Proceeding in the annals of antecedent ages, we have now to record a series of mighty revolutions in the organism of the earth, accompanied by general and awful commotions of the elements.

The great events to which we allude began, in the year 1333, first in China. Here parching drought, succeeded by famine, laid waste the tract of country watered by the rivers Kiang and Hoai. Rain, about this period, fell in torrents in and about Kingsai, destroying, it is said, by the floods more than 400,000 persons. The mountain Tsincheou, in falling, formed vast chasms in the earth. About this time, according to the diary of Ramon Vila, there were experienced dire famine and pestilence at Barcelona, which in a very short time carried off 10,000 persons.

In the succeeding year, 1334, inundations occurred in the neighbourhood of Canton. Soon after, at Tche, after an unexampled drought, pestilence arose and carried off 500,000 human beings. Hecker graphically describes the unprecedented and universal commotions of this period. An earthquake happened near Kingsai, and subsequent to the falling-in of the mountains of Ki-ming-Chan, a lake was formed, of more than a hundred leagues in circumference, where thousands found their grave. In Houkouang and Ho-nan a drought prevailed for five months, and innumerable swarms of locusts destroyed the vegetation; famine and pestilence, as is usually the case, following in their train. It is remarkable, that, simultaneously with a drought and renewed floods in China, in 1336, many uncommon atmospheric phenomena and, in the winter-time, frequent thunderstorms were observed in the north of France; and, so early as the eventful year 1333, an eruption of Etna took place. According to the Chinese annals, 4,000,000 persons perished by famine in the neighbourhood of Kiang in 1337; and deluges of rain, swarms of locusts, and an earthquake which lasted six days, caused an incredible devastation.

During this year, 776 of the Ejira, or 1334 of the Christian era, Mohamed Ben Abdalla Ben Alkhatrib, a native of the city of Granada, being a physician and a member of an illustrious family versed in all species of cosmography, acquired considerable authority and importance amongst many of the Moorish kings of Granada; but, towards the termination of his valuable life, fortune became adverse; for having been accused of treason during the reign of Ebn Alahmoz, he was thrown into prison, and shortly afterwards died, leaving, amongst other works on medicine and the veterinary art, one on the mode of avoiding plague, which is cited by Casiri in his ‘Biblioteca Arábigo Hispana Escurialense,’ tom. ii. pp. 71 and 72.

A.D. 1338, Kingsai was visited by an earthquake of ten days’ duration; at the same time France suffered from failure in the harvest. From this period until 1342 there was in China a succession of inundations, earthquakes, and famines. It seemed as though everywhere on the tops of mountains springs were made to burst forth, and dry tracts were deluged in an inexplicable manner. Great floods also occurred in the vicinity of the Rhine, in France, &c. In the year following, 1343, the mountain Hong-tchang, in China, fell in; and in Pien-tcheou and Leang-tcheou, three months after, rain followed, and unheard-of inundations, which destroyed seven cities:

In Egypt and in Syria violent earthquakes took place, and in China they became from this time more and more frequent; for they recurred, in 1344, in Ven-tcheou, where the sea overflowed. A dreadful earthquake was experienced at Lisbon, where vast numbers of the inhabitants perished by the falling of the buildings. A.D. 1345, in Ki-tcheou, and also in both the following years in Canton, great commotions were experienced, especially subterraneous thunder. Meanwhile floods and famine devastated various districts until 1347, when the fury of the elements subsided in China.

Whilst pestilence was thus raging, China, Syria, Greece, Egypt, Asia, and Africa suffered from it, A.D. 1346; and the year following, 1347, a pestilence similar to that which subsequently committed such ravages in the south of Gaul, Spain, and England (1348), raged in Italy and Sicily.

1345. Guido de Gaullaco informs us that in Spain, in the month of March, there broke out a pestilence, which he affirms spread all over the world, leaving scarcely a fourth part of the human race alive. Andres Laguna, Martinez de Leyva, Duarte Nunhez, and other medical writers, speak with horror and astonishment of this terrific plague, which, they say, lasted five years.

