DUMAS, Geneviève. « L’enseignement au Moyen Âge ». Dans Christian Amalvi et Rémy Pech, dir, Histoire de Montpellier, Toulouse, Privat, 2015, p. 109-129.

Ces vers des Fleurs du mal de Baudelaire en 1857 s'appliquent pleinement à Montpellier, qui, dans les dernières décennies, a profondément changé. Il était nécessaire de rendre compte non seulement de la métamorphose de la capitale du Languedoc administrée par Georges Frêche, mais aussi des apports considérables à la connaissance du Montpellier médiéval, moderne et contemporain résultant des fouilles des chantiers du tram et des derniers travaux savants.

DUMAS, Geneviève. Santé et société à Montpellier XIIIe-XVe siècles, Leyde, Brill, 2015.

This book examines the social, institutional and cultural setting of medical practices in the medieval town of Montpellier which boasted one of the first universities of the middle ages and a famous school of medicine. Some of its most celebrated masters and their medical works have been thoroughly studied but few of them try to put these in context with a thriving urban community of merchants and craftsmen that were at the core of the city council. Their concurrent efforts will endow Montpellier of a rich health care system featuring not only the university masters but also the city’s barber-surgeons and apothecaries. Their collective fate is revealed here in an integrated picture of health and society in the middle ages.

DUMAS, Geneviève. « Le livre de mémoires des notaires Bertrand Paul (1397-1400) et Jean du Pin (1401-1419) : gestion documentaire et mémoire urbaine ». Dans Patrick Gilli et Enrica Salvatore, dir., Les identités urbaines au Moyen Âge, (Studies in European Urban History, n^o32), Turnhout, Brepols, 2014, p. 81-92.

DUMAS, Geneviève. « Un registre de comptes à Montpellier au XVe siècle : nouveau regard sur l’organisation communale médiévale ». Bulletin historique de la ville de Montpellier, n^o35, 2013, p. 48-61.

DUBÉ, Catherine. « L’apport des sources comptables à l’étude du réseau viaire de Montpellier à la fin du Moyen Âge ». ComptabilitéS [En ligne], n^o12, 2019. 

Abstract 

À la fin du Moyen Âge, l’administration urbaine de Montpellier développe des préoccupations de plus en plus importantes pour la voirie, qui se concrétisent par une série d’interventions sur le réseau de communication urbain. Celles-ci se déclinent en travaux de nettoyage et d’entretien sanitaire des voies supervisés par des officiers de la ville, en entreprises de pavage réalisées par des ouvriers spécialisés, les « caladiers » mais aussi par des gestes d’embellissement, contribuant à améliorer l’expérience esthétique de la ville et contribuer à son prestige. Ces diverses interventions sont documentées dans la comptabilité urbaine, qui se révèle être une source de premier plan pour l’étude de la gestion du réseau viaire

Slavin, P. (2022, June 20). Black death: how we solved the centuries-old mystery of its origins. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/black-death-how-we-solved-the-centuries-old-mystery-of-its-origins-185423

Newfield, T., Duggan, A.T., Poinar, H. (2020). RE: Diverse variola virus (smallpox) strains were widespread in northern Europe in the Viking Age. Science 369, eLetter: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/369/6502/eaaw8977/tab-e-letters

Newfield, T., & Oppenheimer, C. (2021). Comment on "Effects in North Africa of the 934-940 CE Eldgjá and 1783-1784 CE Laki eruptions (Iceland) revealed by previously unrecognized written sources" by Brugnatelli, V., and Tibaldi, A. [Bull. Volcanol. (2020) 82:73] Bulletin of Volcanology 83, 55. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-021-01478-9

Izdebski, A., Guzowski, P., Poniat, R., Masci, L., Palli, J., Vignola, C., Bauch, M., Cocozza, C., Fernandes, R., Ljungqvist, F.C., Newfield, T., Seim, A., Abel-Schaad, D., Alba-Sánchez, F., Björkman, L., Brauer, A., Brown, A., Czerwiński, S., Ejarque, A., . . . Masi, A. (2022). Palaeoecological Data Indicates Land-Use Changes Across Europe Linked to Spatial Heterogeneity in Mortality During the Black Death Pandemic. Nature Ecology & Evolution 6, 297-306.

