp. 432, 435	Translation by Carina Damm
1331-00-00-Iceland 006	1331 JL	Mortality of sheep in Iceland due the harsh winter of 1331 that lasted until Lent	Vetur þessi varð mjög harður. ... Hélzt hörð veðrátta allt til vors og í langaföstu datt niður fénaður staðarins unnvörpum af megurð og sulti.	This winter was very hard. ... Harsh weather lasted until spring, and during Lent the local livestock died from starvation and hunger.	Lárentíus saga biskups. In: Guðrún Ása Grímsdóttir: Árna saga biskups. In: Biskupa sögur III (= Íslenzk fornrit, 17). Reykjavík 1998, pp. 432-33	Translation by Carina Damm
1340-00-00-Tuscany	1340 JL	Mortality in Tuscany, particularly in Florence with more than 3.000 deaths a day. Also disease of the sheeps.	Tunc dicto anno fuit magna mortalitas pecudum et eciam hominum et in partibus Tusciae et Florentiae passi sunt diem extremum ultra tria milia personarum.	Then, in that year, there was a great mortality of livestock and also of humans, and in the regions of Tuscany and Florence, more than three thousand people passed away.	Giovanni da Bazzano - Chronicon Mutinense 1917, p. 119.	Translation by ChatGPT-3.5
1341-00-00-Iceland 002	1341 JL	Great mortality among sheep and cattle in southern Iceland in 1341	Snio vetr sva micill fyrir sunnan land at engi vissi dæmi til annars þviliks. lagði a fyrir vetr ok helltz til sumars ok fylgði fiar fellir micill allz háttar. Elldz vpp quama inn setta í Heklu felli einni nótt eptir festum Dunstani. með sva miklu myrkri af ósku fallinu at í sumum stóðum fra dagmalum til nóns sa ekki skrím vti helldr enn menn væri blindir. ok var þo mikit myrkr allan daginn ok marga aðra siðan tok askan i aukla undir Eyia fióllum. ok fylgði naut fellir micill. annarr elldr var vppi í Hnappar vallar iókli. hinn priði i Herði breið yfir Fliotzdals heraði ok voru allir jafnsnemma vppi.	A winter with such a great snowfall in the south of the country that no one knew of anything alike. [The snow] laid before the winter and stayed until the summer, and was followed by a great mortality of all kinds among sheep. The last volcanic eruption of Mount Hekla one night after the feast of St Dunstan (= 19 May) [happened] with so much darkness from the fall of ash that in some places it was impossible to see anything outside from daytime to the ninth hour, and people were blind. And it was very dark all day and many others were covered by the ash under Eyjafjöll and there followed a great loss of cattle. Another fire was up in Hnapparvallarjökull, the third in Herðubreið above the region of Fljótsdal and they were all up at the same time.	Skálholtsannáll. In: Gustav Storm: Islandske Annaler indtil 1578. Kristiania 1888, p. 273	Translation by Carina Damm
1341-00-00-Iceland 003	1341 JL	Volcanic eruption of Hekla in 1341. Followed by a great famine and mortality among sheep and cattle. 800 oxen died in the diocese of Skálholt between May and June.	Ellz upp kuama i Heklu felli med myklu sanndfalli ok sua storum brestum at biorgum laust saman i elldinum at naliga heyrdi um allt land sua uar ok dimt medan sanndfallid stod mest yfir. at eigi uar bok liost i kirkium þeim er næst stodu uppkuamu ellzins. hallæri mikid. mikill fiarfellir bædi sauda ok nauta sua at midil fardaga ok Peturs messo fiell at eins fyrir Skalhollti lxxx nauta.	A fire broke out in Mount Hekla with a great fall of sand and such large cracks in the rocks that the fire could be heard all over the country. It was also mostly dark while the sand fell, so there was no light in the churches that were closest to the outbreak of the fire. Great famine. A great mortality of both sheep and cattle, so that between the 'moving days' (=21−27 May) and St. Peter's Mass (29 June), a total of 80 oxen died in Skálholt.	Annálabrot frá Skálholti. In: Gustav Storm: Islandske Annaler indtil 1578. Kristiania 1888, p. 222	Translation by Carina Damm
1341-00-00-Iceland 004	1341 JL	Volcanic eruption of Hekla in 1341. Followed by a great mortality of livestock, especially sheep and cattle in Rangárvellir in southern Iceland.	Þa kom vpp elldr j Heklufelle med sua miklu sannfalle at fenadr do af vm varit. ok saudfe ok nautfenadr do mest vm Rangar vollu. ok eydde naligha .v. reppa. ok vidara. annarstadar do naut manna af sandinum.	Then there was a fire in Mount Hekla with so much sand falling that livestock died in the spring, and sheep and cattle died mostly around Rangárvellir and nearly destroyed five districts. In other places, cattle died from the sand.	Lögmannsannáll. In: Gustav Storm: Islandske Annaler indtil 1578. Kristiania 1888, p. 273	Translation by Carina Damm