Abu Giaphar Ahmed Ebn Ali Ebn Khatemar, a native of the city of Almeria, and one of the Arabian physicians, who, according to Casiri, was instructed in the history of the great pestilences, which nearly the entire world suffered from in the years of the Egira 748, 749, and 750, or of the Christian epoch 1347–48 and 1349, quotes the following passage: “The pestilence first broke out in Africa, whence it extended through all parts of Egypt and Asia, and finally attacked Italy, France, and Spain; but in the city of Almeria, where it raged with great malignity, it lasted nearly eleven months, namely, from the beginning of the month Rabiu, the first month of the year of the Egira 749, and of the Christian epoch 1348, until the commencement of the following year.” The work which contains the description of this pestilence consists of ten chapters, and is entitled ‘Morbi in posterum vitandi Descriptio et Remedia.’ Don Miguel Casiri makes mention of it in his Codex of the year 1780.

Abu Abdalla Mohamed Ben Alkhatrib, a native of Granada and brother of the other Alkhatrib, also wrote a work on the causes and cure of the pestilence that affected the city of Granada in the year of the Egira 749, and of our Lord 1348, entitled ‘Quæsita de morbo horribili perutilia;’ and Casiri alludes to this work also in his Codex.

Villanius, the historian of Florence, gives an account of a pestilence which commenced in A.D. 1346 in Upper Asia: it first appeared in Cathay; it arose from a most filthy smelling vapour, supposed to have proceeded from a certain fiery body, which either fell down from the atmosphere, or was eructated from the earth. This vapour, like a fire, consumed all that stood in its way,—animals, horses, trees, &c., for the space of fifteen days’ journey all around; and some most filthy little beasts furnished with feet and tails, as also worms and a small kind of snake in numberless multitudes, fell at the same time from the atmosphere upon the earth; the stench and putrefaction from these infected the very air and all the circumjacent regions. A pestilence having arisen from them, spread around, depopulating the whole of Asia, and subsequently Egypt, Greece, and Italy; thence it spread into France, Spain, and England, and at length into Germany. In the city of Florence alone, says Villanius, there perished 60,000 persons, but St. Anthony computes the number to have been 100,000. There prevailed about this period, or at the commencement of the year 1347, epidemic pestilence, in the shape of pleurisies, quinsies, and spotted fevers, which at last terminated in the real Oriental plague, with buboes and carbuncles: it was reported that 50,000 were carried off in London in one week, and the deaths at Norwich were almost equally numerous. About this period, 100,000 persons perished from pestilence at Venice: Lubeck lost 90,000, while the deaths from similar disease were computed at 200,000 in the kingdom of Spain. This pestilence persisted in many parts during the following year.

In the beginning of 1348 pestilence universally prevailed over Europe and in other quarters of the globe; it commenced in Syria, spread along the shores of the Pontic Sea, and of Greece and Illyria, passed into Italy and Sicily, and thence to the island of Mallorca: according to Zurita, it almost depopulated that island in less than a month, more than 5000 persons having been carried off by it. In the same year, continues Zurita, a general pestilence extended from the East to the ultimate boundaries of the West, comprising in its ravages the kingdom of Valencia and the principalities of Catalonia. In the month of June it broke out in the city of Valencia, and its virulence was such, especially in the maritime parts, that, as before noticed, scarcely any part of Europe escaped,—persons died suddenly; from Italy it passed into Sicily, Sardinia, and so on to Mallorca. So great was the mortality at Barcelona, that in the month of June, during the usual annual solemn procession, which caused a number of priests, &c., from Scio to be present, thousands died, and amongst them four magistrates and almost all the Council of Ciento. During this period, says another author, the signs of terrestrial commotions were exhibited in Europe.

