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See alsoColum Cille; Columbanus; Devotional
Literature; Ériugena John Scottus; Glosses;
Moral and Religious Instruction;
Sedulius Scottus
BISHOPS
SeeEcclesiastical Organization
BLACK DEATH
Ireland, like most of Western Europe, suffered from the
bubonic plague, or the “Black Death,” in the years from
1348 to 1350. Unlike its nearest neighbor, England, the
surviving contemporary sources for this catastrophic
event are very limited. Even archaeological evidence is
meager. Therefore, in order to understand the impact of
this event on Ireland, we are forced to rely on parallel
studies in other European countries that are better chron-
icled in the Middle Ages. However, even this assump-
tion may not be wholly tenable in the light of recent
research into the complexities of the pattern of medieval
Irish settlement. Given the ease at which this disease
spread among the population in Europe generally, Ire-
land’s almost unique rural settlement pattern may have
affected the plague’s incidence to a greater extent than
can be accurately gauged.
All that is known for certain is that the Black
Death probably arrived in Ireland at the ports of
Howth and Drogheda, both located north of Dublin,
in August 1348, and spread to the capital, Dublin,
soon afterwards. The Franciscan friar John Clyn in
his contemporary annals was able to accurately chart
the progress of the disease within the houses of his
Order, first in Dublin and then in Kilkenny. He also
stated that the total number of citizens of Dublin
who succumbed was 14,000, a very high number
(and doubltless an exaggeration) out of a possible
total urban population of not much more than 20,000
at that time.
The several surviving Gaelic-Irish chronicles all
record that the plague had reached the west of Ireland
by 1349, and seem therefore to be derived from the
same original source, and this has led some scholars
to suggest that the more dispersed Gaelic-Irish popu-
lation in the west and northwest may have largely
escaped from the pestilence. This, however, is predi-
cated upon two more assumptions: firstly that the dis-
ease was, in fact, bubonic plague and secondly that all
the Anglo-Irish population were living in nucleated
settlements. There are some epistemological indicators
of this plague that have suggested to researchers such
as Twigg that the Black Death may have been an out-
break of anthrax, although most academic opinion
does not support his theory. Secondly, in this period a
significant proportion of the rural Anglo-Irish popula-
tion within the colony was also living in dispersed
settlements, such as the moated houses of isolated
manors, and may therefore have escaped the worst
effects of the plague.
Nevertheless, all the indications are that the urban
population, which was crowded together in largely
unsanitary conditions, suffered most from this dis-
ease, as happened elsewhere in Europe. The total
population loss caused by this worst outbreak ofThe Black Death in 1348.CONNACHTULSTERDublinCorkWaterford WexfordBLACK DEATH