1348-03-00-Firenze	March 1348 JL	Arrival of the Black Death in Florence: a most detailed description of all its impacts and consequences	Negli anni del Signore MCCXLVIII fu nella città di Firenze e nel contado grandissima pistilenzia, e fu di tale furore e di tanta tempesta, che nella casa dove s'appigliava chiunque servìa niuno malato, tutti quelli che lo' serviano, moriano di quel medesimo male, e quasi niuno passava lo quarto giorno, e non valeva nè medico, nè medicina, o che non fossero ancora conosciute quelle malattie, o che li medici non avessero sopra quelle mai studiato, non parea che rimedio vi fosse. Fu di tanta paura che niuno non sapea che si fare; quando s'appigliava in alcuna casa, spesso avvenia che non vi rimanea persona che non morisse. E non bastava solo gli uomini e le femmine, ma ancora gli animali sensitivi, cani e gatte, polli, buoi, asini e pecore moriano di quella malattia e con quel segno, e quasi niuno, a cui venà lo segno, o pochi, veniano a guarigione. Lo segno era questo, che, o tra la coscia e'l corpo al modo (nodo?) d'anguinaia, o sotto lo ditello apparia un grossetto, e la febbre a un tratto, e quando sputava, sputava sangue mescolato colla saliva, e quegli che sputava sangue niuno campava. Fu questa cosa di tanto spavento, che veggendo appiccarla in una casa, ove cominciava, come detto è, non vi rimanea niuno; le genti spaventate abbondanavano la casa, e fuggivano in un' altra; e chi nella città, e chi si fuggia in villa. Medici non si trovavano, perocchè moriano come gli altri; quelli che si trovavano, voleano smisurato prezzo in mano innanzi che intrassero nella casa, ed entratovi, tocavono il polso col viso volo adrieto, e' da lungi volevono vedere l'urina con cose odorifere al naso. Lo figluolo abbandonava il padre, lo marito la moglie, la moglie il marito, l'uno fratello l'altro, l'una sirocchia l'altra. Tutta la città non avea a fare altro che a portare morti a sepellire; mollti ne morirono, che non ebbono all lor fine nè confessione ed altri sacramenti; e moltissimi morirono che non fu chi li vedesse, e molti ne morirono di fame, imperocchè come uno si ponea in sul letto malato, quelli di casa sbigottiti gli diceano: “Io vo per lo medico” e serravano pianamente l'uscio da via, e non vi tornavano più. Costui abbandonato dalle persone e poi da cibo, ed accompagnato dalla febbre si venia meno. Molti erano, che sollicitavano li loro che non li abbandonassero, quando venia alla sera; e' diceano all'ammalato: “Acciocchè la notte tu non abbi per ogni cosa a destare chi ti serve, e dura fatica lo dì e la notte, totti tu stesso de' confetti e del vino o acqua, eccola qui in sullo soglio della lettiera (p. 231) sopra 'l capo tuo, e po' torre della roba”. E quando s'addormentava l'ammalato, se n'andava via, e non tornava. Se per sua ventura si trovava la notte confortato di questo cibo la mattina vivo e forte da farsi a finestra, stava mezz'ora innanzichè persona vi valicasse, se non era la via molto maestra, e quando pure alcun passava, ed egli avesse un poco di voce che gli fosse udito, chiamando, quando gli era risposto, non era soccorso. Imperocchè niuno, o pochi voleano intrare in casa, dove alcuno fosse malato, ma ancora non voelano ricettare di quelli, che sani uscissero della casa del malato, e diceano: "Egli è affatappiato, non gli parlate" dicendo: "E' l'ha perocchè in casa sua è il Gavocciolo; e chiamavano quelle inflato gavocciolo. Moltissimi morieno senza esser veduti, che stavano in sullo letto tanto che puzzavano. E la vicinanza, se v'era, sentito lo puzzo, mettevono per borsa, e lo mandavano a seppellire. Le case rimaneano aperte, e non er ardito persona di tocare nulla, che parea che le cose rimanessero avvelenate, che chi le usava gli s'appicava il male.Fecesi a ogni chiesa, o alle più, fosse infon all'acqua, larghe e cupe, secondo lo popolo era grande; e quivi chi non era molto ricco, la notte morto, quegli, a cui toccava, se lo metteva sopra la spalla, o gittavalo in questa fossa, o pagava gran prezzo a chi lo facesse. La mattina se ne trovavano assai nella fossa, toglievasi della terra, e gettavasi laggiuso loro addosso; e poi veniano gli altri sopr'essi, e poi la terra addosso a suolo, a suolo, con poca terra, come si ministrasse lasagne a fornire formaggio. Li' beccamorti, che facevano gli servigi, erono prezzolati di sì gran prezzo, che