During the reign of Edward III. it rained in England from Midsummer unto Christmas, when a pestilential period commenced. A disease termed ‘Sorte Diod,’—the black pestilence, or death,—committed the most terrific ravages; the lungs were principally affected. Fracastorius, in his ‘Syphilis,’ describes the malady. The translation runs thus:

This malady was accompanied by fever, difficulty of breathing, and spitting of blood; the respiration was so laborious that the sick were obliged to be always in an upright posture; deglutition was difficult, attended with flushed countenance and great restlessness: at the onset the cough was violent, but without loss of blood; after a short time, the expectoration becoming bloody, hemorrhage succeeded, when death ensued in three days: spots and abscesses sometimes formed when the disease was protracted unto the fifth day. After the disease had persisted for some months, the lungs were no longer affected, but the glands of the axillæ and of the groins, and the parotids, swelled and suppurated. In England it lasted nine years. There were 50,000 buried in one year in the Charterhouse churchyard in London. A murrain among the cattle succeeded this pestilence, and there was a great scarcity of all sorts of provisions. Greenland was entirely depopulated by this pestilence.

During the year 1348, the island of Cyprus was also visited by a most terrific pestilence; a tremendous earthquake shook the foundations of the island, and was accompanied by so frightful a hurricane, that the inhabitants who had slain the Mahometan slaves, in order that they might not themselves be subjugated by them, fled in dismay in all directions. The sea overflowed,—the ships were dashed to pieces on the rocks, and few outlived the dreadful event, whereby this fertile and blooming island was converted into a desert. Before the earthquake, it is recorded by Deguignes (p. 225) that a pestiferous wind spread so poisonous an odour, that many, being overpowered by it, fell down suddenly and expired in dreadful agonies. This phenomenon resembles many such noticed by ancient authors. This peculiar condition of the atmosphere was evident to the senses; borne by the winds, it spread from land to land, carrying disease over whole portions of the earth. It has been further recorded that, during this period, 1348, an unexampled earthquake, on the 25th of January, shook Greece, Italy, and the neighbouring countries. Naples, Rome, Pisa, Bologna, Padua, Venice, and many other cities suffered considerably; whole villages were swallowed up; castles, houses, and churches were overthrown, and thousands of people were buried under their ruins. In Carinthia, thirty villages, together with all the churches, were demolished; more than a thousand corpses were drawn from under the rubbish: the city of Villach was completely destroyed, and very few of its inhabitants were saved; when the earth ceased to tremble, it was found that mountains had been moved from their position, and that many hamlets were left in ruins. It is recorded that during this earthquake the wine in casks became turbid,—a statement which may be considered as furnishing a proof that changes causing a decomposition of the atmosphere had taken place; similar destructive earthquakes extended as far as the neighbourhood of Basle, and recurred from time to time until 1360 throughout Germany, France, Silesia, Poland, England, and Denmark also, much further north. In the month of August, 1349, says Walsingham, black death broke out at Southampton, destroying half the population. According to another estimate, (Rymer, Fœdera,) A.D. 1348–49, and 1350, one-tenth part of the people did not survive. In a royal edict, issued December, 1349, it is said, “Non modica pars populi est defuncta;” in another, 1350, “Magna pars populi est defuncta.” This pestilence spread over France and Germany, and invaded the northern parts of Europe in the year 1349.

In the years of our Lord 1350 and 1351 sore disease prevailed in Ireland, Holland, and in England; its infallible signs were, a great fever, vomiting, and spitting of blood, hemorrhage from the nose, mouth, ears, eyes, stomach, and bowels, indicating an universal disorganization of the system. Here we have the worst symptoms observable in the bilious remittent or yellow fever of the West Indies and other parts. It traversed all Germany, Russia, Hungary, Spain, and Gaul. In Denmark it spread terror and dismay, and it decimated Iceland; it persisted during the summer, autumn, winter, and spring of those years; and for several years after, violent peripneumoniæ raged in Asia, Egypt, and various other parts of the globe.—A.D. 1352. During this year scarcely one-fourth part of the Oxford students survived the plague. (A. Wood, Ath. Oxon., A.D. 1349–52.) It fell with redoubled violence on workmen and servants. The same year great numbers were carried off by pestilence in Montpelier. A great many of the lower orders of society died of the plague in England. This disease caused great ravages in Denmark, and also in Iceland; the Greenland merchants were all destroyed by it: it seized the monks and regular clergy of all descriptions; 133 out of 140 members died of one society in Montpelier. A similar mortality happened in the Magdalen Society; not one out of 140 in Marseilles survived; 66 Carmelites perished in Avignon. This plague began in a monastery of crowded, idle, voluptuous monks. Cattle suffered greatly in many countries; 6000 sheep died in one pasture in England. Pestilence and famine, it is supposed, carried off in China, about this period, at least 900,000 of its inhabitants: in London, 50,000 bodies were interred in one graveyard. The following estimate of deaths during the above awful period was considered below the actual number of victims: in Venice 100,000 died; Basle, 14,000; Erfurt, 16,000; Strasburgh, about the same number; Paris, 50,000; Norwich, in England, 50,000; Marseilles, in one month, 56,000! Florence, 60,000; Avignon, 62,000; London, 100,000; in Lubeck, 90,000; in Spain, two-thirds of the population were destroyed; and Ireland was nearly depopulated.

