In 1348, in the major Trade City of Florence, a ship from China docked on the port carrying the rat that would lead Europe through one of the greatest epidemics ever known to man, the Black Death. The virulent plague quickly claimed the lives of a third of the population. There was no escape, as ...

Bubonic Plague" I buried with my own hands five of my children in a single grave. No bells. No tears. This is the end of the world." (Deaux, 1969) These are the words of Italian author Agniol diTura, but they reflect the emotions of an entire nation in the 1300's. It was at that time thatEurope ...