360 WILLIAM OFOCKHAM
Plague Victim, from Das Buch der Cirurgia,1497, by Hieronymus Brunschwig. Beginning in 1347 the Bubonic
Plague, or “Black Death,” struck western Europe. Transmitted by flea bite, the disease was characterized by
enormous swelling or “buboes” in the groin or armpits. The patient in this woodcut has a large buboe on his
armpit—a sure sign that he will be dead within two or three days. Apparently William of Ockham met such a
fate in 1349. (Library of Congress)