A.D. 1355, a peculiar kind of madness was epidemic in England; those affected fled into the woods, and wandered about the fields. (Hecker.) Three years after, epidemic pestilence ravaged England, Africa, Cyprus, and also Italy and Florence, which last city, says Petrarch, lost 100,000 citizens. The same kind of pestilence also afflicted Gaul, Ireland, and Scotland. Stow, in his Chronicle, gives a very graphic description of the foregoing pestilential period from 1348 up to 1357. The pestilence he describes as a new disease. He says: “There began amongst the East Indians and Tartarians a certain pestilence, which at length waxed so general, infecting the middle regions of the air so greatly, that it destroyed the Saracens, Turks, Syrians, Palestinians, and the Grecians with a wonderful or rather incredible death; insomuch that those people being exceedingly dismayed with the terror thereof, consulted among themselves, and thought it good to receive the Christian faith and sacraments; for they had intelligence that the Christians which dwelt on this side of the Greek Sea were not so greatly troubled with sickness and mortality more than common.” “At length this terrible slaughter passed over into those countries which are on this side the Alps, and thence to the parts of France which are called Hesperia, and so on, by order, along into Germany and Dutchland; and the seventh year after it began, it came into England, and first began in the towns and ports joining on the sea-coasts, Dorsetshire, where, even as in other countries, it made the country quite void of inhabitants, so that there were almost none left alive. Thence it passed into Devonshire and Somersetshire, and even into Bristol, and raged in such sort that the Gloucestershire men would not suffer persons from Bristol to have any access unto them or into their country by any means; but at length it came to Gloucester, yea, and to Oxford and London, and finally it spread over all England, and so wasted and spoiled the people, that scarce the tenth person of all sorts was left alive; churchyards were not sufficient and large enough to bury their dead in: they chose certain fields appointed for the purpose, amongst which was the piece of ground denominated the Churchyard of the Holy Trinity, near East Smithfield, opened by one John Cory. One Walter Manny also purchased a piece of ground called Spital Croft, containing thirteen acres, in which were interred during the next year 50,000 bodies; in Norwich, no less than 37,104 persons, besides Mendicants and Dominicans, and in Yarmouth 7502; so that the living which was previously worth 700 marks was reduced to £40 per year.” “What time this pestilence had wasted all England, the Scots, greatly rejoicing, mocked and swore ofttimes, ‘By the vile death of the Englishmen;’ but the sword of God’s wrath slew and consumed the Scots in no less numbers than it did the other. It also wasted the Welshmen, and within a while passed over into Ireland, where it destroyed a great number of English people that dwelt there; but such as were right Irish-born, that dwelt in the hilly country, it scarcely touched, so that few of them died thereof.”

A.D. 1360. Thunder-storms, accompanied by heavy rains and lightning, did much damage in various parts of England; houses were set on fire, crops and cattle were destroyed, and pestilence, in the shape of fevers and disorder of the bowels, carried off numbers.

