the Great Death
also known as the disease, the plague, the sickness, plague, scourge, children's plague
The Great Death, also known as the plague, was a ruthless and mysterious disease that spread surely from person to person. It had devastated Normandy, killing so many farmers that bread production collapsed, and the dead lay unburied in piles.
The Great Death, also called the plague, was a ruthless and mysterious disease that spread from person to person. It devastated Normandy, killing so many farmers and laborers that society collapsed, leaving the dead unburied. Survivors at St. Lazarus described its forms: the swelling kind killed four in five, the blood coughers died without exception, and those who turned black perished quickly, though they believed nobody got it twice.
The Great Death, also called the plague, is a ruthless and mysterious disease that passes from person to person. It has devastated Normandy, killing so many that the dead go unburied and crippling agriculture, and though it has returned in a weaker form, it now targets children especially hard.
Details
- Has killed so many farmers that there is no bread; not enough hands to swing scythes, women to thresh, millers to grind, or bakers to stoke ovens · revealed ch.1
- Has fallen so heavily upon this part of Normandy that the dead cannot be buried and are piled outside · revealed ch.1
- The swelling kind kills four in five; the blood coughers all die; those who turn black die quick · revealed ch.17
- Nobody gets it twice according to the St. Lazarus encampment · revealed ch.17
- Has returned, though not in its former strength; only the lumps, not the blood-coughing · revealed ch.44
- Villages are tithing a tenth of their number, not two-thirds, but the tenth it chooses is especially hard; some call it the children's plague · revealed ch.44
Nothing has been revealed about the Great Death yet at this point in the book.