Abstract

"The Black Death (1347–1352 ce ) is the most renowned pandemic in human history, believed by many to have killed half of Europe’s population. However, despite advances in ancient DNA research that conclusively identified the pandemic’s causative agent (bacterium Yersinia pestis), our knowledge of the Black Death remains limited, based primarily on qualitative remarks in medieval written sources available for some areas of Western Europe. Here, we remedy this situation by applying a pioneering new approach, ‘big data palaeoecology’, which, starting from palynological data, evaluates the scale of the Black Death’s mortality on a regional scale across Europe. We collected pollen data on landscape change from 261 radiocarbon-dated coring sites (lakes and wetlands) located across 19 modern-day European countries. We used two independent methods of analysis to evaluate whether the changes we see in the landscape at the time of the Black Death agree with the hypothesis that a large portion of the population, upwards of half, died within a few years in the 21 historical regions we studied. While we can confirm that the Black Death had a devastating impact in some regions, we found that it had negligible or no impact in others. These inter-regional differences in the Black Death’s mortality across Europe demonstrate the significance of cultural, ecological, economic, societal and climatic factors that mediated the dissemination and impact of the disease. The complex interplay of these factors, along with the historical ecology of plague, should be a focus of future research on historical pandemics."

Mordechai, L., Eisenberg, M., Newfield, T.P., Izdebski, A., Kay, J.E., & Poinar, H. (2019). The Justinianic Plague: An Inconsequential Pandemic? PNAS 116, 25546-25554. https://doi.org/10.1525/jmw.2020.2.3-4.115

Abstract

"Existing mortality estimates assert that the Justinianic Plague (circa 541 to 750 CE) caused tens of millions of deaths throughout the Mediterranean world and Europe, helping to end antiquity and start the Middle Ages. In this article, we argue that this paradigm does not fit the evidence. We examine a series of independent quantitative and qualitative datasets that are directly or indirectly linked to demographic and economic trends during this two-century period: Written sources, legislation, coinage, papyri, inscriptions, pollen, ancient DNA, and mortuary archaeology. Individually or together, they fail to support the maximalist paradigm: None has a clear independent link to plague outbreaks and none supports maximalist reconstructions of late antique plague. Instead of large-scale, disruptive mortality, when contextualized and examined together, the datasets suggest continuity across the plague period. Although demographic, economic, and political changes continued between the 6th and 8th centuries, the evidence does not support the now commonplace claim that the Justinianic Plague was a primary causal factor of them."

Luterbacher, J., Newfield, T.P., Xoplaki, E., Nowatzki, E., Luther, N., Zhang, M., & Khelifi, N. (2020). Past Pandemics and Climate Variability Across the Mediterranean. Euro-Mediterranean Journal for Environmental Integration 5, 46. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41207-020-00197-5

Abstract

"The influence that meteorological, climatological and environmental factors had on historical disease outbreaks is often speculated upon, but little investigated. Here, we explore potential associations between pandemic disease and climate over the last 2,500 years in Mediterranean history, focusing on ancient disease outbreaks and the Justinianic plague in particular. We underscore variation in the quality, quantity and interpretation of written evidence and proxy information from natural archives, the complexity of identifying and disentangling past climatological and environmental drivers, and the need to integrate diverse methodologies to discern past climate-disease linkages and leverage historical experiences to prepare for the rapid expansion of novel pathogenic diseases. Although the difficulties entailed in establishing historical climate-pandemic linkages persist to the present, this is a research area as urgent as it is complex and historical perspectives are desperately needed."

Mordechai, L., Eisenberg, M., Newfield, T., Izdebski, A., & Kay, J. (2020) Doing History: Plague Past and Future - A Second Response to Mischa Meier. Medizinhistorisches Journal 55(3), 297-298. https://doi.org/10.25162/mhj-2020-0013