On the 21st of January, two years after, A.D. 1362, a feast was instituted, and a solemn mass celebrated in Scio, with divine worship in all the churches, convents, and other public places, at which all the clergy of the place assisted; and on the 15th of February a papal jubilee was published for the repose of the souls of all those who had perished by the pestilence, which had recently carried off vast numbers.

A.D. 1363, a dreadfully severe winter presaged noxious seasons in Europe. Andalusia was afflicted with a terrible pestilence, which having seized an almost incredible number of its inhabitants, is marked among the ancient writings as the second mortality, in order to distinguish it from the first of 1350, during which King Don Alonso died in the neighbourhood of Gibraltar. This pestilence made such an impression on the minds of all Spaniards, that in a sepulchral inscription in the church of St. Pablo, we read that it was erected during the second mortality, A.D. 1363. Two years after, A.D. 1365, pestilence carried off 20,000 of the inhabitants of Cologne and its vicinity.

From the year 1368 unto 1370, epidemic pestilence ravaged England and Ireland; four years after, it continued to lay England waste. A similar pestilence, about the same time, prevailed with great mortality in Italy and in Gaul.

A.D. 1371, pestilence was rife at Barcelona; and on the 13th of June, imprecatory processions were instituted in each of the parishes of that place on account of the pestilence, which lasted for one year. A comet was seen this year.

A.D. 1372, pestilence invaded Germany, Egypt, Greece, and all the East. Lubeck lost 90,000 of its inhabitants.

A.D. 1373, the use of coals was forbidden by Act of Parliament, under the idea that the smoke in London corrupted the air.

In the year of our Lord 1374, the epidemic dancing disease of St. Guy and St. John prevailed in Holland and in the Rhenish provinces, and an analogous malady, called ‘Tarantisme’ and ‘Tigretier,’ among the Abyssinians; a similar disease also prevailed in the Shetland Islands, where it had existed from time to time, as it is said, for one hundred years previously. The disease also prevailed in France, and the sufferers were called ‘Convulsionnaires;’ it was evidently the malady which we now term St. Vitus’ Dance or Chorea, but prevailing epidemically. Hecker gives the following account of this strange malady, as it occurred about this period also in Germany; it was evidently a disease similar to that which broke out, A.D. 1027, in Bernburg, prevailed A.D. 1237 at Erfurt among children, and subsequently among adults, A.D. 1278, at Utrecht. He says “that the effects of the ‘Black Death’ had not yet subsided, and the graves of millions of its victims were scarcely closed when a strange delusion arose in Germany, which took possession of the minds of men, and, in spite of the divinity of our nature, hurried away body and soul into the magic circle of hellish superstition. It was a convulsion which, in the most extraordinary manner, infuriated the human frame, and excited the astonishment of contemporaries for more than two centuries, since which time it has never re-appeared. It was called the Dance of St. John or of St. Vitus, on account of the Bacchantic leaps by which it was characterized, and which gave to those affected, whilst performing their wild dance, and screaming and foaming with fury, all the appearance of persons possessed. It did not remain confined to particular localities, but was propagated by the sight of the sufferers, like a demoniacal epidemic, over the whole of Germany and the neighbouring countries to the north-west, which were already prepared for its reception by the prevailing opinion of the times.

“So early as the year 1374, assemblages of men and women were seen at Aix-la-Chapelle, who had come out of Germany, and who, united by one common delusion, exhibited to the public, both in the streets and in the churches, the following strange spectacle. They formed circles hand-in-hand, and, appearing to have lost all control over their senses, continued dancing, regardless of the by-standers, for hours together, in wild delirium, until at length they fell down to the ground in a state of exhaustion. They then complained of extreme oppression, and groaned as if in the agonies of death, until they were swathed in cloths bound tightly round their waists, upon which they again recovered, and remained free from complaint until the next attack. This practice of swathing was resorted to on account of the tympany which followed these spasmodic ravings, but the by-standers frequently relieved patients in a less artificial manner by thumping and trampling upon the parts affected. While dancing, they neither saw nor heard, being insensible to external impressions through the senses, but were haunted by visions, their fancies conjuring up spirits, whose names they shrieked out; and some of them afterwards asserted that they felt as if they had been immersed in a stream of blood, which obliged them to leap so high. Others during the paroxysm saw the heavens open and the Saviour enthroned with the Virgin Mary, according as the religious notions of the age were strangely and variously reflected in their imaginations.

