Origins: A Study of the Black Death in Fourteenth Century Eurasia

Origins: A Study of theBlack Death in Fourteenth

Century Eurasiaby Lewis Dowell III

51119902

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History & Philosophy of Science MLitt Dissertation 2012Supervisor: Dr. William Naphy

Table of Contents

Chapter OneIntroduction……………………………………………………………………………………3

Chapter TwoDiscussion……………………………………………………………………………………….6

Chapter ThreeMedieval Sources on the Origins of the Plague……………………………..12

Chapter FourGod as the source of Sorrow, Pain and Death…………………………….….20

Chapter FiveThe Black Death and Celestial Origins…………………………………………...28

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………..….……...35

Bibliography……………………………………………………….……..….…….…39

Endnotes………………………………….………………………………….…………..43

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Appendix…………………………………………………………………………....…..48

Introduction

The Bubonic Plague (Black Death) of the fourteenth century continues to raise numerous questions in scope and magnitude in range of its origin and spreadthroughout Eurasia and Western Europe proper. Historical records indicate the morbidity rate to have been one death for every three human beings, with ramifications approximating in the range of 100 million deaths world wide.

But where did this deadly pestilence come from? Muchof the contemporary literature suggests that the plague originated in Asia, whereas some scholars suggest that Africa and Russia were the geographical sites of the plague’s origination. Scribes of the fourteenth century were quite ambiguous in their views, and in the context of the middle ages many documents attribute God a being the cause of the pandemic, whereas some of the more pre-scientific literature of the time, maintains what many of their successive scholars have argued: that it either originated in Russia, Africa or Asia. In the context

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of history and defining causes or origins, it is important to gain knowledge and understanding regarding where and how certain events occurred, particularly when studying diseases, and pestilence. One might relate the importance of studying the origin of the Black Death to the more recent outbreakof AIDS in the 1980’s, and the initial public scare it caused due to the lack of knowledge regarding its origin and mode of transmission. In furthering historical knowledge of such plagues, and the effectsit has on peoples, cultures and societies we not onlylearn from our predecessors how they reacted to plague, but also prepare future generations for potential outbreaks with regard to identifying origin, routes of transmission and possible first prevention measures of new diseases

The Bubonic Plague certainly is one of the most disastrous plagues in human history, and deserves theattention of scholars in attempting to define its origin and spread. Although the historical records are replete with reactionary examples to the pestilence, ranging from noblemen, peasants and clergy, complexity abounds in determining the Black Death’s origins. While certainly the advantage of hindsight and scientific experimentation are important in the study of the Bubonic Plague, the question of its origin and lethality continues to puzzle experts in various disciplines ranging from history, astronomy, biology, philosophy, and religion.

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I propose to review and analyze both primary and secondary sources in an attempt to gain further historical insight and perspectives on the Black Death, and include new historical methodologies on the Black Death’s origin. In short I intend to examine such literature within an ontological context, utilizing a multidisciplinary methodology toindicate that more research and definitive data is needed before any type of consensus can be formed on the Black Death’s origins, as the theories are still vast and wide ranging. That being said it is almost impossible to undertake any type of research on the Black Death without mentioning the descriptive example of the plague’s wrath during the fourteenth century. Several key primary sources will be referred to in the course of the investigation. Moreover the important secondary sources which have attempted to narrow the search for the plague’s origin, and have provided relevant information to theBlack Death’s modes of transmission will be included.Works from contemporary historians such as George Sussman and Johannes Nohl, and William Naphy for example, will be referred to, to give a general composite of modern approaches and arguments on the Black Death. An examination of the Mongol Empire withrelevance to the Black Death will also be researched with key focus on the Siege of Kaffa, including but not limited to other scholars such as lawyer, Gabriele De’ Mussi, and Islamic scholar Lisan-ad-Din Ibn al-Khatib for example. In addition, religions views with regards to the plague’s origin will be

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examined, including source material which indicates the blaming and persecution of the Jews. Problems which may be presented in such research range from deciphering misinformation due to Western Europe’s perspectives of the world, at that time. There may also be issues with counterbalancing the various theories regarding the plague’s origins, as all scholars do not agree, and there really is not any consensus on the subject matter, which altogether makes room for investigation.

Scientific research has been imperative in the searchfor the Black Death’s origination and will be incorporated within my research. Different ways of thinking should be incorporated into the study of theBlack Death’s origin, with adherence to historical methodologies that leads to solutions, if not signposts to such historical problems as the Bubonic Plague’s origin. There is current research with relevance to the origin of the Black Death in particular and ha host of other diseases and life (panspermia) itself which may have arisen from comets/asteroids. The research ranges from a host ofdisciplines from astrobiology, to microbiology and physicians. Interestingly enough some of the proposed theories are not very far removed from some of the beliefs held in the middle ages, with regard to comets and asteroids as portents of doom.

In addition to investigating pertinent scientific journals and articles as they relate to possible cosmic origination of diseases and pathogens, I will examine astrological views of the fourteenth century,

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which provide further evidence for their belief that comets or asteroids may have caused the Black Death. It is the aim of the scientific analysis segment of this paper to make some type of connection between the astrological concepts of people within the Middle-Ages, and the scientists of the present era. This will provide a more streamlined approach to future research and offer further support to the literature on the subject of pathogenic origination from space.

Discussion

What caused the Bubonic Plague of the Middle Ages? What were its specific origins, and how relevant was the Mongol Empire with regard to its spread throughout Eurasia during the fourteenth century? Historical records indicate that the Bubonic Plague, better known as the Black Death, arrived in Europe inthe year 1347. The disease which supposedly spread from Central Asia to western Europe and killed millions not only depopulated entire regions but destroyed families, businesses, trade, commerce and literally brought governments to their knees. The very fabric of Western Society became unhinged I n every aspect of life. From Kings, Popes to peasants no one was immune from the invisible menace. Religious, pious, and heathen alike all dropped like flies from the mysterious disease. Even today, the plague’s true origin continues to puzzle both biologists and historians alike. There is neither conclusive evidence nor consensus on its origins which suggest one definitive mode of transmission,

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nor does there appear to be any specify primary sources from China or India form the fourteenth century with specific signs or symptoms of the Black Death.

Theories derived from the transmission of the diseaseand its spread varies. One theory suggests that the Black Death was caused by the interaction of merchants using trade routes on the legendary Silk Road, whereby the exchange of bacterial infected materials from fleas transported the disease. The plague infected fleas are believed to have been carried by rats. The importance of rates and their relationship with the Black Death cannot be overlooked. “Plague is a rodent disease; in humans, it is overwhelmingly a by-product of rodent infection, transmitted by an insect bite”1 (Michael McCormick 1). Biologists and historians also agree that there was also the possibility of the disease being carried by simple human contact, which supportsthe idea of bubonic plague being able to develop intopneumonic plague. “Could it then have been the pneumonic form of yersinal plague with its potential for direct person-to-person transmission?”2(Wood et al444). Another theory suggests that the great migrations displacement of peoples and disturbances of new habitats during the reign of the Mongols gave rise to the plague. If so then the question of the plague’s origin becomes largely an ecological one3 (See Michael McCormick on Ecology Argument). Other theories suggest that a wind blew across the Eurasiancontinent carrying the Black Death upon its wings.

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This is more in accordance with the miasma or dirty air theory popular during the Middle- Ages. Conceptions of poisonous, stinking air, filled with disease causing particles remained the top theory, well into the 19th century, even after the 18th century’s Royal society member, and physician RichardBradley, discovered the unified living agent theory. It was not until the 19th century that Bradley’s work was given any scientific credence, and became the nowwell known germ theory.4(See Melvin Santer on RB) Climatic shifts in temperatures and a host of multiple variables makes this seem quite plausible, as epidemics in times past and present have arisen from airborne pathogens. Experts on the Black Death tend to agree that sources are scarce on the origin of the plague and its direct route of transmission isstill a topic of debate. At the time of its appearance in Europe the Mongols were still the predominant and most powerful force on earth. By 1347 China was under the subjection of the Mongols who under Kublai Khan’s leadership established the Yuan Dynasty in 1272. The continuous empire and its peripheral territories starched from the Pacific to the Black Sea, and included areas such as present dayRussia, Siberia and Hungary. Yet even before the plague arrived and spread throughout Europe, the Mongols were combating some form of epidemic.

Professor George Sussman disputes historian William McNeill’s view which suggest “the Mongol horsemen hadencountered plague I their initial invasion of Yunnanin 1252-53 and carried it back to the steppes” 5

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(George Sussman 347). He mentions that, “Chinese records do not show any unusual epidemic until 1331”6(Sussman 347), and argues that it would be, “fareasier to believe, with John Norris and Ole Benedictow, ‘the principle of proximate origin’, thatthe Black Death in Europe and the Middle East began in the plague focus closest to where it was first observed in the Crimea and never reached China”7 (Sussman 354). Scholars in accord with Sussman have suggested that although hit by some form of epidemic,China and India does not appear to have been as heavily affected as Europe. He argues that historical medical sources from China and India though faced with epidemic, show no signs or examplesof the plague which devastated Western Europe:

“We have no information about the signs symptoms, or course of the disease or diseases responsible for theepidemics. All discussions of the Chinese populationduring the Yuan Dynasty depict a huge loss. The consensus estimates are 120 million (combining Southern Song Dynasty in the south and Chin Dynasty in the north) around 1200, on the eve of the Mongol invasion and half that number, 60 million, around 1390, shortly after the Ming Dynasty replaced the Yuan Dynasty.”8 (Sussman 348-49).