Mackay, H., Plunkett, G., Jensen, B. J. L., Aubry, T. J., Corona, C., Kim, W. M., Toohey, M., Sigl, M., Stoffel, M., Anchukaitis, K. J., Raible, C., Bolton, M. S. M., Manning, J. G., Newfield, T. P., Di Cosmo, N., Ludlow, F., Kostick, C., Yang, Z., Coyle McClung, L., Amesbury, M., Monteath, A., Hughes, P. D. M., Langdon, P. G., Charman, D., Booth, R., Davies, K. L., Blundell, A., & Swindles, G. T. (2022). The 852/3 CE Mount Churchill Eruption: Examining the Potential Climatic and Societal Impacts and the Timing of the Medieval Climate Anomaly in the North Atlantic Region. Climate of the Past, 18(6), 1475–1508. https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-1475-2022

Abstract

"The 852/3 CE eruption of Mount Churchill, Alaska, was one of the largest first-millennium volcanic events, with a magnitude of 6.7 (VEI 6) and a tephra volume of 39.4–61.9 km³ (95 % confidence). The spatial extent of the ash fallout from this event is considerable and the cryptotephra (White River Ash east; WRAe) extends as far as Finland and Poland. Proximal ecosystem and societal disturbances have been linked with this eruption; however, wider eruption impacts on climate and society are unknown. Greenland ice core records show that the eruption occurred in winter 852/3 ± 1 CE and that the eruption is associated with a relatively moderate sulfate aerosol loading but large abundances of volcanic ash and chlorine. Here we assess the potential broader impact of this eruption using palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, historical records and climate model simulations. We also use the fortuitous timing of the 852/3 CE Churchill eruption and its extensively widespread tephra deposition of the White River Ash (east) (WRAe) to examine the climatic expression of the warm Medieval Climate Anomaly period (MCA; ca. 950–1250 CE) from precisely linked peatlands in the North Atlantic region.

The reconstructed climate forcing potential of the 852/3 CE Churchill eruption is moderate compared with the eruption magnitude, but tree-ring-inferred temperatures report a significant atmospheric cooling of 0.8 ^∘C in summer 853 CE. Modelled climate scenarios also show a cooling in 853 CE, although the average magnitude of cooling is smaller (0.3 ^∘C). The simulated spatial patterns of cooling are generally similar to those generated using the tree-ring-inferred temperature reconstructions. Tree-ring-inferred cooling begins prior to the date of the eruption suggesting that natural internal climate variability may have increased the climate system's susceptibility to further cooling. The magnitude of the reconstructed cooling could also suggest that the climate forcing potential of this eruption may be underestimated, thereby highlighting the need for greater insight into, and consideration of, the role of halogens and volcanic ash when estimating eruption climate forcing potential.

Precise comparisons of palaeoenvironmental records from peatlands across North America and Europe, facilitated by the presence of the WRAe isochron, reveal no consistent MCA signal. These findings contribute to the growing body of evidence that characterises the MCA hydroclimate as time-transgressive and heterogeneous rather than a well-defined climatic period. The presence of the WRAe isochron also demonstrates that no long-term (multidecadal) climatic or societal impacts from the 852/3 CE Churchill eruption were identified beyond areas proximal to the eruption. Historical evidence in Europe for subsistence crises demonstrate a degree of temporal correspondence on interannual timescales, but similar events were reported outside of the eruption period and were common in the 9th century. The 852/3 CE Churchill eruption exemplifies the difficulties of identifying and confirming volcanic impacts for a single eruption, even when the eruption has a small age uncertainty."

D'Arrigo, R., Klinger, P., Newfield, T., Rydvalde, M., & Wilson, Rob. (2020). Complexity in crisis: The Volcanic Cold Pulse of the 1690s and the Consequences of Scotland's Failure to Cope. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 389. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2019.106746

