Misinformation surrounding COVID-19 is still a major problem more than five years after its emergence. Unfortunately, time doesnât always offer clarity. Even after hundreds of years, our understanding of the Black Death (Yersinia pestis) remains clouded by false narratives.
In a study recently published in the Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies, historians at the UKâs University of Exeter argue the infamous plague likely didnât move across the continent as quickly as many experts thought. The reason for the common misconception? A 14th century literary tale recounting the dangerous exploits of a fictional, traveling trickster.Â
Tricked by a poet
The bubonic plague is largely remembered for the devastation it brought to Europe, but its origins remain steeped in inaccuracies. For decades, most experts believed the plague arose in China before sweeping westward in a matter of years via the Silk Road. While recent palaeogenetic reexaminations have shifted its nexus closer to central Asia, many researchers still contend it took barely a decade for the Black Death to travel as far west as the Black Sea by the 1340s. This âQuick Transit Theoryâ has remained one of the most popular hypotheses explaining the plagueâs advancement.
The theoryâs primary evidence isnât based on genetic records. Instead, it stems from RisÄlat al-nabaĘž Ężan al-wabÄĘž (âAn Essay on the Report of the Pestilenceâ), a story penned by poet and historian Ibn al-Wardi in Aleppo, Syria, around 1348 CE. Itâs arguably the most famous example of a maqÄma, an Arabic narrative genre focusing on the misdeeds of a roving trickster character. The maqÄma originated in the late 10th century, but began flourishing as a genre about two centuries later. By the 14th century, literate mamluk warriors were especially drawn to the tales, which are written to be read aloud in a single session.
Ibn al-Wardiâs maqÄma focuses on an itinerant meddlerâs 15-year journey that begins in an unspecified region outside China. From there, he moves into China before leaving a trail of havoc across India, central Asia, Persia, and ultimately the Black Sea and Mediterranean.
By the 15th century, Arabic and later European historians interpreted Ibn al-Wardiâs story as a fact-based parable, with al-Wardiâs trickster serving as an embodiment of the Black Death itself. The misunderstanding has skewed the plagueâs true history ever since, explains the new studyâs co-authors.
âAll roads to the factually incorrect description of the spread of the plague lead back to this one text. Itâs like it is in the center of a spiderâs web of the myths about how the Black Death moved across the region,â University of Exeter historian Nahyan Fancy explained in a statement.
Fancy added that the entire accepted narrative has stemmed from this single maqÄma, which remains unsubstantiated by any other contemporary accounts and even other maqÄmas.
âThe text was written just to highlight the fact the plague traveled and tricked people. It should not be taken literally,â said Fancy.
The maqÄma remains relevant
This revision isnât meant to diminish the maqÄmaâs significance or artistry. If anything, it allows us to read and examine it in its proper contexts.
âThese maqÄmas may not give us accurate information about how the Black Death spread. But the texts are phenomenal because they help us see how people at the time were living with this awful crisis,â said Fancy.
At the same time, Fancy says other historians can now look towards other major regional plague outbreaks, like the one in Damascus, Syria, in 1258 CE and Chinaâs 1232-1233 outbreak in Kaifeng. Meanwhile, the need to express oneself creatively amid times of crisis remains universal.
âThese writings can help us understand how creativity may have been a way to exercise some control and served as a coping mechanism at this time of widespread death, similar to the way people developed new culinary skills or artistic skills during the COVID-19 pandemic,â Fancy said.
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