Stop blaming rats for the plague
5/31/202626 min
If you were asked where the plague came from you’d probably say rats. Or fleas. And you’d say it swept across Europe killing up to half of the population.
But where exactly did it start and how did it get to Europe in the first place?
Medieval historian Dr Eleanor Janega sits down with Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) and debunks the biggest myths about the black death and tells the real story behind one of the worst pandemics the world has ever seen.
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
[intro music] ABC Listen, podcasts, radio, news, music, and more.
Marc Fennell· Host0:05
[upbeat music] What if the most ordinary things in your life aren't ordinary at all? A toothbrush, the pockets in your jeans, even a gravestone, someone designed them, shaped them, argued over them, and got it so right, you've stopped noticing. The everyday is full of hidden ingenuity, and on By Design with me, Anthony Bourke, we pull it all into the light. Search for By Design on the ABC Listen app or wherever you get your podcasts. [somber music] It is the mid-1300s, and for weeks now, the people in your town have just been disappearing. One day, it's a fever. The next, they're writhing in pain, their bodies covered in these huge, swollen lumps. Carts roll through the streets stacked with the dead. The smell, it hits you before you can even see them. And all you can think is, "How is this happening? And am I next?"
Eleanor Janega· Guest1:09
The Black Death, and that will eventually kill 25% of the world's population. That's an almost unthinkable number.
Marc Fennell· Host1:15
The Black Death, the Plague, Pestilence, whatever you call it, this was the worst health disaster the world had ever seen. But what and who caused it?
Eleanor Janega· Guest1:27
Everybody blames rats. The rats did