Abstract

"Recent work has linked historical crises, both regional and local, with palaeoclimatic estimates of global and hemispheric climate change. Such studies tend to underemphasize the spatiotemporal and socioeconomical disparity of human suffering and adaptive capacity as well as the complexities of past climate change. We focus herein on the effects in Scotland of a severely cold climate episode in the 1690s, associated with major tropical volcanic events including a large unidentified tropical eruption in 1695. A tree-ring based summer temperature reconstruction from the northern Cairngorms region identifies the 1690s as the coldest decade in Scotland for the last 750 years. Archival sources meanwhile reveal the 1690s as likely the worst era of crop failure, food shortage, and mortality ever documented in Scottish history. The connection appears simple - volcanic cooling triggered famine - but the drivers towards famine are far more complex. Although the unusual coldness of the 1690s was near-hemispheric in scale, it had a differential impact across north-western Europe. Within Scotland, both lowlands and highlands experienced dire conditions, but distinct factors exacerbated the suffering in each region. We integrate historical and palaeoclimatic records to explore the influence of the volcanic cold pulse of the 1690s and its consequences in Scotland. We find that while cooling temperatures characterized the regional to larger-scale climate, vulnerability and response potential were diverse and shaped by local circumstances. The Scottish crisis of the 1690s, in the context of the kingdom's failing economy, influenced investors from all parts of society, including the nobility and entire communities, to fund the ill-fated expedition to colonize Darien in modern-day Panama. The climate crisis and the colony's collapse hindered Scotland's already sluggish economy, motivating unification with England soon after."

Mordechai, L., Eisenberg, M., Newfield, T., Izdebski, A., Kay, J. (2020). Quantitative Analysis and Plagued Assumptions: A Response to Mischa Meier. Medizinhistorisches Journal 55(3), 290-293. https://doi.org/10.25162/mhj-2020-0011

Newfield, T.P., Duggan, A.T., Poinar, H. (2022). Smallpox's Antiquity in Doubt. Journal of Roman Archaeology, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1047759422000290

Abstract

"Smallpox, caused by the variola virus (VARV), is prominent in modern histories of the ancient Mediterranean world. The disease, or the diagnosis of it, has shaped estimations of the scale and significance of epidemics and pandemics, notably the 2nd-c. Antonine plague, and the burden of disease in large cities and regions densely populated in antiquity. Here we synthesize recent paleogenetic and evolutionary biological literature that casts significant doubt on the existence of a VARV that caused a disease we would recognize – clinically, ecologically, or epidemiologically – as smallpox in antiquity. On the basis of current data, it is time archaeologists and historians began to eradicate smallpox from their histories of the ancient world."

Spyrou, M.A., Musralina, L., Gnecchi Ruscone, G.A., Kocher, A., Borbone, P., Khartanovich, V.I., Buzhilova, A., Djansugurova, L., Bos, K.I,. Kühnert, D., Haak, W., Slavin, P. & Krause, J. (2022). The source of the Black Death in fourteenth-century central Eurasia. Nature, 606, 718-724. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04800-3

Abstract

"The origin of the medieval Black Death pandemic (AD 1346–1353) has been a topic of continuous investigation because of the pandemic’s extensive demographic impact and long-lasting consequences. Until now, the most debated archaeological evidence potentially associated with the pandemic’s initiation derives from cemeteries located near Lake Issyk-Kul of modern-day Kyrgyzstan. These sites are thought to have housed victims of a fourteenth-century epidemic as tombstone inscriptions directly dated to 1338–1339 state ‘pestilence’ as the cause of death for the buried individuals. Here we report ancient DNA data from seven individuals exhumed from two of these cemeteries, Kara-Djigach and Burana. Our synthesis of archaeological, historical and ancient genomic data shows a clear involvement of the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis in this epidemic event. Two reconstructed ancient Y. pestis genomes represent a single strain and are identified as the most recent common ancestor of a major diversification commonly associated with the pandemic’s emergence, here dated to the first half of the fourteenth century. Comparisons with present-day diversity from Y. pestis reservoirs in the extended Tian Shan region support a local emergence of the recovered ancient strain. Through multiple lines of evidence, our data support an early fourteenth-century source of the second plague pandemic in central Eurasia."

Slavin, P. & Sebbane, F. (2022) Emergence and spread of ancestral Yersinia pestis in Late-Neolithic and Bronze-Age Eurasia, ca. 5,000 to 2,500 y B.P. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119 (21), Art. No.: e2204044119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2204044119

Slavin, P. (2019). Land Produce [in Europe between 1000 and 1350]. In T.P. Newfield & P. Slavin. (Eds.), New Environmental History of Pre-Industrial Europe Vol. 2 (1000-1350). Brill Academic Publishers.

Slavin, P. (2019). Mammals [in Europe between 1000 and 1350]. In T.P. Newfield & P. Slavin. (Eds.), New Environmental History of Pre-Industrial Europe Vol. 2 (1000-1350). Brill Academic Publishers.