The large number of deaths is in accordance with someform of epidemic, yet according to Sussman the Chinese and Indian sources provide no description of the Bubonic Plague in particular. However a study conducted by a Microbiology research team based in the Environmental Research Institute in University

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College Cork, Ireland, postulated that the Bubonic Plague originated in China. The study indicated, that through DNA testing and the sequencing of genes they were able to prove the plague’s origins, which they claim “originated from China over 2000 years ago”9 (Medical News Today Christian Nordqvist). Suzanne Alchon in her study of pestilence and epidemics said of the plague, “While several scholarshave claimed that the plague pandemics of the fourteenth century originated in China, the evidence is far from clear. In any event, the arrival of the Black Death in the region of the Crimea in 1346-1347 is indisputable”10(Suzanne Alchon 29). What’s puzzling about defining Bubonic Plague’s origin, in spite of such strong evidence is not only its complexhistorical record, but the plausibility that epidemics which resembled the Black Death in the fourteenth century might have been attributed to the disease. Moreover, scientists have pointed out that the Black Death of the 14th century did not behave like the bubonic plague outbreak in 19th century Chinaand India. Thus one could argue that derivatives of plague traced back two thousand years ago might be from an altogether different strain than Yersinia Pestis which caused the Black Death in the Middle Ages.

If such variations existed this would support the argument that the Black Death which penetrated Europemay not have been the same plague which affected Asia. This brings further insight into the realm of epidemiology, by raising important questions

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regarding properties of mutation and the virulence ofthe pathogen and if the data is correct then theoriesregarding the plague’s mode of transmission will morethan likely be further investigated. As noted earlier, it has been argued that direct human contactwas a contributing factor in the spread of the Black Death of the Middle Ages. This in addition to the flea carrying rats, which many scholars agree were its main mode of transmission. Indeed, much researchon the plague’s (Yersinia Pestis) mutation has been conducted, as scientists now understand that three types of plague (Bubonic, Septicaemia, and Pneumonic)during the middle ages all may have resulted in the deaths of the over 100 million people of the world’s population. However, if the Asian epidemic of the fourteenth century is later proven to be a different disease(s) altogether then theories regarding the Bubonic Plague’s origin and mode of transmission mustbe reanalyzed. Certainly the mortality records of fourteenth century Asia show that many deaths occurred in Hopei China as the result of some epidemic. Statistics reveal staggering numbers such as five million deaths in that part of China, for example. But as to the nature of the epidemic, Sussman suggest that outbreaks of cholera, typhoid fever and dysentery were described in parts of China and India11 (Sussman). However, fourteenth century China and India have no historical descriptions of the Black Death. Again this is puzzling, as it goes against current data and claims which suggest otherwise. Most primary sources from the period come

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from European and Islamic scholars with varying viewson the plague’s origin stemming from Africa, Russia and Central Asia. Yet there are no sources from YuanDynasty China or India to support claims of Bubonic Plague activity in Asia. The peculiarities of this fact should concern historians interested in the aetiology of the Black Death, as it speaks volumes about the secrecy of the Chinese and Indian scholars during the time of the Black Death or the lack thereof of disease in the region, and the attributionwestern scholars have given to the plague’s origination in Asia, Africa and Russia. I will discuss further such theoretical origins of the BlackDeath focusing on the plague pandemic of the middle ages, with particular focus on the incident at Kaffa (modern day Ukraine) which was then an Italian merchant trading post near the Black Sea.

A certain lawyer named Gabriele De’ Mussi recorded, by most contemporary accounts the first description of the Black Death in Medieval Europe and perhaps oneof the first instances of biological warfare. I review both historical and contemporary sources regarding its mode of transmission, and argue that a combination of actors may have contributed to the spread of the plague. The incident at Kaffa may havebeen the catalyst needed for such ripe conditions of the plague to spread. That being said Wolfgang Klietmann and Kathryn L. Ruoff from the American society for Microbiology noted that:

“Pneumonic plague occurs as a result of haematogenousspread of plague bacilli from a bubo to the lungs or

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after inhalation of organisms, the most likely route of infection as a result of a bio-terrorist event. The pneumonic form of the disease is highly contagious and can be spread from person to person via air-borne droplets.”12 (Klietmann and Ruoff).

As we shall examine later the Incident at Kaffa certainly fits the description of an early bio-terrorists event, which I believe had ramifications of epic proportions, and may have been the origin of the plague’s spread into Western Europe. The religious perspectives of the Black Death’s origin will also be reviewed as they provide evidence of thebeliefs in the origins of the plague. Lastly I make a theoretical argument that the origin of Yersinia Pestis may stem from earth extrinsic sources whereby the infections agent may have arrived on our planet via asteroid or comet in some remote period of earth’s past. “About 100 tons (90 metric tons) of space debris, including comet particles, falls to Earth each day. Some scientists believed that significant amounts of bacteria are part of that total and that disease-causing organisms could be evolving in space”13 (National Geographic/From Black Death to Deep Impact 1). This theory should not be overlooked as such an occurrence is plausible, inasmuch as the Panspermia-theory, which suggests that life, originated in outer space, and is essentially foreign to the planet earth. Astro-biologists will agree that it would be unwise to ruleout the possibility of an infections agent from the

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cosmos entering our world, as there is no conclusive scientific evidence to refute such an argument.

Mediaeval sources on the Origins of the Plague

Before examining medieval sources, and their theoriesof the plagues origins, it would be prudent to mention current historical terms regarding the plague. Historians have isolated the Bubonic Plague’s major occurrences into three historical periods. Antiqualis or Justinian plagues which ravaged Byzantium in the seventh century AD, Medievalis, the plague pandemic of the fourteenth century, which is the focus of this dissertation, andthirdly, Orientalis, the plague outbreak of the nineteenth century, which largely affected Asia, including China and India. Though Antiqualis and Orientalis are historically significant periods with regards to epistemology and epidemiology, I have limited my discussion to the Medievalis period and its relation to the Mongols, and the disease’s spreadthroughout the Middle East and Europe. This period raises the most questions about the plague’s origins,and its impact on Western civilization. I begin withwhat I label the siege of Kaffa, which historians consider to be the fist recorded instance of plague in Western Europe. Now Kaffa as previously noted wasa central trading post in the fourteenth century. Itwas a city founded by the Italians from Genoa by allowance of the Mongols (the golden Horde) in the year 1266. It was some type of thriving city, a

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melting pot composed of people from various regions, with various religions. Kaffa had a connective traderoute to the city of Tana in Central Russia which hada wonderful shipping industry, which no doubt contributed to the mutual economic success of both cities. According to historical documents the city was first besieged by the Mongols in 1343 after what Mark Wheelis calls “a brawl between Italians and Muslims in Tana”14 (Wheelis 2). Supposedly a Mongolian Muslim was killed in the incident, and the Italians fled to the well fortified city of Kaffa after a Mongolian assault of the city of Tana. The Mongols followed the fleeing merchants to Kaffa, where under the leadership of Janibeg Khan they assaulted the city. Apparently in the winter of 1344some hard hitting Italians showed up and “killed 15000 Mongol troops and destroyed the siege machines”15 (Wheelis 2). The Mongols halted their assault, but returned in 1345 and commenced the siegefor a full year, until “an epidemic of plague”16 (Wheelis 2) began to decimate Janibeg’s forces. It is from Gabriel De’Mussi’s account of this event thathistorians contend to be true and factual. However, with regard to the scholarship of record keeping it is downright puzzling that his is the only recorded document of the siege of Kaffa, and supposedly the first European description of the Black Death. Even stranger is the fact that De’Mussi may not have been an inhabitant of the city at the time of the siege. Wheelis writes, “He [De’ Mussi] does not claim to have witnessed any of the Asian events he describes

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and often uses a passive voice for descriptions. After describing the siege of Kaffa, De’Mussi goes onto say, “”Now it is time that we passed from east to west to discuss all the things which we ourselves have seen””17 (Wheelis 2). De’ Mussi’s account is believed to have been written two years after the second attack of the city (1345-1346) in approximately 1348 or 1349. As the first account of Black Death in Western Europe his narration deserves an extensive citation:

“In 1346, in the countries of the East, countless numbers of Tartars and Saracens were struck down by amysterious illness which brought sudden death. Within these countries broad regions, far-spreading provinces, magnificent kingdoms, cities towns and settlements, ground down by illness and devoured by dreadful death, were soon stripped of their inhabitants. An eastern settlement under the rule ofthe Tartars called Tana, which lay to the north of Constantinople and was much frequented by Italian merchants, was totally abandoned after an incident there which led to its being besieged and attacked byhordes of Tartars who gathered in a short space of time. The Christian merchants, who had been driven out by force, were so terrified of the power of the Tartars that, to save themselves and their belongings, they fled in an armed ship to Caffa, a settlement in the same part of the world which had been founded long ago by the Genoese.

Oh God! See how the heathen Tartar races, pouring together from all sides, suddenly invested the city

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of Caffa and besieged the trapped Christians there for almost three years. There, hemmed in by an immense army, they could hardly draw breath, althoughfood could be shipped in, which offered them some hope. But behold, the whole army was affected by a disease which overran the Tartars and killed thousands upon thousands every day. It was as thougharrows were raining down from heaven to strike and crush the Tartars’ arrogance. All medical advice andattention was useless; the Tartars died as soon as the signs of disease appeared on their bodies: swelling in the armpit or groin caused by coagulatinghumours, followed by a putrid fever.

The dying Tartars, stunned and stupefied by the immensity of the disaster brought about by the diseases, and realizing that they had no hope of escape, lost interest in the siege. But they orderedcorpses to be placed in catapults and lobbed into thecity in the hope that the intolerable stench would kill everyone inside. What seemed like mountains of dead were thrown into the city, and the Christians could not hide or flee or escape from them, although they dumped as many of the bodies as they could in the sea. And soon the rotting corpses tainted the air and poisoned the water, and the stench was so overwhelming that hardly one in several thousand was in a position to flee the remains of the Tartar army.Moreover one infected man could carry the poison to the others, and infect people and places with the disease by look alone. No one knew, or could discover, a means of defence.

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Thus almost everyone who had been in the East, or in the regions to the south and north, fell victim to sudden death after contracting this pestilential disease, as if struck by a lethal arrow which raised a tumour on their bodies. The scale of the mortalityand the form which it took persuaded those who lived,weeping and lamenting, through the bitter events of 1346 to 1348—the Chinese, Indians, Persians, Medes, Kurds, Armenians, Cilicians, Georgians, Mesopotamians, Nubians, Ethiopians, Turks, Egyptians,Arabs, Saracens and Greeks (for almost all the East has been affected)—that the last judgement had come.

