e East, probably with the exception of China, nearly
24,000,000 people had fallen victims to the plague. Thirteen millions
are said to have died in China alone. Constantinople lost two-thirds of
its population. When the plague was at its greatest violence Cairo
lost daily from 10,000 to 15,000, as many as modern plagues have
carried off during their whole course. India was depopulated. Tartary,
Mesopotamia, Syria, Armenia, and Arabia were covered with dead bodies.
In this latter country Arabian historians mention that Maara el nooman,
Schisur, and Harem in some unaccountable manner remained free. The
shores of the Mediterranean were ravaged and ships were seen on the
high seas without sailors. In "The Decameron" Boccaccio gives a most
graphic description of the plague and states that in Florence, in four
months, 100,000 perished; before the calamity it was hardly supposed to
contain so many inhabitants. According to Hecker, Venice lost 100,000;
London, 100,000; Paris, 50,000; Siena, 70,000; Avignon, 60,000;
Strasburg, 16,000; Norwich, 51,100. Dupony says that in one month there
were 56,000 victims in Marseilles, and at Montpellier three-quarters of
the population and all the physicians were stricken with the epidemic.

Johanna of Burgundy, wife of King Philip VI of Valois; Johanna II,
Queen of Navarre, granddaughter of Philippe le Bel; Alphonse XI of
Castile, and other notable persons perished. All the cities of England
suffered incredible losses. Germany seems to have been particularly
spared; according to a probable calculation, only about 1,250,000
dying. Italy was most severely visited, and was said to have lost most
of its inhabitants. In the north of Europe two of the brothers of
Magnus, King of Sweden, died; and in Westgothland alone 466 priests
died. The plague showed no decrease in the northern climates of Iceland
and Greenland, and caused great havoc in those countries.

The moral effect of such a great pandemic plague can be readily
surmised. The mental shock sustained by all nations during the
prevalence of the black plague is beyond parallel and description. An
awful sense of contrition and repentance seized Christians of every
community. They resolved to forsake their vices, and to make
restitution for past offenses; hence extreme religious fanaticism held
full sway throughout Europe. The zeal of the penitents stopped at
nothing. The so-called Brotherhood of the Cross, otherwise known as the
Order of Fla