![At the peak of the mass mortality, urban space for the numerous plague deaths was becoming scarce everywhere, as this dramatic depiction of Tournai in 1349 shows.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/seuche-titel-tournai-300x225.jpg)
How the Great Plague changed the world
The plague epidemic in the Middle Ages, and its aftermath, readily invites comparison with the coronavirus pandemic. In his fascinating account of the ‘Great Plague’, however, historian Volker Reinhardt also warns of the limitations of such comparisons.
A quantum leap in the development of medicine
![Spread of the Black Death in Europe.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/2000px-1346-1353-spread-of-the-black-death-in-europe-map-300x262.jpg)
Plague 101 with National Geographic YouTube / National Geographic
Far-reaching social upheavals
![The plague brings out the most base cruelty in people: in 1349 innocent Jews are burned as scapegoats in Tournai, and the members of society’s upper echelons look on with satisfaction.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/juden-tournai-300x177.jpg)
![Depiction of two plague sufferers in the Toggenburg Bible of 1411.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/pest-toggenburger-bibel-von-1411-300x210.jpg)
Politics and religion put to the test
![Altarpiece dating from the early 16th century. Artist Hans Leu the Younger has depicted St Roch, the patron saint of plague sufferers. The angel is applying a tincture to Roch’s leg.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/sankt-rochus-dig-40639-lm-12361-180x300.jpg)
A zoom lens on hot spots and flashpoints
![Catherine of Siena dictating her chief theological work, the Dialogue.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/caterina-da-siena-300x300.jpg)
Basic pattern for dealing with an epidemic
The power of the plague – How the Great Plague changed the world – 1347 – 1353
![](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/die-macht-der-seuche-300x224.jpg)
Volker Reinhardt, Verlag C.H. Beck, Munich 2021.
256 pages with 25 illustrations and a map. Currently available in German.