Danse Macabre, Michael Wolgemut, 1493. Wikimedia Commons/Public domain. Some rights reserved.From time to time, human society been subjected to infectious diseases, sweeping across vast swathes of territory and killing thousands, even millions, on their way. Their spread is largely a consequence of human actions, of trade, warfare, and the spread of communications. These actions of course have been involuntary, and their effects indirect, but often enough they have been interpreted as something quite different, namely the products of deliberate conspiracies designed to eliminate the unwanted.
The catastrophe of the Black Death, which killed up to half the entire population of Europe in 1348-49, was seen by townspeople in some of the most affected areas, notably in the Rhineland, as the result of Jews, a hated and feared religious minority, poisoning people’s drinking wells, a belief that led to widespread massacres and pogroms of Jews across the region.