“Where the disease was completely developed, the attack commenced with epileptic convulsions. Those affected fell to the ground senseless, panting and labouring for breath; they foamed at the mouth, and suddenly springing up, began their dance amidst strange contortions. Yet the malady doubtless made its appearance very variously, and was modified by temporary or local circumstances, whereof non-medical contemporaries but imperfectly noted the essential particulars, accustomed as they were to confound their observations of natural events with their notions of the world of spirits.

“It was but a few months ere this demoniacal disease had spread from Aix-la-Chapelle, where it appeared in July, over the neighbouring Netherlands. In Liege, Utrecht, Tongres, and many other towns of Belgium, the dancers appeared with garlands in their hair, and their waists girt with cloths, that they might, as soon as the paroxysm was over, receive immediate relief on the attack of the tympany. This bandage was, by the insertion of a stick, easily twisted tight; many, however, obtained more relief from kicks and blows, which they found numbers of persons ready to administer; for where the dancers appeared, the people assembled in crowds to gratify their curiosity with the frightful spectacle. At length the increasing number of the affected excited no less anxiety than the attention that was paid to them. In towns and villages they took possession of the religious houses; processions were everywhere instituted on their account, and masses were said, and hymns were sung, while the disease itself, of the demoniacal origin of which no one entertained the least doubt, excited everywhere astonishment and horror. In Liege the priests had recourse to exorcisms, and endeavoured by every means in their power to allay an evil which threatened so much danger to themselves; for the possessed, assembling in multitudes, frequently poured forth imprecations against them and menaced their destruction. They intimidated the people also to such a degree that there was an express ordinance issued, that no one should make any but square-toed shoes, because these fanatics had manifested a morbid dislike to the pointed shoes which had come into fashion immediately after the great mortality in 1350. They were still more irritated at the sight of red colours, the influence of which on the disordered nerves might lead us to imagine an extraordinary accordance between this spasmodic malady and the condition of infuriated animals; but in the St. John’s dancers this excitement was probably connected with apparitions, consequent on their convulsions. There were likewise some of them who were unable to endure the sight of persons weeping.” “A few months after this dancing malady had made its appearance at Aix-la-Chapelle, it broke out at Cologne, where the number of those possessed amounted to more than five hundred; and about the same time at Metz, the streets of which place are said to have been filled with eleven hundred dancers. * * * * * Girls and boys quitted their parents, and servants their masters, to amuse themselves at the dances of those possessed, and greedily imbibed the poison of mental infection. Above a hundred unmarried women were seen raving about, in consecrated and unconsecrated places, and the consequences were soon perceived. Gangs of idle vagabonds, who understood how to imitate to the life the gestures and convulsions of those really affected, roved from place to place, seeking maintenance and adventures, and thus wherever they went spread this disgusting spasmodic disease like a plague; for in maladies of this kind the susceptible are infected as easily by the appearance as by the reality. At last it was found necessary to drive away these mischievous guests, who were equally inaccessible to the exorcisms of the priests and the remedies of the physicians. It was not, however, until after four months that the Rhenish cities were able to suppress these impostures, which had so alarmingly increased the original evil.”

A.D. 1375, on the 20th of June, an imprecatory procession was instituted at Scio, on account of the dreadful pestilence which broke out there, and which raged more than twelve months. (Vide Capmany, ‘Historical and Chronological Compendium of Plagues,’ p. 66.)

A.D. 1379, epidemic pestilence prevailed in England, especially in the northern parts of the island. A.D. 1380, there was a general inundation in Spain, from which resulted epidemic pestilence, characteristic of an atmosphere surcharged with moisture. Three years after, 1383, was a period most fatal to Seville, in consequence of a pestilence having broken out there, which extended through its entire length and breadth. This terrible infliction was called by the old inhabitants the third mortality: it was preceded by inundations and extraordinary showers, which act unquestionably as predisposing causes of disease. A severe earthquake destroyed several churches A.D. 1382.