…As it happened, among those who escaped from Caffa by boat were a few sailors who had been infected withthe poisonous disease. Some boats were bound for Genoa, others went to Venice and to other Christian areas. When the sailors reached these places and mixed with the people there, it was as if they had brought evil spirits with them: every city, every settlement, every place was poisoned by the contagious pestilence, and their inhabitants, both men and women, died suddenly. And when one person had contracted the illness he poisoned his whole family even as he fell and died, so that those preparing to bury his body were seized by death in the same way. Thus death entered through the windowsand as cities and towns were depopulated their inhabitants mourned their dead neighbours”18 (Wheelis 3).

Being that the original document has been lost to theages, we cannot be certain whether or not the

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document was subjected to insertions or deletions, asthe copy is included in some type of “compilation of historical and geographic accounts by various aurthor4s, dating from approximately 1367,”19 (Wheelis2) and De’Mussi is said to have died in 1356, which leaves room for interpretation or possible conjectureby the scribes of copyists. Wheelis suggests howeverthat De’ Mussi’s “account appears to be consistent with most known facts”20(Wheelis 5). This may be premature thinking as Sussman summarizes:

“Firsthand accounts of the Black Death in Europe and the Middle East and many subsequent historians have assumed that the pandemic originated in Asia and ravaged China and India before reaching the West. One reason for this conviction among modern historians is that the plague in the nineteenth century originated and did its worst damage in these countries. But a close examination of the sources ofthe Delhi Sultanate and the Yuan Dynasty provides no evidence of any serious epidemic in fourteenth-century India and no specific evidence of plague among the many troubles that afflicted fourteenth-century China”21 (Sussman 319).

This makes a good argument, and provides proof that the aetiology question has not been fully answered, as there is not conclusive evidence regarding the plague’s origins, amid the theories. Theories of theplague’s origin and its modes of transmission were and still are being formulated and although De’Mussi’s account is important in the context of European history he was certainly not the only

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individual who described the bubonic plague in its early stages. The medieval Islamic scholar Lisan-ad-Din Ibn al-Khatib (1313-1375) who lived in Granada during the outbreak of the Black Death between 1348-1349 described the plague as early as 1352 in Muqni’ at as-sa’il ‘an marad al-ha’il stating:

“It becomes clear to anyone who has diagnosed or treated the disease that most of the individuals who have had contact with a plague victim will die, whereas the man who has had no exposure will remain healthy. A garment or vessel may carry infection into a house; even an earring (al-halak) can prove fatal to the man who has put it in his ear. The disease can make its first appearance in a single house of a given town, then spread from that focus toother persons- neighbours, relatives, visitors. The disease can break out in a coastal town that had beenfree of the disease until a plague victim landed there, coming across the sea from a town where plagueis raging. The date at which plague appears in the town coincides with [i.e. occurs a few days after] the debarkation of this carrier. Many people remained in good health who kept themselves in isolation from the outside world, for example the pious Ibn Abi-Madyan in Sale.’ He believed in contagion; therefore he laid by a store of provisionsand bricked up his house, sequestering his large family. The town was severely stricken, but no one in his household took ill. There are many accounts of communities remote from highways and commerce thatremained unscathed. There is also the remarkable

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example of the prisoners in the Arsenal at Seville who were unaffected even though the city itself was hard hit. Other reports tell us that iterant nomads who live in tents in North Africa remained free of disease because the air is not shut in, and the corruption from it is only mildly infections”22 (W.B. Ober and N. Alloush 422).

His account of the Black Death in Spain provides clear evidence of the rapidity of the plagues spread from Kaffa in 1346 to Grenada in 1348-49. The Muslimscholar like De’Mussi expressed an understanding of the virulence of the disease and described its effects. Unlike De’ Mussi however, Ibn al-Khatib more than likely witnessed the events and included his observations in his treatise. He states, that “infection exists is confirmed by experience, investigation, insight, personal observations, and reliable reports. These are the elements of proof”23(W.B. Ober and N. Alloush 423). He provides clear and distinct signs and symptoms of the menace noting the characteristic bubo and vile black ooze. One might assume that a man of the Islamic faith would attribute or blame the horrors about him on theTartars who had appeared to be enemies of Islam during the early 13th century and the first half of the 14th century, but Ibn al-Khatib does not do so. One must take into consideration that during the Mongol’s westward push, many Muslims were slaughtered, as they were within the path of the Hordes expansion, which explains many Islamic scholars disdain for them. Similarly once the

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Mongols arrived in East, Central and Western Europe the kingdoms of Christendom began to experience the same hostility from the conquerors. Certainly the Middle East suffered mightily from the bubonic scourge and was further handicapped by the subjectionof the Mongol Horde, who during the time of the BlackDeath had adopted Islam as their religion24 (Missick 92). Arabic Scholar and plague eyewitness Ibn al-Wardi said of the Black Death’s origin that it came from the “land of Darkness” 25(Dols 40). Author Michael Dols explains, “this region should be interpreted as inner Asia or Mongolia and not as China”26 (Dols 40).

The impact of years of servitude had surely wrought enough animosity, but so too with the Christians who were now beginning to feel the wrath from the people of the steppes. That the Mongols began to display hatred for the Christians, even after years of diplomatic relations and missionary trips from European ambassadors to the royal court of the Khan is evident in the Jacobite historian Bar Hebraus’ description:

“Since the Mongols noted among the Christians sincerity and charity they held the Christians in theearly stages of their rule in high esteem. But, later their affection turned to hatred,; they could no longer approve of the Christians when many of them[Mongols] changed over to the Muslim faith”27(Stephen A Missick 92).

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The Christian literature is replete with blame against the Mongols for spreading the plague. It hasbeen written that Genghis Khan himself once said thathe was the ‘flail of god.’ He made it known that if the people would not have sinned, God would not have sent him upon them. There certainly were shifting viewpoints and perspectives during the Empire of the Mongols. It is interesting how their relationship with Middle Easterners and Europeans changed and developed over the course of less than one hundred and fifty years. Western historians will recall the tentative period between the conquests of Genghis Khan and Kublai Kahn, a time when Christian principles streamed into Mongolian society. The growth of the Nestorian Christian movement for example was quite the success, and several sons of Genghis Khan married Nestorian Christians. Even Kublai Khan’s wife, Chabi was a Nestorian. The voyages of Marco Polo and his recorded experience in the court of Kublai Khan provide colourful insight into the realm of the Mongols and their relationship with Europeans before the onset of the bubonic plague. There was indeed some type of transition which occurred after Kublai Khan’s death in 1294, whereby the Nestorians lost their influence upon the Empire and the Mongols drew nearer to the Islamic faith28 (Missick 100). Peter Jackson in his book The Mongols and the West, 1221-1410 writes, “A number of circumstances were responsible for the disappearance for the far-flung Latin missionary communities. One was the effects of the Black Death (1347-9) both in

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the mission field and on potential recruitment in Western Europe: all but three religious in the fifteen convents in Persia were wiped out, so that Pope Clement VI had to begin afresh in 1349”29 (Jackson 260). European descriptions of the plague after 1347 though some texts attribute the plague’s origin to the Mongols (Tartars), are quite suggestiveof God playing a hand in the plague’s expansion. This seems to echo Genghis Khan’s claim of being the “flail of God”30 (Secret History of the Mongols) particularly if one believes the Mongols were the cause of the plague’s spread throughout Europe. One might argue then that the great Khan spoke not only of the suffering which God wrought through him upon the nations in his time, but the future as well. In conjecture this view of the plague in essence becomesa type of extension of the Mongolian Empire’s attempted overthrow of the people of Western Europe. Of courser, one must make the connection with the plague’s first European recorded description at Kaffawhich was discussed above. That act of bio-terrorism in hauling the diseased bodies of plague victims overthe cities walls was not only an act of war, but one of annihilation. If one is to give any credence to the siege of Kaffa as being the starting point of theplague’s origin and spread in Europe, and other primary sources accrediting the Mongols to the plague’s spread, then Genghis Kahn therefore becomes more than the conquering and unifying Khan under heaven, but also the indisputable Shaman whose prophecy of doom became a reality, “I am the flail of

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God. If you would not have sinned, then God would not have sent me upon you”31(Attributed to Genghis Khan in Secret History of the Mongols).

God as the source of Sorrow, Plague and Death

Sin and its ramifications, and God’s wrath were certainly subjects which European’s were well familiar. Western Europe, even before the outbreak of bubonic plague was quite religious. Their conceptof God being the source of all good things and the punisher of evil in a world of superstition, religious ideology and doctrine was a strong component in everyday existence. Man lived in a world purposed for the serving of a good God, who notonly demanded but deserved to be worshipped. So surely according to 14th century religious standards, calamity befell those people or individuals who somehow wavered from the principles of the Christian faith, or perhaps more bluntly were doing something wrong in the eyes of God. So naturally it was not ordinary for Catholic clerics and laymen alike to believe that the Black Death originated from the handof God. Taking route with the foundations of the Christian faith’s fascination with original sin, the Church’s behaviour was a reflection of their views and beliefs during the age of the Black Death’s spread. With regard to the Mongols as being agents of death, in the Western European’s view, the Black Death might have been indirectly attributed to them, but the true source came from the power of the Christian God. However, historically and

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linguistically when analyzing the context of the fourteenth century and perspectives, it is important to note that the Mongol Khans considered themselves to be the Lord’s of the Earth, meaning everything under heaven was theirs, and believed that they had been given such power by god. As Peter Jackson reiterates, “The Mongols believed that they were thetrue masters of the world, wrote Ricoldo of Montecroce in the 1290’s, and that the whole world had been created for their enjoyment and was under anobligation to present them with tribute and gifts; and his verdict was echoed a few years later by the author of the Memoria Terrae Sanatae”32(Jackson p 184).This was reinforced by the founding of the Yuan Dynasty and the blessed bestowing of the Mandate of Heaven33 (Note Mandate of Heaven). Perhaps Genghis Khan’s chief advisor Yeh-lu Ch’u-ts’ai said it best in summing up the general ideology of the Mongol’s court in writing:

“The Way of our Confucius is for governing the world,the Way of Lao Tzu is for nourishing the nature, and the Way of Buddha’s is for cultivation the mind. This is a universal opinion, in the past as well as in the present. Apart fro these doctrines, the rest is all heresy”34 (Chan & de Bary 384 Yuan Thought).

