page_title: Black Death in France
section_title: Northern France
hierarchical_section_title: Black Death in France / Plague migration / Northern France
caption_attribution_description: English: The burial of the victims of the plague in Tournai. Detail of a miniature from "The Chronicles of Gilles Li Muisis" (1272-1352), abbot of the monastery of St. Martin of the Righteous. Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, MS 13076-77, f. 24v.Français&#160;: Enterrement de victimes de la peste à Tournai. Détail d'une miniature des «&#160;Chroniques et annales de Gilles le Muisit&#160;», abbé de Saint-Martin de Tournai, Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, MS 13076-77, f. 24v.Русский: Похороны жертв чумы в Турнэ. Фрагмент миниатюры из "Хроник Гилля Майзета" (1272—1352), настоятеля монастыря святого праведника Мартина. Библиотека короля Альберта I, Брюссель
context_page_description: The Black Death was present in France between 1347 and 1352. The bubonic plague pandemic known as the Black Death reached France by ship from Italy to Marseille in November 1347, spread through first Southern France and then Northern France and, due to the size of the Kingdom, lasted there several years, as some parts were not affected until the plage was over in others. The Kingdom of France had the largest population of Europe at the time, and the Black Death was a major catastrophe. The Black Death in France was described by eyewitnesses such as Louis Heyligen, Jean de Venette and Gilles Li Muisis. The Black Death migrated from Southern France to Spain, from Eastern France to the Holy Roman Empire, and to England by ship from Gascony.
  At the time, Pope Clement VI resided in Avignon in present-day France during the Western Schism, and issued his condemnations of the Jewish persecutions during the Black Death as well as the flagellants. During the Black Death in France, King Philip VI of France ordered the University of Paris to composed the pioneering work Compendium de epidemia due to the pandemic.
context_section_description: From Lyon, the plague spread across Burgundy. In the village of Givry in Burgundy, half the population is confirmed to have died in August-November 1348. 
  The Black Death in Paris is described in the famous chronicle of the Carmelite Jean de Venette in the Saint-Denis Abbey in Ille de France outside of Paris.
  At the time, Paris was the biggest city in Europe, with a population of between 80.000 and 200.000 people.   According to Jean de Venette, the plague first arrived to Roissy near Gonesse in June 1348. He claims, that 16.000 people died in Saint-Denis
  and 800 people daily in Paris between November and December, were 500 died was transported to mass burial each day from the Hôtel-Dieu, Paris, were the nuns who attended the sick died along with them.  It did not leave Paris until January 1349.
  The presence of the plague is noted in Rouen in Normandie in the Normanniae nova Cronica during the feast of John the Baptist on 24 June 1348. In Normandie, the plague made it impossible to bury the corpses even in country villages, and each village which was reached by the plague flagged a black flag to warn anyone approaching. 
  In the very Northern parts of France, the Black Death is described in the chronicle of the abbot Gilles li Muisis of Tournai. According to Li Muisis, the plague reached Tournai in August 1349 and lasted to November. In Tournai, the Black Death caused a religious reformation. Because the plague was seen as punishment of God for the sins of humanity, the authorities issued regulations to ban everything regarded as sinful, such as gambling, and forced couples who lived together without being married to separate or marry immediately.  
  Due to the size of France, certain parts were not immediately reached by the plague, which travelled more slowly by land than by sea. Brittany and Auvergne were not reached until 1349, and some remote parts was not reached until 1351. The last part of France to be reached by the Black Death was Tonnerre, which was not reached by the Black Death until 1352.
caption: Burying Plague Victims of Tournai
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