molti n'arrichirono, e molti ne morirono, chi ricco e chi con poco guadagno, ma gran prezzo avieno. Le serviziali, o o serviziali, che servieno li malati volieno da uno in tre fiorini per dì e le spese di cose fiorite. Le cose che mangiavano i malati, confetti e zucchero, smisuratamente valevano. Fu vendeuta di tre in otto fiorini la libbra di zucchero e al simile gli altri confetti. Li pollastri ed alti pollami a meraviglia carissimi, e l'uovo di prezzo di denari 12 in 24 l'uno; e beato chi ne trovava tre il dì con cercare tutta la città. La cera era miracolo; la libbra sarebba montata più di un fiorino, senonchè vi si puose freno alle grande burbanze, che sempre feciono gli Fiorentini, perocchè si diede ordine non si potesse portare più due doppieri. Le chiese non avieno più che una bara, com' è d'uso, non bastava. Li speziali e bechamorti avien prese bare, coltri e guanciali con grandissimo prezzo. Lo vestire di stamigna che si usava nei morti, che soleva costare una donna, gonella guarnacca e mantello e veli, fiorini tre, montò in pregio di fiorini trenta, e sarebbe ito in fiorini cento, se non che si levò di vestire della stamigna, e chi era ricco vestiva di panno, e chi non ricco in lenzoletto lo cucìa. Costava le panche, che si pongono i morti, uno sfolgoro, e ancora non bastava tutte le panche ch'erano il centesimo. Lo sonare delle campane non si potevano li preti contentare; di che si fece ordine tra per lo sbigottimento del sonare delle campane e per lo vender le panche e raffrenare le spese, che a niuno corpo si sonasse, nè si ponesse panche, nè si bandisse, perocchè l'udivano gli ammalati, sbigottivano li sani, nonchè i malati. Li preti e i frati andavano ai ricchi e in tanta moltitudine, ed erano sì pagati di tanto prezzo che tutti arrichieno. E però si fece ordine che non si potesse avere più che d'una regola e la chiesa del popolo, e per la regola sei frati e non più. Tutte le frutta nocive vietarono a entrare nella città, come susine acerbe, mandorle in erba, fave fresche, fichi ed ogni frutta [p. 232] non utile e non sana. Molte processioni ed orlique e la tavola di S. Maria Impruneta vennero andando per la città, gridando: "Misericordià", e facendo orazioni, e poi in sulla ringhiera dei Priori fermate. Vi si rendereno paci di gran questioni e di ferite e di morte d'uomini. Fu questa cosa di tanto sbigottimento e di tanta paura' che le genti si ragunavano in brigata a mangiare per pigliare qualche conforto; e dava l'uno la sera cena a dieci compagni, e l'altra sera davono ordine di mangiare con uno di quelli, e quando credevono cenare con quello, ed egli era senza cena, che quegli era malato, o quando era fatta la cena per dieci, vi se ne trovava meno due o tre. Chi si fuggìa in villa, chi nelle castella per mutare aria; ove non eralo portavono, se v'era lo crescevano. Niuna Arte si lavorava in Firenze: tutte le botteghe serrate, tutte le taverne chiuse, salvo speziali e chiese. Per la Terra andavi, che non trovavi persona; e molti buoni e ricchi uomini erano portati dalla casa a chiesa nella bara con quattro beccamortì et uno chiericuzzo che portava la croce, e poi volieno uno fiorino uno. Di questa mortalità arricchirono speziali, medici, pollaiuoli, beccamorti, trecche di malva, ortiche, marcorelle et altre erbe da impiastri per macerare malori. E fu più quelle che feciono queste trecche d'erbe, fu gran denaro. Lanaiuoli, e ritagliatori che si trovarono panni li vendeano ciò che chiedeono. Ristata la mortalità chi si trovò panni fatti d'ogni ragione n'aricchiì, o chi si trovò da poterne fare; ma molti se ne trovarono intignati' e guasti e perduti a' telai; e stame e lana in quantità perdute per la città e contado. Questa pistolenza cominciò di marzo, come detto è, e finì di settembre 1348. E le genti cominciavono a tornare e rivedersi le case e le masserizie. E fu tante le case pien di tutti li beni, che non avevono signore, ch'era un stupore, poi si cominciarono a vedere gli eredi dei beni. E tale che non aveva nulla si trovò ricco, che non pareva che fusse suo, ed a lui medesimo pareva gli si disdicesse. E cominciornon a sfogiare nei vestimenti e ne' cavagli e le donne e gli uomini	In the year of our lord 1348 there occurred in the city and contado of Florence a great pestilence, and such was its fury and violence that in whatever household it took hold, whosoever took care of the sick, all the carers died of the same illness, and almost nobody survived beyond the fourth day, neither