The Europeans at this time believed they understood the Mongols perception of themselves based on numerous missionary journeys, papal envoys and literary correspondences between the Khan’s court andthe western peoples of Europe. In a letter to Pope

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Innocent IV dated 3-11 November 1246, approximately one century before the siege of Kaffa, the Great KhanGuyug said:

By the power of the Eternal Sky, [We] the Oceanic Khan of the whole great people;Our command. This is an order sent to the great Pope that he may know and understand it. We have written it in the language of the lands of the kerel (Latin?).Counsel was held; a petition of submission was sent; it was heard from your ambassadors. And if you keep to your word, thou, who are thatgreat People, together with all the kings, must come in person to do homage to Us. W shall then cause youto hear every command that there is of the Yasa (Law). Again. You have said: ‘Become Christian, it will be good.’ Thou has made thyself wise (or thoughhas been presumptuous); though has sent a petition. This petition of thine We have not understood. Again You have sent words [saying]: ‘Thou has taken all the lands of the Majar and the Christians; I am astonished. What was their crime? Tell us.’ These words of thine WE have not understood either. The command of God, Chingiz |Khan and Qa’an (=Ogodei), both of them, sent it to cause it to be heard. They have not trusted the command of God. Just like thy words thy too have been reckless; they have acted with arrogance; and they killed Our ambassadors. The people of those countries, [it was]the Ancient God [who] killed and destroyed them.

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Except by the command of God, how should anyone kill,how should [anyone] capture by his own strength? Dost though say none the less: ‘I am Christian; I worship; I despise and….How dost thou know who God forgives, to whom He shows mercy? How dost thou know, who speakest such words? By the power of God [from] the going up of the sun to [his] going down [He] has delivered all the land to Us; We hold them. Except by the command of God, how can anyone do [anything]? Now you must say with a sincere heart: ‘We shall become [your] subjects; we shall give [our] strength.’ Thou in person at the head of the kings, you must all together at once come to do homage to Us. We shall then recognize your submission. And if you do not accept God’s command and act contrary to Our command We shall regard you as enemies. Thus We inform you. And if you act contrary [thereto], what do We know [of it], [it is] God [who]knows. In the last days of Jumada II of the year six hundred and forty-four (3-11 November 1246)35 (de Rachewiltz 213/ Letter of the Great Khan Guyug to Pope Innocent IV 1246 AD).

Perhaps, one might argue, that in a time when Christian piety and devotion were being tested, and by some historian’s claims failing, the children of God needed something tangible to blame in the quakes of the invisible Black Death. The Mongols or Tartarsas they were usually called in Europe were according to some sources facilitators of God’s wrath and

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punishment. Johannes Nohl writes of the Christian religion in the fourteenth century, “During the BlackDeath the whole of Europe was persuaded that the end of the world was approaching. The plague was the apocalyptic rider on the pale hoarse, and all signs which were said to precede the last day were recognized which had been prophesied by Christ, the prophets, and the apostles”36(Nohl 114). The image ofthe Mongols, conquering vast lands on their war horses no doubt matched the European’s concept of death upon his horse as described in the Bible, in the book of Revelation37 (The Revelation of John the Apostle/Verse). The Black Death which appeared afterthe hordes disappearance from the Crimea must have increased the Churches dread. But in all fairness according to Jackson, “The Golden Horde may already have been gravely weakened by the onset in 1346 of the Black Death which, in the verdict of one Hungarian chronicler, had inflicted such losses on the Tartars that Louis I was able to embark on his invasion of Naples with equanimity”38 (Jackson 216). This raises fundamental questions in relation to the Black Death’s origin in terms of geography, as it is plausible that Janibeg’s second invading force at Kaffa may have contracted the plague in Crimea in 1346, rather than from Central Asia as some scholars suggest. At any rate it certainly raises the question as to why would an invading force proceed with a campaign while in the grips of such a virulentdisease as the bubonic plague? It would seem more logical to retreat after contracting such a disease,

30

which De’ Mussi’s narrative says is exactly what occurred. Sussman makes the connection that to De’Mussi the Black Death was a world wide event whichparalleled the Christian apocalyptic view39 (Sussman 320). The belief system in fourteenth century Europeremained a confused one, however.

Where the Church favoured the idea that God was the origin of the disease, various parts within the European community blamed and persecuted the Jews as being the cause of the Black Death. In modern times they would be seen as the terrorists who poisoned thewells. And of course this is exactly what they were being charges with during the fourteenth century. Interesting enough some Christians attempted curb such rhetoric and offered words of protection on behalf of the Jews, such as described in this excerptform a ‘Letter of the Municipality of Cologne January12, 1349’

“…And if we are called upon to express our opinion inregard to the is great plague, we must confess that we consider it to be a scourge of God, and consequently we shall permit of no prosecutions of Jews in our town on account of these rumours, but we shall protect them, as they were faithfully protectedby our forefathers. We therefore urgently and amicably beseech you that, as in all matters you are accustomed to proceed with wisdom and caution, you will in this matter of the Jews be guided by justice and moderation, and for this purpose take measures ingood time to prevent any risings of the people which

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might result in an indiscriminate slaughter of the Jews and involve other evils, and that to the best ofyour endeavours you will prevent the minds of the people being incited against the Jews, lest this excitement should spread to the towns of the Lower Rhine and penetrate to our district…”40 (Nohl 196-97).

Whatever were the Black Death’s origins its cause manifested into chaos and confusion, which ultimatelyled to the persecution and death of several thousand Jews. The pleadings of the Christians on behalf of the Jews seemed to have no effect upon the sentimentsof the persecutors:

“There then arose a second theory regarding the BlackDeath: The origin of the plague was that the drinking wells were poisoned. Who were the poisoners? Naturally the Jews. Why would they do that? Because they took delight in destroying the Christian world. They were the agent s of Satan, theanti-Christ. Therefore it was nothing for the Jews to poison the well”41 (Barel Wein adapted by Yaakov Astor 4).

Although the Church was positive that God caused it, many European government officials were certain that the Jewish community was responsible. After subjected to torture many Jews did confess to poisoning the wells as illustrated in the example of the Trail of Well-Prisoners at Chillon, 1348:

“Confessions of the Jews made in the year of the lord, 1348, on September 15, at the caste of Chillon,

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who had been arrested I the new Town concerning the poisoning of which they were accused, of wells and springs here and elsewhere, also of food and other things with the purpose of killing and exterminating the whole of Christendom”42 (Nohls 198).

But what if someone did poison the wells? What then?Even if a small percentage of people say, three or four individuals poisoned the wells, due to the virulence of the Black Death, a few purposed poisonings would be enough to cause significant spread of the pestilence. This may not necessarily answer the question of the plague’s origin directly, but it does allow room for further theorizing and hypothesizing. Again one should consider that the Mongols had only two years prior to the trail at Chillon utilized an early form of biological warfare at Kaffa. If we can be sure that the inhabitants of the city of Kaffa threw the decaying bodies into the sea, we might also postulate that they may have inadvertently poisoned their own wells. It is quite easy to visualize panic stricken residents within thewalled city feverishly attempting to get rid of the bodies. Whether rodent infested fleas were already inside the city gates, of this were can only speculate, but contact with the corpses would have only assisted the plague’s spread, as blood, fleas, and other infections matter from the bodies no doubt transmitted the disease to the unwary inhabitants. Abacterium as virulent as Yesinia Pestis in the drinking water would no doubt have enormous impact upon a given population, as death from the disease;

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in this case septicaemia plague was usually in the range of one to three days in most cases. “Septicaemic plague is like the bubonic plague, carried by insects. Its distinguishing feature is its rapidity-death occurs within a day of infection, even before buboes have had time to form. This form of the plague is the rarest rare, but is almost always fatal”43(TED Case Study). One can imagine the diabolical suddenness of entire family’s dying seemingly at once from poisoned drinking water. We are reminded that there were no cures or antidotes during the middle ages, thus the spread from person to person within a community would have been quick and lethal, as the potency of the bacterium through direct digestion in the blood stream would have had deadly ramifications.

While most of Christendom were fasting and praying toGod for deliverance and doing their best to appease God, the Muslim world, which faced the same world, viewed the pestilence quite differently. Granted they believed as many Christians, that God was the cause of the disease44 (The Islamic World), however their reaction to the plague was marked by a belief that it was a blessing from God, as it meant their martyrdom would solidify their position in paradise. Or perhaps more clearly, one might argue that those people of the faith believed that all things originated from God, and the universe and everything under heaven belongs to Him. Death, pestilence, and the Black Death were but manifestations of god working upon His creating. Therefore those who were

34

of the Muslim faith were safeguarded in knowing that their eternal souls were precious in the eyes of God.Therefore if a Muslim was touched by the plague they considered themselves chosen by God to enter paradise, and if untouched it was not their appointedtime45 (The Islamic World). During the years of the plague’s spread various principles were created to provide guidance as to what Muslims should believe and how they should behave during the years of outbreak. The tenets mandated that:

1.The plague was a mercy and martyrdom from God forthe faithful Muslim and a punishment for the infidel.

2.A Muslim should neither enter nor flee a plague-stricken land.

3.There was no contagion of the plague, because diseases came directly from God46 (Dols 23).

