History of Animal Plagues. 67 



A.D. 1125. Severe weather. Pestilence in men and cattle 

 throughout nearly the whole of Europe, with famine. In Eng- 

 land_, ' in this same year were such great floods on St Law- 

 rence's mass dav, that many towns and men were drowned, and 

 bridges broken down, and corn and meadows spoilt withal, 

 so that there was famine and plague amongst men and on 

 beasts, and in all fruits so ori'eat untimeliness as had not been for 

 many years before.' ^ 



A.D. 1 1 27. The 'divine plague '(ergotism ?) appeared in man- 

 kind in France. Prayers to the Virgin Mary healed the afflicted, 

 it is recorded. Great pestilence amongst animals.^ 



A.D, 1 1 29. Heavy snow and rain in January. Great inun- 

 dations. Plague in oxen, cows, pigs, bears, stags, and goats. 

 The ignh divin'is in man over a large portion of Europe.^ For 

 Ireland it is recorded: 'A "maelgarbh" (murrain) in this year 

 which killed the cows of Erinn, and its pigs, except a very few.' 

 And for 1130: 'The same destruction (distemper) as in the 

 previous year, on the cattle of Lethchuinn.'* 



A.D. 1 131. Mortality amongst the domestic animals over 

 the whole of England, which continued for some years, so that 

 there was scarcely a farm which was free from the plague. The 

 pigsties were emptied, and the stalls of oxen were deserted.^ 

 William of Malmesburv says: ' In the 3Tst year of King Henry 

 a dreadful murrain among domestic animals extended over the 

 whole of England. Entire herds of swine suddenly perished ; 

 whole stalls of oxen were swept away in a moment ; the same 

 contagion continued in the following years, so that no village 

 throughout the kingdom was free from this calamity, or able to 

 exult at the loss of its neighbours.' Another historian says: 

 ' This year there was so great a cattle plague as never before 

 was in man's memory, over all England. It affected oxen and 

 swine as well, so that in a town where there were usually ten or 

 twelve ploughs at work, there was now not one left, and the 

 man who owned two or three hundred swine, often lost them all. 



' Saxon Chronicle, p. 229. 



2 St Bavonis. Chronicle. ' Anselm Gemblac. Chronic. Pistor. 



* Chronicon Scotorum. Edit. 1867. 



' Annals de Margan. Gate. Scrip., ii. p. 6. 