doctors nor medicine proving of any avail, and there appeared to be no remedy, either because those illnesses were not yet recognised, or because doctors had never previously had cause to study them properly. Such was the fear that nobody knew what to do: when it caught hold in a household, it often happened that not a single person escaped death. And it wasn't just men and women: even sentient animals such as dogs and cats, hens, oxen, donkeys and sheep, died from that same disease and with those symptoms, and almost none who displayed those symptoms, or very few indeed, effected a recovery. Those symptoms were as follows: either between the thigh and the body, in the groin region, or under the armpit, there appeared a lump, and a sudden fever, and when the victim spat, he spat blood mixed with saliva, and none of those who spat blood survived. Such was the terror this caused that seeing it take hold in a household, as soon as it started, nobody remained: everybody abandoned the dwelling in fear, and fled to another; some fled into the city and others into the countryside. No doctors were to be found, because they were dying like everybody else; those who could be found wanted exorbitant fees cash-in-hand before entering the house, and having entered, they took the patient's pulse with their heads turned away, and assayed the urine samples from afar, with aromatic herbs held to their noses. Sons abandoned fathers, husbands wives, wives husbands, one brother the other, one sister the other. The city was reduced to bearing the dead to burial; many died who at their passing had neither confession nor last sacraments, and many died unseen, and many died of hunger, for when somebody took ill to his bed, the other occupants in panic told him: 'I'm going for the doctor'; and quietly locked the door from the outside and didn't come back. The victim, abandoned by both people and nourishment, yet kept constant company by fever, wasted away. Many were those who begged their families not to abandon them; when evening came, the relatives said to the patient: 'So that you don't have to wake up the people looking after you at night, asking for things, because this is going on day and night, you yourself can reach for cakes and wine or water, here they are on the shelf above your bed, you can get the stuff when you want'. And when the patient fell asleep, they went away and did not return. If, through good fortune the victim had been strengthened by that food, the next morning alive and still strong enough to get to the window, he would have to wait half an hour before anybody came past, if this was not a busy thoroughfare, and even when the odd person passed by, and the patient had enough voice to be heard a little, if he shouted, sometimes he would be answered and sometimes not, and even if he were to be answered, there was no help to be had. For not only none or very few wished to enter a house where there were any sick people, but they didn't even want to have contact with those who issued healthy from a sick person's house, saying: 'He's jinxed, don't speak to him', saying: 'He's got it because there's the "gavocciolo" [bubo] in his house'; and 'gavocciolo' was the name they gave to these swellings. Many died without being seen, remaining on their beds till they stank. And the neighbours, if any were left, having smelled the stench, did a whip round and sent him for burial. Houses remained open, nobody dared to touch anything, for it seemed that things remained poisoned, and whoever had anything to do with them caught the disease. At every church, or at most of them, pits were dug, down to the water-table, as wide and deep as the parish was populous; and therein, whosoever was not very rich, having died during the night, would be shouldered by those whose duty it was, and would either be thrown into this pit, or they would pay big money for somebody else to do it for them. The next morning there would be very many in the pit. Earth would be taken and thrown down on them; and then others would come on top of them, and then earth on top again, in layers, with very little earth, like garnishing lasagne with cheese. The gravediggers who carried out these functions were so handsomely paid that many became rich and many died, some already rich and others having earned little, despite the high fees. The female and male sick-bay attendants demanded from one to three florins a day, plus sumptuous expenses. The foodstuffs suitable