Muslim historian Ibn Khaldun like his contemporary De’Mussi believed that the entire world was encapsulated by the Black Death, and described how the powers of the world were shaken, shifted and altered by the pestilence:

Civilization both in the East and the West was visited by a destructive plague which devastated nations and caused populations to vanish. It swallowed up many of the good things of civilization and wiped them out. It overtook the dynasties at thetime of their senility, when they had reached the limit of their duration. It lessened their power andcurtailed their influence. It weakened their

35

authority. Their situation approached the point of annihilation and dissolution. Civilization decreasedwith the decrease of mankind. Cities and building were laid waste, roads and way signs were obliterated, settlements and mansions became empty, dynasties and tribes grew weak. The entire inhabitedworld changed. The East, it seems, was similarly visited, though in accordance with and in proportion to [the East’s more affluent] civilization. It was as if the voice of existence in the world had called out for oblivion and restriction, and the world responded to its call. God inherits the earth and whoever is upon it47 (Dols 67). One may assume that the unnamed powers of the East he refers to were the Mongols and the Yuan Dynasty of China. But some historians suggest that trade and commerce in Asia were not as heavily affected by the Black Death as their European counterparts.

It has even been argued that China recovered relatively quickly. In a study conducted on China’s economy from the years 1368-1800 it has been suggested that, “In the years between 1368 and 1800 China’s economy expanded immensely. Steady compounding growth in China’s population was the maindriver of this growth”48(James Graham 1). Population growth is certainly not indicative of a wide sweepingand spreading pestilence. The population increaser seems to support Sussman’s claim that perhaps it was bon bubonic plague which affected China during the 14th century. Comparatively by 1368 Europe showed no particular signs of population increase let alone

36

economic recovery as it would take decades before Western Europe would experience the onset of positivechange which would develop into the Renaissance.

The Black Death & Celestial Origins

The possibility that the Black Death had origins fromouter space is technically not a new one. Throughouthistory many civilizations have produced stargazers and astrologers who have studied the skies for signs or causes of terrible things to come. Comets have for many millennia been associated with bad omens. This is not surprising as chroniclers have noted thatbefore cataclysmic events such as plague and pestilence large comets were seen over Europe in the years 1298-1314. In 1333, “plague commenced after a vile mist appeared and in the year 1347 the Black Death epidemic broke out in Europe”49(Psycho-Social Study). According to one study the sighting of largecomets were seen every 10-20 years until the 1700’s, resulting in the death of over 100 million people50 (Psycho-Social Study). If indeed the bacterium now known as Yesinia Pestis had celestial origins the ramifications would change both historical and scientific parameters in the way both disease and human cultures are viewed. In the Middle-Ages the pre-scientific literature was imbued with religion and elements of observation which adhered to culturalmores and God given truth in a world wrought with superstition, fears, prejudices and ignorance about the natural world. Today we have the technology to find and analyze new data which those people of the

37

Dark Ages just did not have. In terms of origin as it pertains to pathogenic bacteria, some scientists suggest that comets may indeed be responsible for outbreaks of plagues, and pestilence. “There is evidence to suggest that humans have suffered massivedie offs following exposure to bacteria and viruses from space”51(Joseph & Wickramasighe 2). One might arguably compare a comet carrying the plague bacterium, and passing the earth in the fourteenth century to the asteroid which caused the extinction of the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago. Some palaeontologists argue that in combination with the asteroid’s impact and the dust particles which blocked out the sun, and drastically altered the climate, the asteroid may have also carried harmful pathogens which led to the end of the age of the dinosaurs. Could it be possible then, that a diseasecarrying asteroid or comet almost caused the extinction of the human race? Dr. Gabriela Segura seems to think so. The physician expressed her concern in an article wherein she writes, “As a physician, I usually concentrate strictly on medical and health-related issues, not history or catastrophism. However, like so many other people I see signs of atmospheric changes on our planet which,according to many experts, may well be due to increasing comet dust loading”52 (Gabriela Segura MD 2). She continues, “If our planet is entering a new cometary bombardment cycle, and if these comets harbour new species of microbe unknown to mankind’s collective immunological systems (as may well be the

38

case), then being forewarned is being forearmed”53(Gabriela Segura MD 2). A research team studying comets, contagion and diseases have stated that, “if passing comets have continued to deposit viruses and micro-organisms on this planet, this may explain why ancient astronomers and civilization attributed the periodic outbreak of plague to these stellar objects”54(Joseph and Wickamasinghe 1). Certainly if the bubonic plague had celestial originsthen the immune systems of humans would have been illequipped to adapt to the harmful pathogens.

This macrocosmic heavenly assault is comparable to the microcosmic example of Janibeg’s biological assault upon Kaffa in 1346. It is not hard to image fallout from a passing comet, or an earth impacted asteroid bearing bubonic plague, to have caused the outbreak. “Both the Latin and Arabic authors believed that a corruption of the air, a so-called miasma, had been produced, which was visible in the form of mist or smoke, and was spreading over the land, killing all living things”55(Dols 40). This description is indicative of some form of collision, as it fits the example of the asteroid which caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. Such a mist or smoke, as the Latin and Arabic authors described, if laced with deadly micro-organism could have easily affected and killed animal and human populations within a matter of years. To be effective in spreading, all the contagion would need is a complimentary wind to guide it toward such populations. Ultimately it would appear that one

39

might assume that the entire human population would have been completely wiped out were it not for the temporary cessation of the Black Death after approximately 1352. But perhaps this is too much conjecture as scientists have suggested that no firm conclusions can be drawn, despite the wealth of evidence suggesting a link between comets and diseases from space56(Joseph & Wickamasinghe). However such studies reiterate the importance and necessity of gaining further knowledge regarding origins of diseases earthly and celestial.

Supportive evidence of the Black Death’s cosmic origins may be found in a recent study where scientists claim they have found a link between E. coli and the bubonic plague of the Middle-Ages57

(Bubonic Plague and E. coli). The scientists indicate that the “genomic data show that this bacteria strain, or variant, is the ancestor of all modern plagues we have today worldwide,”58 (Black Death Genome Mapped, E. Coli Link Found) and “every outbreak across the globe today stems form a descendant of the medieval plague”59 (Black Death Genome Mapped, E. Coli Link Found). If this is true it would mean that present day diseases such as AIDS,H1N1, SARS, and Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or better known as Mad Cows disease, would havesome type of connection with that variant. This has much significance both historically and scientifically, as it provides experts with a narrow lens in researching the origins of disease outbreaks.As the scientific evidence relates to history,

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historians will be required to alter their methodologies, as some experts have already begun to make the connection between the literature from medieval astrologers and present day scientific confirmation. For example in the Decameron, Boccaccio writes of the plague’s origins, “Some say [the plague] descended upon the human race through the influence of the heavenly bodies”60 (Brown University). Present day author and Dendrochronologist Mike Baillie suggest, “earthquakescould be caused by cometary explosions in the atmosphere or even by impacts on the surface of the earth. In fact, the ammonium signal in the ice-coresis directly connected to an earthquake that occurred on January 25th, 1348. He correlates this with accounts of the 14th century that the plague was “corruption of the atmosphere that came from this earthquake”61 (Gabriela Segura 10). In a medieval medical treatise entitled the Paris Consilium forty nine medical experts from the University of Paris doubted that the origin of the bubonic death would ever be found but speculated that it might have arisen from the cosmos. It states:

“The celestial cause was the result of the conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, under the moist sign of Aquarius that took place in 1345, following both solar and lunar eclipses. The Paris Consilium cited Aristotle’s notion that the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter would bring disaster. According to Albert the Great, the conjunction of Jupiter and mars would bring plague.

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Jupiter, the sanguine planet, was hot and wet-the twoqualities that led to rotting or putrefaction which in turned to plague”62 (Brown University).

Such examples pose as evidence of the historic and scientific connection regarding the plague’s origins.That physicians in the Middle-Ages would consider a pathogenic organism to have possible origins from space is quite remarkable. One might argue that the writers of the Treatise of the Paris Consilium inadvertently contributed to some type of rudimentary form of astrobiology. Of course for the typical Muslim in the Middle-Ages, “the Black Death was part of a God-ordered, natural universe”63 (Dols 300). Therefore perplexities and disturbances in the heavens were attributed to an omnipotent and omnipresent God, and man was but a fragment of things existent in the universe.

Contemporarily speaking should scientists conclude that the Black Death indeed had cosmic origins, the evolution of humans and micro-organisms will become even more intricately linked, not only through their interaction of biological processes, but historicallyas well as conclusive evidence would change the way historians write and teach history about the Black Death. “With a better understating of the evolution of this deadly pathogen, we are entering a new era ofresearch into infection disease. Experts say the direct descendants of the same bubonic plague still exists today killing around 2000 people per year64 (Black Death E coli). Perhaps what will become

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challenging for historians of the Black Death, shouldscientists determine its origins to be truly cosmic, will be answering questions pertaining to the existence of other life forms in the universe and their possible relationship with this deadly contagion. To some this may sound like science fiction, but with programs such as SETI65 (Note on SETI), and its continued search for extraterrestrials, one might argue that the parameters of this type of research on a historical level will be abundant in years to come. A research team from the University of Sheffield in the Department of Molecular Biology recently determined that:

“In the case of the panspermia establishment of the first life on this planet, only a single, viable bacterium need to survive and once on Earth it could multiply rapidly. In the absence of competition [from] other life forms could soon cover the planet. It is a remarkable thought then that all current lifeon this planet could have arisen from a single bacterium present in a small clump of dust which landed on a previously untenanted Earth”66 (Wainwright, Alshammari, Alabri 4).

If this is so there is little reason to doubt the possibility that a similar event may have taken placeon some distant planet with life supporting conditions. If so with regard to the Black Death, wetheoretically might have experienced similar outbreaks as our counterparts somewhere within the

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universe. NAI Senior Scientist David Morrison said in a question and answers session on NASA’s website regarding panspermia:

“Most astrobiologists take the idea of panspermia (orexogenesis, its limited cousin) seriously. In its limited form, suggesting the possible exchange of living matter between planets in the inner solar system, this hypothesis is widely accepted. But the[re] are problems. If our motive is to find an alternative (non-Earth) explanation for the origin oflife, then panspermia only puts the problem of originon another planet but doesn’t actually solve anything. If by panspermia you man the transportation of living material between solar systems, then there are worse problems, since survival over hundreds of million s of year in space is problematical. Space by itself is not an insurmountable problem, but the long trip times may be”67(David Morrison 3.3.10 astroNASA).

