Several English chronicles of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries record a cycle of famine and epidemics that affected England from 1086 to 1087. The present essay aims to offer a comprehensive study of these events. I shall first outline the twelfth- and thirteenth-century sources for the famine and the disease, accounts of which are provided by the Peterborough Chronicle and by the Latin historiae of William of Malmesbury, John of Worcester, and Henry of Huntingdon. Although textually related, reports of the epidemic found in these sources differ in some subtle respects. The linguistic information that can be obtained from these sources and from several Anglo-Saxon medical texts will be then analysed. Finally, I shall discuss how medieval historians interpreted this cycle of epidemic and famine according from a moral standpoint. The accounts found in the Peterborough Chronicle and in Henry of Huntingdon’s Historia Anglorum carry moral implications that could serve a didactic purpose, interpreting the mortality among cattle and people as a consequence of the greediness of the ruling class, and especially that of William the Conqueror, who died in 1087.

Diverse cronache inglesi del dodicesimo e del tredicesimo secolo riportano un ciclo di carestie ed epidemie che afflisse l’Inghilterra tra il 1086 e il 1087. La presente trattazione mira a fornire uno studio esaustivo di questi eventi. Inizialmente, verranno delineate le fonti del dodicesimo e del tredicesimo secolo che riportano resoconti della carestia e dell’epidemia: la Cronaca di Peterborough e le historiae di Guglielmo di Malmesbury, John di Worcester e Enrico di Huntingdon. Nonostante siano legati dal punto di vista testuale, tali resoconti non concordano tuttavia in alcuni dettagli. In seguito, verranno analizzate le informazioni linguistiche che possono essere ricavate da queste fonti e da diversi testi medici del periodo anglosassone. Infine, verrà discusso come gli storici medievali interpretarono il ciclo di epidemia e carestia da una prospettiva morale. I resoconti preservati nella Cronaca di Peterborough e nella Historia Anglorum di Enrico di Huntingdon hanno delle implicazioni morali che potevano servire un fine didattico, interpretando la mortalità tra bestiame e popolazione come una conseguenza dell’avidità della classe dominante e specialmente di Guglielmo il Conquistatore, che morì nel 1087.

Claudio Cataldi (2018). Reports and Interpretations of the English Epidemic and Famine of 1086-1087. MEDIOEVO EUROPEO, 2(2), 151-165.

Reports and Interpretations of the English Epidemic and Famine of 1086-1087

Claudio Cataldi
2018-01-01

Abstract

Several English chronicles of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries record a cycle of famine and epidemics that affected England from 1086 to 1087. The present essay aims to offer a comprehensive study of these events. I shall first outline the twelfth- and thirteenth-century sources for the famine and the disease, accounts of which are provided by the Peterborough Chronicle and by the Latin historiae of William of Malmesbury, John of Worcester, and Henry of Huntingdon. Although textually related, reports of the epidemic found in these sources differ in some subtle respects. The linguistic information that can be obtained from these sources and from several Anglo-Saxon medical texts will be then analysed. Finally, I shall discuss how medieval historians interpreted this cycle of epidemic and famine according from a moral standpoint. The accounts found in the Peterborough Chronicle and in Henry of Huntingdon’s Historia Anglorum carry moral implications that could serve a didactic purpose, interpreting the mortality among cattle and people as a consequence of the greediness of the ruling class, and especially that of William the Conqueror, who died in 1087.
2018
Claudio Cataldi (2018). Reports and Interpretations of the English Epidemic and Famine of 1086-1087. MEDIOEVO EUROPEO, 2(2), 151-165.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10447/667489
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