Have you
noticed a chill creep into your bones? Or the beginnings of a fever?? Who
knows, it may be your annual bout of the flu settling in to annoy you, but in
Medieval Dublin you might just have fallen victim to the plague…. A rampant
disease that tore through the streets of this city as well as cities all across
Europe, the plague, or Black Death as it came to be known, claimed the lives of
as many as 14,000 people in Ireland before it eventually disappeared….
So what was
the Black Death and where did it come from?
Symptoms of
the Black Death included fevers, vomiting, coughing and swellings on the body
(mostly around the armpit, neck and legs). These painful swellings would start
out an angry red colour and then turn a purplish black. Very quickly you would
have been confined to your bed. It was highly contagious – if you caught it,
the chances were everyone in your family would catch it too. It took hold of
you so quickly that you would likely be dead in a matter of days. Sometimes
whole families were locked into their tiny houses to try to keep the disease
inside! Once someone had succumbed to the plague, a white ‘X’ was painted on
the front door so that everyone who passed knew the sickness had been there.
People were
terrified to see the disease spread so quickly and to lose so many friends and
family so suddenly. They searched and searched for the cause but could find
nothing. Some believed it was a punishment from God and hid themselves indoors
in the hope they would avoid it. Others were convinced it was the end of the
world and everyone was doomed to fall ill eventually… They had no idea, and no way of knowing, that
the disease was carried by rats which scoured the streets of ports and cities
for food and shelter. There was no way to control or prevent the spread.
Bodies
piled up on the sides of the street. Coffins couldn’t be made quick enough to
bury the dead so vast pits were dug for mass burials. It was the job of the
carters to gather the dead and carry them through the city to their grave. This
Halloween you’ll have the chance to meet one of these carters, Jack, and his
healer wife, Aoife, in Dublinia! They’re going to be with us throughout the
midterm to regale you with tales of the Black Death from the stricken streets
of Dublin. They’ll share with you their secrets and fears, and if you’re lucky
they’ll let you in on the ways they’ve managed to avoid catching the Black
Death…. So far at least!
(Performances
from 28th October to 3rd November between 12pm – 1pm and
2pm – 4pm)