If a clump of clay from outer space could cause such an eruption of life on an aqueous planet such as ours, surely a comet or asteroid carrying deadly pathogens can take it away. Again this might seem quite outlandish but current scientific research seems to support such claims For example, scientists Joseph and Wickramasinghe speculate that “‘the fist gene’ was fashioned billions of yeas before the creation of Earth”68 (Joseph & Wickramasinghe 2). This suggests that sometime after the Big Bang the stuff of life as it were, was already in existence,

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but required the necessary conditions or catalyst to support its development. One might argue from such evidence that in addition to the first gene which caused all life on planet earth, pathogenic precursors of bubonic plague or what would later become known as the Black Death also existed and may have found its catalyst for thriving and development in the rodent population. Along these lines one may also argue that the pathogenic cosmic fallout contributed to pneumonic plague and its spread throughout Eurasia. The plausibility of the Black Death having cosmic origins thus remains difficult todismiss, as human existence may have also arisen fromspace. On a more practical level, in terms of discovering life-forms, epistemologically speaking, if the Black Death is found to have cosmic origins then the question of existent life beyond earth will be definitively answered. Numerous theories and hypothesis will finally be laid to rest, as new dimensions of research, methodologies, exploration and discovery will become more available to both historians and scientists. As previously mentioned, scientists have already claimed that the cataclysmic outbreak of plague which occurred over seven hundred years ago gave birth to a host of ever-changing pathogens and diseases. How to combat the ever present danger of a spontaneous outbreak from some far region of the world, or perhaps our own backyard is a subject of which we still have much to learn.

Conclusion

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This paper has been an examination of the origin of the Black Death. A multidisciplinary approach and perspective was utilized wherein the goal of attempting to find the source of the Black Death might be derived. It conveys various and pervading theories on the origin of the Black Death, from both medieval and contemporary sources. In line with formulating some type of consensus on the data, it should be understood that such an attempt at once presents itself as a challenge. Firstly medieval Eurasia was a time of religious conflict, upheaval, confusion, warfare and superstitions. The mind-set of scholars and clerics and everyday people, were intricately linked in a web of set belief systems. Secondly although some belief systems were different in terms of geographical and cultural perspectives, there was in terms of universal and histircal truths the human factor of wanting to achieve some sort of dominance, whether in the form of religion, socio-political mastery, economics or conquest. Certainly the Crusaders of the Christian world and the Jihad ofthe Muslim world during the Middle-Ages makes this clear and evident. It just so happens that the Mongols were in fact the reining superpower during the outbreak of the Black Death, and their influence upon the sentiments of the ’weaker’ world states played an important part with regard to theories on how the plague was spread. For example the creation and maintenance of the Silk Road, the Mongolian Empire’s military conquests, and the animosity and growing hatred from many of their conquered subjects,

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all played a central role in the minds of medieval scholars, and quite plausibly influenced their theoretical dispositions of the plague’s origin. Forthose reasons I believe the Empire of the Khans deserve such extensive focus. Moreover, although somecontemporary historians might argue that the siege ofKaffa was not an important incident in terms of spreading the plague throughout Western Europe, I disagree as evidence has proven that the virulence ofthe pestilence was the main contributing factor for the high mortality rate. Therefore I believe such a large scale biological attack would have dire consequences

I have also presented a host of other possible theories, like the Jews poisoning the wells for example. Such speculation only highlights the paranoia and confusion which accompanied the outbreak. It also underlines the psychology behind epidemics and the behaviour patterns manifested n such incidences as wide sweeping pestilence. It is interesting that medieval Christendom, which professed Jesus Christ, a Jew as the messiah would blame and persecute those people who shared the Christians’ Lord’s ancestry. Although beyond the scope of this paper, it certainly says something regarding the long history of the Jews being blamed for the death of Jesus. Perhaps even more peculiar would be an argument suggesting the Jews were chosen as scapegoats, in the face of the Mongolian threat. Most historians agree that there is little supportingevidence to support the idea that Western Europe

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would have been prepared for an all out assault by the Mongol Horde. Thus one might assume that being unable to fully retaliate or challenge the Mongols for the assault on Kaffa, Christendom turned the Jewsinto domestic targets. These are problems that historians may never be able to solve, as some deal with personal and inner motivations, which historiansmust study with due diligence and insightful conjecture.

With that said one should not dismiss the evidence form medieval sources which suggest that plague’s origin was largely thought to have been the handiworkof God. Historians of the Black Death are largely familiar with such evidence and often equate how religion manifested itself in medieval scholarly works. It also can be argued that it influences the thought processes of future clerics and scholars, such as the Inquisition, and the witch hunt trials for example. Certainly with regards to their belief that God either caused or allowed the plague to occur, it is not difficult to conclude that such a belief system had great impression upon the psyche offuture generations. The Black Death shaped Western Religion, its practices, and interpretation. Primarysources indicate medieval peoples placed origins of the plague in the hands of God. Such evidence certainly provides historians with medieval perspectives about the God whom they served and worshipped and their place in the world as His children. Although sources suggest that by the time of the plague the Mongolian Empire had adopted Islam

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as its official faith, there is no historical consensus whether the Mongols shred all the religioussentiments of the religion. I argued that the Muslims and Christians attributed the origin of plague to God but expressed this belief in different ways. Such expressions are important characteristicsas they exemplify the different dogmatic ideologies of the two religions which have relevance today, bothhistorically and theologically.

Whatever pre-science was available at the time it wasbasic in most regions. Of course many scholars in the Middle East had some apprehension of contagion and often provided detailed descriptions of the signsand symptoms of the disease. Many sources in Europe have been preserved which give reference to the infamous buboes and maladies associated with the Black Death. I discussed that it is still a mystery to some historians as to why there is no particular evidence of the descriptions of Black Death from YuanDynasty China or India during this time. This problem alone signifies the need for investigation onthe aetiology of the Black Death, and confirms historical nuances in terms of geographical perspectives of the plague’s origin.

Many of those medieval scholars searching the skies gave credence to the Black Death’s origination form the cosmos. I argued that they may have been the early founders of astrobiology. Contemporary literature certainly reinforces those early theories of disturbances n the heavens. I presented what I

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believe to be the latest in cutting edge research which reiterates the plausibly of the Black Death having origins from the cosmos. I went a step further in theorizing hart the panspermia theory supports the idea of pestilence having cosmic origins, as life on other planets, solves the problemof its transmission through space, via extraterrestrials. The aliens indeed might have brought the pestilence with them on their ships, but scientists and other researches will have to make that important and controversial link. Contemporary UFO sightings beginning in the late 1940’s certainly raise eyebrows, and there are historians who conduct such research, which may yet prove quite beneficial in years to come with regards to pathogens and extraterrestrials. One might even argue that such hard evidence as alien operated space crafts would solve the above mentioned problem of space travel forpanspermia. With such evidence on might explain or attribute origins of the Black Death, to being some type of extraterrestrial disease passed on from aliens to man.

In closing if anything this paper has provided some semblance of accord in the multi dimensional approaches used in spreading the Black Death and its origins. With continued scientific and historical gathering of data, analysis and new supportive evidence, we might find that the origination of the plague of plagues stranger than expected.

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53

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Endnotes 1Michael McCormick (2003). “Rats, Communications, and Plague:

Toward an Ecological

History.” Journal of Interdisciplinary History. Volume 34, Number 1. Summer.P.

2Wood, James. W. Ferrell, Rebecca J. Dewitte-Avina, Sharon N. (2003). The Temporal Dynamics of the Fourteenth-Century Black Death: new Evidence from English Ecclesiastical Records.” Human Biology, Volume 75. August. Wayne State University Press. P.

3Michael McCormick (2003). “Rats, Communications, and Plague…” Journal of Interdisciplinary History. P.

4Melvin Santer (2009). “Richard Bradley A Unified, Living Agent theory of the Cause of Infectious Disease of Plants Animals and Humans in the First Decades of the 18th Century.” Perspectives in Biology and Medicine. Volume 52. Number 4. Autumn. P.

5George D. Sussman (2011). “Was the Black Death in India and China?” Internet. Online. Bulletin of the History of Medicine. 85: P. 347.Available at: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/bulletin_of_the_history_of_medicine/v085/85.3.sussman.pdf

6George D. Sussman (2011). “Was the Black Death in India and China?” Bulletin of the History of Medicine. P. 347.

7George D. Sussman (2011). Bull. Hist. Med. P. 354.

8George D. Sussman (2011). Bull. Hist. Med. P. 348-349.9Christian Nordqvist. “Origins of Black Death Traced Back to

China: Gene Sequencing Has Revealed.” Internet Online pgs. 1-5. Available at: http://medicalnewstoday.com/articles/206309php. Copyright: Medical News Today. Accessed on 26/01/2012.

10Susan Alchon (2003). A Pest in the Land: New World Epidemics in a Global Perspective. Albuquerque, New Mexico. University of New Mexico. P. 29

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11George D. Sussman (2011). Bull. Hist. Med. Note:12F. Klietmann and Kathryn L. Ruoff (2001). “Bioterrorism:

Implications for the Clinical Microbiologists.” Internal. Online. Clinical Microbiologist Revelations April; 14(2) . doi: 10.1128/CMR.14.2.364-381.2001. Available at: http://cmr.asm.org/content/14/2/364 & http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC88979/?tool=pmcentrez

13Brian Handwerk (2005). “Comet Facts: From Black Death to Deep Impact.” Internet. Online. National Geographic News. Pgs 3. Available at: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/01/0105_050105_comet_facts.html Accessed on 26/01/2012.

14Mark Wheelis (2002).” Biological Warfare at the 1346 Siege ofCaffa.” Internet. Online. Emerging Infectious Diseases. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Available at: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/441370. pgs. 6. Accessed on 21/01/2012. P. 2.