We have seen that the years 1350 and 1363 were denominated the years of the first and second mortality. The precautionary measures that were adopted to meet such evils were the formation of various hospitals for the treatment of the sick, instituted by the bishop, dean, and ecclesiastical and secular chapters. The physicians and surgeons not only contributed by their science to the relief of the plague-stricken, but also with their personal charity and the salaries which were assigned them by the city authorities. A hospital was founded under the protection of St. Cosmo and St. Amien in the parish of St. Salvalo, the patronage of which was given to the city.

A.D. 1384. During this year the third plague of Mallorca broke out; it caused considerable mortality, according to the account given by Vincente Mut in his history of that kingdom. Numbers of the soldiers of the army of Don Juan, the first king of Castile, who were in garrison at Lisbon, fell sick in consequence of the severity of the atmospheric changes, to which they were unaccustomed. The losses and sufferings of the Castilian camp increased every day, and hundreds of them became ill, and consequently the king was induced to change his position and remove his armada to Seville.

At the commencement of 1386 there was in Gallicia much sickness among the soldiers commanded by Tornas Moraix: the character of the epidemic is but imperfectly given, but history states the mortality to have been very great.

A.D. 1387, the army of the King of Portugal and of the Duke of Lancaster suffered from severe pestilence in Benavento, and in the towns of Matillas, Arzon, Villalobos, Rales, and Valderas, owing to the scarcity of provisions. In the years 1388 and 1389, violent tempests, preceded by great drought, happened; a famine ensued, when anginas and dysenteries prevailed in England and in other parts of the world. The disease affected children principally, and continued unto 1400. During this period, 1391, the disease was especially mortal in England, being felt most severely in Norfolk and at York. The year previously, 1390, when King Edward was on his march and within two leagues of Chartres, a violent storm arose, with thunder and lightning, which killed 6000 of his horses and upwards of 1000 of his best troops.

A.D. 1394, a great mortality occurred from epidemic pestilence in the kingdom of Valencia and in the principality of Catalonia, arising from great heat; nearly 10,000 persons, a greater part of whom were young, died in the city of Valencia alone. This pestilence occurred during the reign of King Don Juan.—A.D. 1396. On the 9th of December of this year, King Don Martin retired to the city of Perpignan in consequence of Barcelona being visited by pestilence.

A.D. 1400. The continued heavy rains and sterility having induced famine in Seville, caused also great mortality and pestilence, which diminished the population wonderfully. The author of the Annals of Seville mentions that this plague occurred at centenary periods.

A.D. 1401. A comet was seen. Pestilence broke out at Florence. 30,000 persons died of epidemic disease this year in London. Five years after, London was revisited by deadly pestilence. In Bourdeaux a malignant dysentery destroyed 14,000 persons, and a similar disease was equally fatal in Aquitaine and Gascony. A.D. 1407, the Mediterranean was frozen over for fifteen weeks.—A.D. 1411. Two diseases, very similar, appeared in France this year, and were equally general; the first was called ‘Tac,’ the second ‘Ladendo:’ both were accompanied by severe cough. In the Ladendo there seems to have been some affection of the kidney of an inflammatory nature: the pain was as severe as in a fit of the stone, and was followed by fever, loss of appetite, and incessant cough, which terminated very frequently in unpleasant eruptions about the nose and mouth; the disease ran its course generally in fifteen days, and was unattended by danger, notwithstanding the severity of the symptoms. Three years after, an epidemic disease of a similar nature re-appeared in France, when it received the name of ‘Coqueluche:’ it was attended with severe hoarseness, and was so general that all public business in Paris was interrupted by it.

A.D. 1410. Epidemic pestilence broke out at Seville this year; it commenced in Niebla, Gibraleon, and Trigueros, and extended thence to Seville, where it raged from March unto August. On the 30th of May and on the 5th of August an earthquake was felt at Barcelona, and epidemic pestilence prevailed, which lasted until the anniversary of the Nativity.