Dan Snow's History Hit The Black Death
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Nov 13, 2025 Helen Carr, historian and author of 'Sceptred Isle', explores the chilling impact of the Black Death. She discusses its origins in the Tian Shan region and the surprising pathways it took through trade routes. Listeners will learn about eerie remedies like chicken bottoms and the baffling lack of understanding regarding fleas. Helen delves into societal responses, revealing how compassion emerged amid chaos. Lastly, she highlights how the pandemic shifted cultural attitudes towards death, sparking both social mobility and artistic reflection.
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Preexisting Famine Weakened Europe
- The early 14th century already suffered severe food and livestock crises before the Black Death struck.
- Helen Carr links the Great Famine and cattle die-off to weakened populations vulnerable to later plague.
Origins In Marmots And Mongol Movement
- Yersinia pestis originated in marmot populations around the Tian Shan range and jumped species amid Mongol movements.
- Trade, siege warfare and grain transport spread the bacterium into new rodent hosts and then humans.
Plague Spread Was Patchy Not Linear
- The plague spread unpredictably, popping up in distant pockets rather than following a single linear route.
- Carr attributes this patchy pattern largely to maritime and river trade routes.