15Mark Wheelis (2002). Biological Warfare at the 1346 Siege of Caffa. P. 2

16Mark Wheelis (2002). Biological Warfare at the 1346 Siege of Caffa. P. 2

17Mark Wheelis (2002). Biological Warfare at the 1346 Siege of Caffa. P. 2

18Mark Wheelis (2002). Biological Warfare at the 1346 Siege of Caffa. P. 3

19Mark Wheelis (2002). Biological Warfare at the 1346 Siege of Caffa. P. 2

20 Mark Wheelis (2002). Biological Warfare at the 1346 Siege of Caffa. P. 5

21George D. Sussman (2011). Bull. Hist. Med. P. 319.22W.B Ober N. Alloush. (1982). “The Plague at Granada 1348-

1349: Ibn Al-Khatib and Ideas of Contagion.” Bulletin of New York Academy of Medicine. Pgs. 418-424. Volume 58. Number 4. May. P. 422

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23 W.B Ober N. Alloush. (1982). “The Plague at Granada 1348-1349: Ibn Al-Khatib and Ideas of Contagion.” Bulletin of New York Academy of Medicine. 423

24Stephen Andrew Missick (1999).”The Assyrian Church in the Mongolian Empire as Observed by the World: Travellers in the Late 13th and Early 14th Centuries.” Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies. Volume XIII. Number 2. Pgs. 85-104. Available at: www.jaas.or/edocs/v13n2/missick.pdf P. 92

25Michael W. Dols (1977).The Black Death in the Middle East. Princeton,New Jersey. Princeton University Press. P. 40

26Michael W. Dols (1977). The Black Death in the Middle East. Princeton University Press. P 40

27 Stephen Andrew Missick (1999).”The Assyrian Church in the Mongolian Empire…” Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies. P. 92

28Stephen Andrew Missick (1999).”The Assyrian Church in the Mongolian Empire…” Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies. P. 100

29Peter Jackson (2005). The Mongols and the West 1221-1410. Harlow, England. Pearson Education Limited. P. 260

30see The Secret History of the Mongols. Translated & Edited by Francis Woodman Cleaves (1982). Harvard University Press. Volume 1. Cambridge, Massachusetts. Available at: http://altaica.narod.ru/shengl.htm. It was recorded in the Secret History which is believed to have been published several years after the Genghis Khans death the he remarked after conquering Persia, “I am the Flail of God. If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon You."

31The Secret History of the Mongols see note 30.

32Peter Jackson (2005). The Mongols and the West 1221-1410. Harlow, England. Pearson Education Limited. P. 284.

33Note: see Dictionary Reference of Mandate of Heaven: Definition: a political theory of ancient China in which those in power were given the right to rule from a divine source. Referencedfrom http://dictonary.reference.com/browse/mandate+of+heaven

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34Hok-lam Chan and Theodore de Bary (1982). Yuan Thought Chinese Thought and Religion Under the Mongols. New York Columbia University Press.P. 384

35I. de Rachewtiz (1971). Papal Envoys to the Great Khans. London Faber & Faber. “Letter of the Great Khan Guyug to Pope Innocent IV 1246 AD” P. 213

36Johannes Nohl (2006). The Black Death A Chronicle of the Plague. Translated by C.H. Clarke. Yardley, Pennsylvania. First Westholme Publishing. 2006. P. 114

37Holy Bible: Book of Revelations (John the Apostle) Revelations 6:7-8 "And when He had opened the 'FOURTH SEAL,' I heard the voice of the 'Fourth Beast' say, Come. And I looked, and behold a PALE HORSE: and his name that sat on him was DEATH, and HELL (Hades) followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with SWORD, andwith HUNGER, and with DEATH, and with the BEASTS OF THE EARTH."Note: See: Sacred Texts explanation- http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/tbr/tbr029.htm The reference here is clearly to some great PESTILENCE that shall come upon the earth. After a devastating war, followed by famine, during which the dead are left unburied, a PESTILENCE is sure to follow.

38Peter Jackson (2005). The Mongols and the West 1221-1410. Harlow, England. Pearson Education Limited. P. 216

39George D. Sussman (2011). Bull. Hist. Med. P. 320

40Johannes Nohl (2006). The Black Death A Chronicle of the Plague. P. 196-197

41 Barel Wein. The Black Death. Internet. Online. JewishHistory.org We Bring Jewish History to life. Available at: http://www.jewishhistory.org/the-black-death. P. 4

42Johannes Nohl (2006). The Black Death A Chronicle of the Plague. P 198

43TED Case Studies The Role of Trade in Transmitting the Black Death. Internet. Online. Available at: http://www1.american.edu/TED/bubonic.htm

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44Note: Islamic World: Copyright © 1998, The Applied History Research Group, Department of History, University of Calgary. Website presented some argument on Islamic perspectives during the Black Death. http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/endmiddle/bluedot/blackdeath.html

45Islamic World See note 43. http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/endmiddle/bluedot/blackdeath.html

46Michael W. Dols (1977). The Black Death in the Middle East. Princeton, New Jersey. Princeton University Press. P. 23

47Michael W. Dols (1977). The Black Death in the Middle East. Princeton, New Jersey. Princeton University Press. P. 67

48James Graham. Quantitative Growth, Qualitative Standstill: China’s Economic Situation1368-1800. Internet. Online. Available at:http://www.historyorb.com/asia/china_economy.shtm1

49Psycho social Study of Human conflict Reveals Alien Influence on Humans. Internet. Online. Available at:http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/vida_alien/alien_humanitymanipulationalien01.htm

50 Psycho social Study of Human conflict Reveals Alien Influence on Humans. Internet. Online.

51Rhawn Joseph and N. Chandra Wickramashinge (2010).”Comets andContagion: Evolution and Diseases.” Journal of cosmology. May. Volume 7. 1750-1770. Available at: http://journalofcosmology.com/Panspermia10.html P. 2

52Gabriela Segura MD (2011). “Meteor New Light on the Black Death The Viral and Cosmic Connection.” Internet. Online. First published in issue 13. Volume 01/2011 of the Dot connector Magazine from Scott Website. Available at: http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/ciencia_asteroids_comets34.htm

53Gabriela Segura MD (2011). “Meteor New Light on the Black Death: The Viral and Cosmic Connection.”

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54Rhawn Joseph and N. Chandra Wickramashinge (2010).”Comets andContagion: Evolution and Diseases.” Journal of Cosmology.

55Michael W. Dols (1977). The Black Death in the Middle East. Princeton, New Jersey. Princeton University Press. P 40

56Rhawn Joseph and N. Chandra Wickramashinge (2010).”Comets andContagion: Evolution and Diseases.” Journal of Cosmology.

57Black Death genome mapped, E. coli link found. Internet. Online n. pgs. Available at: http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/5778269/Black-Death-genome-mapped-E-coli-link-found

58Black Death genome mapped, E. coli link found. Internet. Online.59Black Death genome mapped, E. coli link found. Internet. Online.

60 Treatise of the Paris Corisilium. Internet. Online. Brown University. Department of Italian Studies. Available at: http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/plague/causes/treatise.php

61Gabriela Segura MD (2011). “Meteor New Light on the Black Death: The Viral and Cosmic Connection.” P. 10

62Treatise of the Paris Corisilium. Internet. Online. Brown University. Department of Italian Studies. Available at: http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/plague/causes/treatise.php

63Michael W. Dols (1977). The Black Death in the Middle East. Princeton, New Jersey. Princeton University Press. P. 300

64Black Death genome mapped, E. coli link found. Internet. Online.

65Notes: SETI http://www.seti.org/” The mission of the SETI Instituteis to explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe”

66Milton Wainwrigth, PhD. Fawaz Alshammari, BSc, Khalid Alabri,MSc.(2010). “Are Microbes Currently Arriving to Earth from

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Space?” Journal of Cosmology. May. Volume 7. Internet. Online. Available at: www.journalofcosmology.com/panspermia2.html P. 4

67Notes: See the Question and Answer section on NASA website at:http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ask-an-astrobiologist/question/?id=10542 by David MorrisonNASA Question

Why is panspermia theory not seriously considered as one of the possible origins of life on Earth? Couldn't extremophiles survive the harsh conditions in space to make the trip to Earth?

Most astrobiologists take the idea of panspermia (or exogenesis, its more limited cousin) seriously. In its limited form, suggesting the possible exchange of living matter between planets in the inner solar system, this hypothesis is widely accepted. But the are problems. If our motive is to find an alternative (non-Earth) explanation for the origin of life, then panspermia only puts the problem of origin on another planet but doesn't actually solve anything. If by panspermia you mean thetransportation of living material between solar systems, then there are worse problems, since survival over hundreds of millions of years in space is problematical. Space by itself is not an insurmountable problem, but the long trip times may be.

David MorrisonNAI Senior ScientistMarch 23, 2010

68Rhawn Joseph and N. Chandra Wickramashinge (2011). “Genetics Indicates Extraterrestrial Origins of Life: The First Gene. Did Life Begin following the Big Bang?” Journal of Cosmology. Volume 16. Internet. Online. Available at: www.journalofcosmology.com/life100.html

Appendix

For further scientific investigation on the Black Death I interviewed Dr. James Oliver and Dr. Susan Peters, both biologists and professors at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in the United States. I asked them both three questions regarding my dissertation with hopes of relaying to readers viewpoints from senior biologists working in the field of biology. I asked them about Yesinia pestis in particular, the panspermia theory, and askedthem about the plausibility of the Black Death having cosmic origins. For the sake of space I have included parts of my question and answer segments with them below. I am grateful for

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their input and thankful for taking time out of their busy schedules. I have included their contact information below the end of their correspondence with me.For clarity Dr. Oliver’s responses are decoded in red and Dr. Peter’s comments are in blue.