for the sick, cakes and sugar, reached outrageous prices. A pound of sugar was sold at between three and eight florins, and the same went for other confectionery. Chickens and other poultry were unbelievably expensive, and eggs were between 12 and 24 denari each: you were lucky to find three in a day, even searching through the whole city. Wax was unbelievable: a pound of wax rose to more than a florin, nevertheless an age-old arrogance of the Florentines was curbed, in that an order was given not to parade more than two large candles. The churches only had one bier apiece, as was the custom, and this was insufficient. Pharmacists and grave-diggers had obtained biers, hangings and laying-out pillows at great price. The shroud-cloth apparel which used to cost, for a woman, in terms of petticoat, outer garment, cloak and veils, three florins, rose in price to thirty florins, and would have risen to one hundred florins, except that they stopped using shroud-cloth, and whoever was rich was dressed with plain cloth, and those who weren't rich were sewn up in a sheet. The benches placed for the dead cost a ludicrous amount, and there weren't enough of them even if there had been a hundred times more. The priests couldn't get enough of ringing the bells: so an order was passed, what with the panic caused by the bells ringing and the sale of benches and the curbing of spending, that nobody should be allowed the death-knell, nor should benches be placed, nor should there be a public announcement by the crier, because the sick could hear them, and the healthy took fright as well as the sick. The priests and friars thronged to the rich, and were paid such great sums that they all enriched themselves. And so an ordinance was passed that only one rule (of religious houses) and the local church could be had, and from that rule a maximum of six friars. All harmful fruit, such as unripe plums, unripe almonds, fresh beans, figs and all other inessential unhealthy fruit, was forbidden from entering the city. Many processions and relics and the painting of Santa Maria Impruneta were paraded around the city, to cries of 'Mercy', and with prayers, coming to a halt at the rostrum of the Priori. There peace was made settling great disputes and questions of woundings and killings. Such was the panic this plague provoked that people met for meals as a brigata to cheer themselves up; one person would offer a dinner to ten friends, and the next evening it would be the turn of one of the others to offer the dinner, and sometimes they thought they were going to dine with him, and he had no dinner ready, because he was ill, and sometimes the dinner had been prepared for ten and two or three less turned up. Some fled to the country, and some to provincial towns, to get a change of air; where there was no plague they brought it, and where it already existed they added to it. No industry was busy in Florence; all the workshops were locked up, all the inns were closed, only chemists and churches were open. Wherever you went, you could find almost nobody; many rich good men were borne from their house to church in their coffin with just four undertakers and a lowly cleric carrying the cross, and even then they demanded a florin apiece. Those who especially profited from the plague were the chemists, the doctors, the poulterers, the undertakers, and the women who sold mallow, nettles, mercury plant and other poultice herbs for drawing abscesses. And those who made the most were these herb sellers. Woollen merchants and retailers when they came across cloth could sell it for whatever price they asked. Once the plague had finished, anybody who could get hold of whatsoever kind of cloth, or found the raw materials to make it, became rich; but many ended up moth-eaten, spoilt and useless for the looms, and thread and raw wool lost in the city and the contado. This plague began in March as has been said, and finished in September 1348. And people began to return to their homes and belongings. And such was the number of houses full of goods that had no owner, that it was amazing. Then the heirs to this wealth began to turn up. And someone who had previously had nothing suddenly found himself rich, and couldn't believe it was all his, and even felt himself it wasn't quite right. And both men and women began to show off with clothes and horses.	Marchionne di Coppo Stefani 1903, pp. 230-232	None

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