History of Aniiiial Plagues. 6i 



during harvest time; in many parts of Europe there were heaw 

 rains throughout the year. Flanders was inundated bv the sea, 

 and there were great storms. The consequences of these dis- 

 turbances were famine and disease in England, Germany, and 

 France. Cattle and men appear to have suffered equally. 'The 

 plague of Divine Fire {jgn'is divinn, ergotism or erysipelas) afflict- 

 ed many, who were only saved through the merits of the blessed 

 Virgin.^ ^ 'And in all that year it was very sad in many and 

 various things, both in tempests and in earth's fruits. And so 

 much cattle perished in this year as no man before remembered, 

 both through various diseases and through bad weather.' ^ (Refer 

 to 1044.) 



A.D. 1044. An eruption of Mount Vesuvius. In Germany, 

 * Plague in cattle ; the winter very severe, and heavy snows 

 fcll.'^ 'There died at this time (1043), '^^ ^^'^ neighbourhood, 

 many people, and there also reigned a special epizooty amongst 

 cattle.'* 



For Ireland we read, ' Clonmacnoise was plundered by the 

 people Conmhaicne (County Longford), whereupon God and 

 Ciaran sent upon them the unknown distemper {Tamil anaithi- 

 nldh), which killed almost all their people and cattle.'^ 



A.D. 1046. ' And this same year after Candlemas (Feb. 2nd) 

 came the severe winter with frost and snow, and with all kinds 

 of heavy weather, so that there was no man alive who could 

 remember so severe a winter as that was, both through mortali- 

 ty of men and murrain of cattle; both birds and fishes perished 

 through the great cold and hunger.'" 



A.D. 1047. O" January 1st there fell in the West of Eng- 

 land a very great and deep snow, which broke down most woods. 

 It lay till March ist. The ensuing summer had such tempests 

 of thunder and lightning that the growing corn was burnt and 

 blasted, and several towns the lightning reduced to ashes. There 



' Chronic. St Bavonis. Corp. Chronic. Flandr., i. p. 385. 

 "^ The Anglo-.Saxon Chronicle. ' Chronic. Ursperg. 



* Spangcnberg. Op. cit. 



' Chronic. .Scotorum. .See also, Annals of the Four Masters. Annals of 

 Clonmacnoise. 



" The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 