Dear Dr. Oliver,  My name is Lewis Dowell, III I am an alumni of UNCC class of 1999 and former student of Dr. Susan Peters. I recently asked her for a bit of advice and information regarding a topic that I am currently researching (the Black Death of the 14th century).  She provided me with some great information and details from an evolutionary biologist perspective, and also suggested that I contact you for a microbiologist perspective.  I submitted three questions to her and she was very kind and gracious to respond, despite her busy schedule. Should you think you may be able to answer the three interviewquestions from a microbiologist perspective I would greatly appreciate it, as I believe it would not only enhance or strengthen my analysis, but would certainly display the well-roundedness of my particular argument.  I thank you in advancefor your time and consideration.  I hope to hear from you soon. Best Regards,Lewis Dowell, III

1.      To what degree or how effective do you believe the plague might have been spread from a biological attack?You mean some kind of human attack? A purposeful thing?  None. 2.      Do you think it is plausible that the Black Death of the 14th century might have had cosmic origins i.e arrived on a asteroid or meteor for example?No chance. A few bacteria may have come from Mars ejecta millions of years ago, but there is plenty of evolutionary molecular evidence for the development of this species over time 

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3. If it is proven that the Black Death had cosmic origins howdo you think it will affect the history of science as a researched and taught discipline and to what degree will scientific perspectives and research methods be affected?           How would this be “proven”? In any case, it would have no effect on the history of science or methods.

Dear Dr. Oliver,

I have another question which you and Dr. Peters will no doubtbe able to answer as it deals with both microbiology and evolutionary biology.  It also deals with history, human history, but in a wider context.  What are your views on the Panspermia theory (that life may have cosmic origins)  The plausibility of this theory I believe is an important one, as some scientists have suggested may explain not only human but all life on earth.

Should I assume that Dr. Oliver and Dr. Peters are not supporters of this theory based on the supposition that neither professors lean toward the idea or theory that the Black Death or any other bacterium or disease may have had cosmic origins?   But suppose that the Panspermia theory is correct.  Are we humans not bacteria?  According to some biologist we sprang from that primordial soup and evolved overbillions of years.  I would like your input on this.  I thank you again for your time and consideration and hope I have not caused any inconvenience or delay in your busy schedules.

Best Regards,Lewis Dowell, III

I largely agree, and said much the same yesterday. I do think, however, that intact bacteria could have, and very possibly did, travel through space; there’s evidence of fossil bacteria in meteorites. It’s even conceivable, I guess, that if that happened 3 billion years ago, they could have been the evolutionary precursor of life on earth. However, the evidence is in favor of life having evolved on earth, from the beginning, as Dr. Peters says at the end of her statement. Pamspermia, I believe, is a valid concept, but

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only as far as the idea that some cells might have come from other locations. Indeed, it’s likely the opposite is happening today also!

Hello Dr. Oliver and Dr. Peters, Well now this seems a bit perplexing to some degree, and not to get too far off the Black Death topic- But I asked one of my professors at University of Aberdeen several months ago about the plausibility of microorganisms evolving or coexisting with atoms during the universes birth pangs (14 billion years ago) and she didn't seem to see my point.  She happens to be an expert in the History and Philosophy of biology, and I suppose I'm putting on my philosophy hat here, in terms of causes, and first causes.  Surely I would think, according to evolution, all things are derived from those first particles (including diseases both past and present).   My line of thinking was/is that if we move laterally from the first instances of the big-bang to our present moment regardless of the mechanism by which the bacteria and stuff oflife (DNA) came from one could argue that it all had cosmic origins.  I focused on meteors and asteroids, because many scientists, astrobiologists in particular agree that many diseases (pathogens) as well as life could have come to earth by this mode of travel.    I suppose I was reasoning that: if Dr. Oliver and Dr. Peters both agree on the plausibility of the Panspermia theory why wouldn't they also reason that the Black Death (of the 14th century) might have also had cosmic origins?  I understand that there have been other outbreaks of bubonic plague in antiquity and the 18th century, and that bubonic plague is still in existence today. But these instances were not as deadly as the Black Death, nor were the ramifications so pronounced with regards to the rate by which people died. The disease was so alien to physicians, scholars and theologians that they really had no means to combat the pestilence during the early years of the BD outbreak.   Best Regards,Lewis Dowell, III

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On black death – as I mentioned in a previous email, if there were only one species of Yersinia (pestis), then it might be seen as something “singular” of unknown origin. But there are numerous highly related Yersinia species, and they have been around for a long time, and are highly related to numerous other genera. If Yp came from space, why would there be all the other related species around the world, and throughout time? 

Dr. James D. Oliver, Ph.D Microbiology, Georgetown University (1973) University of North Carolina at Charlotte (Bonnie E. Cone Distinguished

Professor)

Phone, Office:

704.687.8516

Phone, Lab: 704.687.8517Office: Woodward 381DEmail: [email protected]

du

Hi Dr. Peters, I'm currently back in the US visiting family for Easter Break.  I recently got an offer into a Research program at University of Aberdeen in the Anthropology department, and maygo onto that PhD.  Of course I am still awaiting responses from other programs I have submitted applications to.  I'm writing you today with regards to the current dissertation I am working on in the History and Philosophy of Science at Aberdeen University.  Although my dissertation is pretty much complete I was wondering if I would be able to ask you a few questions with regards to the subject I am working on, and if perhaps I might include your views in my work with your permission.   I am researching origins of the Black Death of the fourteenth century in particular and have done quite a bitof background work and historiography.  I have included primary and contemporary sources and given place to scientificviewpoints.  One of the main things I am concerned about is the virulence factor of the disease and its rate of mutation. I believe you might be able to lend further biological perspective as it relates to virulence and the plagues spread, and would welcome any suggestions you might beable to lend.  I have listed only three questions and would

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appreciate your response at your convenience.  Thanks again for your time and consideration.  I hope to hear from you soon. Best Regards,Lewis Dowell, III  1.  To what degree or how effective do you believe the plague might have been spread from a biological attack? 2.  Do you think it is plausible that the Black Death of the 14th century might have had cosmic origins i.e arrived on a asteroid or meteor for example? 3.  If it is proven that the Black Death had cosmic origins how do you think it will affect the history of science as a researched and taught discipline and to what degree will scientific perspectives and research methods be affected?

From my perspective as an evolutionary biologist, I think that it is highly unlikely that extraterrestrial bacteria exist or that, if they did, they would have the appropriate biological machinery to infect terrestrial forms.  Yersinia pestus is one of at least 12 species of Yersinia that exist in many places.  It is known toexist endemically in central Asia and in all likelihood spread from there as humans became more mobile.  From what I’ve read, in the 14th

century the Mongols brought it to the European merchants who had trading outposts in southern Asia and when they fled back to Europe brought it with them.  It has experienced several more recent outbreaks too, but nothing approaching the 14th century epidemic.  Populations of rodents in the South Western US are known to carry it, but modern antibiotics are able to knock it out before it can reach epidemic levels.  Besides, my guess is that natural selection has resulted in a population (at least those of us of European descent) that is more resistant to it.                  It is known that the Japanese used it in biological warfare against the Chinese shortly before WWII, causing many deaths.  So it can be used as a biological warfare weapon, especially if widespread so that people without access to antibiotics are affected.  But in western society we would be able to control it as long as we didn’t run out of the appropriate antibiotics.  

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                Did it arrive here from outside – as noted above, I’m not aware of any extraterrestrial bacteria.  How would they develop?  Yes, precursors like amino acids have been found in meteors, but whether they could actually get together and form a living cell in space is questionable.  If a life form originated on a different planet and then somehow got into a meteor or asteroid, its genetic material and physiological processes would probably differ enough that it couldn’t affect earthlings.  If it did arrive here extra-terrestrially, what are the implications?  The ways in which the chemical building blocks come together to form living things are highly constrained so that what happened here on earth isthe only way that living things can evolve.  OK – that’s cool!  Thatwould direct research along the lines of finding out why life is so constrained.  If it was different on arrival, it must have mutated to develop the virulence factors and a zillion other necessary structural and chemical characteristics to allow it to function hereon earth and infect earthlings.  All would be areas stimulating research into the adaptability and, again, the commonality of all life in the universe.  I don’t see that this discovery would change the way we do science.  It would suggest, again, that there is commonality among life in the universe, and we’d have to start looking for evidence of other possible “seeding” from extra-terrestrial sources.  But, again, I don’t anticipate that this is too likely above the molecular level.

Hi Lewis,

Well, no we aren’t bacteria!  Not by a long shot.  We are partof a complex web of life of which bacteria are an important part, but there are many differences in detail between us, not the least of which is multicellularity. 

So my answer depends on what you mean by the Theory of Panspermia – if you’re talking about alien astronauts a la Van Daineken (sp?), theanswer is no.  All of the genetic evidence points to the inevitable conclusion that life as we know it evolved here on earth from a common ancestor – our common genetic structures and functions, and common metabolic pathways across all living things speaks to this conclusion.  So I don’t see how alien organisms could come here, integrate with existing life forms, and end up with exactly these same forms/functions as earthlings. 

If you’re talking about bacteria-like living cells originatingin space and arriving to then > all life on earth.  That might be a

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bit more plausible, but again, how would these originate in space?  If they originated on another planet it would have to have an environment similar to earth’s early environment and then somehow survive in the vacuum & temps of space to get transported here – nottoo likely.

If, however, you’re talking about the building blocks of life being seeded here from outside, that is a completely different issue.  Since organic compounds have been found in meteors, it is quite possible that many of the molecular building blocks that were necessary to initiate life on earth came in from outside during the first turbulent billion years of earth’s history.  But life itself in the form of living cells evolved on earth once the building blocks got here.  The first likely living cells show up in the fossil record at about 3.7 billion years ago, and there is evidence from C12/C13 ratio in rocks that it began even earlier.  So life originated less than 1 billion years after the earth formed!  And all of the evidence points to the fact that all living things today are the descendants of those original life forms.

Sue Peters

Susan E. Peters, Ph.D Zoology (Vertebrate Morphology), University of California at Davis (1980)

University of North Carolina at Charlotte (Associate Professor)

Phone, Office:

704.687.8520

Phone, Lab: 704.687.8521Office: Woodward 282AEmail: [email protected]

u

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