BLOG: The Blackest Time
- 1brookallen
- Oct 9
- 5 min read
I remember exactly what I was doing when the Governor of Virginia closed all schools for two weeks at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. I was in the school gym at my van duty, dismissing students as their day-care vehicles arrived. A colleague flashed her wrist at me, where her I-Watch was scrolling the newsflash. Only a week into the two week closure, the virus had spread and schools were shut down for the rest of the academic year.
It was the plague of the 21st century.
But imagine living in the Middle Ages, when the study of medicine barely existed. When the Black Death came, nobody knew where it came from, how it could be transferred from person to person, or much less, how to cure it.
At the beginning of this year, I featured several novels that take place AFTER the Black Death. This week's guest author, Ken Tentarelli's story takes place DURING the event. Thought unpleasant in many ways, I'm looking forward to this read myself, because it will deal with human behavior--both good and bad during one of history's most difficult and "blackest" times. This is Ken's first visit to Brook's Journal, and I want to welcome him and challenge my readers to check out this intriguing book.
Read ON, everybody!
BEGINNINGS OF BLACKNESS
By Ken Tentarelli
In schools, lessons about the Black Plague are usually taught by first covering its arrival in Europe, and then how it moved throughout the continent. I looked through more than three dozen high school lesson plans, and not one of them included information about the plague’s origins and effects in Asia before it spread to Europe. It’s easy to understand why schools skip the plague’s origin; it’s a murky picture.
Until recently, scholars said the plague began somewhere in western China or the steppes of Central Asia—a large area to be sure. Our understanding changed a bit in 2022 when researchers at the University of Stirling reported the plague originated in Kyrgyzstan, based on their discovery of tombstones from the 1330s that mention pestilence. About the same time, a professor at Columbia University wrote about precursors to the plague virus being around since the 1200s. Just like the Covid-19 virus today, the plague bacteria evolved over time, so it’s difficult to say exactly when the plague began. As I said, it’s a murky picture.
What we know for sure from chronicles written during the Yuan dynasty is the devastation the plague caused in China in the 1330s. The Yuan Empire (which ruled China at the time) experienced a major outbreak in 1331. By 1334, the plague had reportedly killed over 90% of the population in the province surrounding what is now the city of Beijing. Other reports tell of cities where 70 percent of the population succumbed to the pestilence. From there, the plague spread slowly through the empire over the next sixty years, decimating China’s population from over 120 million to just 65 million.
Traders spread the plague westward along the Silk Road through Central Asia. In the middle of the 1340s, the plague arrived at Black Sea ports, which served as bases for the Republic of Genoa’s merchant ships. In 1347, the Genovese fortress at Kaffe in Crimea came under attack by a force known as the Mongolian Golden Hoard. The siege failed when the Mongolians were struck with the plague and forced to withdraw, but in a desperate move, they used catapults to hurl their diseased dead over the walls into the fortress, where they infected the Genovese sailors. From the Crimea, Genovese ships carried the disease to Europe.
My novel, The Blackest Time, tells of the compassion and courage of people who coped with the plague in Florence, Italy. The plague arrived in Florence in March 1348 on barges brought upriver from the seaport of Pisa. Doctors quickly found that none of their treatments could cure the plague. They attempted to treat family members of the afflicted hoping to stop the spread of the disease, but those efforts also proved ineffective.
With no real understanding of the problem, rumors and misconceptions began circulating among the population. Some, although fruitless, were harmless. One widespread belief was that the plague was caused by bad air, and that it could be dispelled by potent scents such as gardenia perfume. Some believed God sent the plague to punish sinners. They looked for scapegoats. An example in my novel is of a woman healer accused of practicing witchcraft.
Believing bad air caused the pestilence, the city government took steps to enhance sanitation. Their measures had the positive effect of reducing the disease-carrying rat population, which ended the plague in Florence. In a mere six months, while the plague ravaged the city, it claimed 50,000 lives. The plague spread northward, reaching England by 1348 and Scandinavia by 1350, ultimately claiming forty percent of Europe’s population.
After the initial wave, the plague recurred in cycles throughout the late Middle Ages. Notable resurgences occurred in the 1360s, 1380s, and into the 18th century, often with devastating local effects. The plague hasn’t disappeared. In the United States, an average of seven cases are reported annually, mostly in rural areas of New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado. Globally, outbreaks continue to occur, especially in parts of Africa, Asia, and South America.
ALL ABOUT THE BOOK
Set in the 1300s during the devastating black plague, The Blackest Time is a powerful tale of compassion, love, and the human spirit’s ability to endure immense adversity.
Gino, the central character, is a young man who leaves his family’s farm to find work in a pharmacy in Florence. His experiences show us how people coped in the most horrific time in history.
Shortly after Gino arrived in the city, two years of incessant rain destroyed crops in the countryside, leading to famine and despair in the city. Gino offers hope and help to the suffering— he secures shelter for a woman forced to leave her flooded farm, rescues a young girl orphaned by the plague, and aids others who have lost everything.
The rains had barely ended when the plague hit the city, exposing the true character of its people. While some blamed others for the devastation, the story focuses on the compassionate acts of neighbors helping each other overcome fear and suffering. Doctors bravely risk infection to care for their patients. A woman healer, wrongly accused of witchcraft and driven from the city, finds a new beginning in a village where her skills were appreciated.
Despite the hardships, love blossoms between Gino and a young woman he met at the apothecary. Together they survive, finding strength in each other and hope in a world teetering on the edge.
The Blackest Time is a testament to the strength of the human spirit in overcoming unimaginable tragedy.
ALL ABOUT KEN
Ken Tentarelli is a frequent visitor to Italy. In travels from the Alps to the southern coast of Sicily, he developed a love for its history and its people.
He has studied Italian culture and language in Rome and Perugia, background he used in his award-winning series of historical thrillers set in the Italian Renaissance. He has taught courses in Italian history spanning time from the Etruscans to the Renaissance, and he's a strong advocate of libraries and has served as a trustee of his local library and officer of the library foundation.
When not traveling, Ken and his wife live in beautiful New Hampshire.
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Thank you so much for hosting Ken Tentarelli today, with such a fascinating article linked to his new novel, The Blackest Time. Take care, Cathie xo The Coffee Pot Book Club