Michel de Piazza

Michel de Piazza (Italian: Michele da Piazza; died 1377) was a Franciscan monk and chronicler. Quotes It so happened that in the month of October in the year of our Lord 1347, around the first of that month, twelve Genoese galleys, fleeing our Lord's wrath which came down upon them for their misdeeds, put in at the port of the city of Messina. They brought with them a plague that they carried down to the very marrow of their bones, so that if anyone so much as spoke to them, he was infected with a mortal sickness which brought on an immediate death that he could in no way avoid...The signs of death...were these:...nearly the entire body succumbed to the woeful disease...there arose certain pustules the size of a lentil on the legs or arms. The plague thus infected and penetrated the body so that its victims violently spat out blood and this...continued incessantly for three days until they expired. Cronaca, ed. Antonino Giuffrida (Palermo: ILA Palma, 1980), pp. 82, 86, as translated by John Aberth, The Black Death, The Great Mortality of 1348–1350: A Brief History With Documents (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), pt. 1, sec. 5, p. 29 External links Michel de Piazza on French Wikipedia Black Death in Italy on English Wikipedia Category:1377 deaths Category:Chroniclers Category:Monks Category:Franciscans