Patterns of Plague
Book • 2022
Lori Jones's 'Patterns of Plague' examines the evolution of plague tracts and ideas about plague across England and France between 1348 and 1750, showing how explanations, prevention, and treatments changed over centuries of recurrence.
Jones uses manuscript and printed plague treatises to trace who authored such texts, how medical and religious frameworks shifted, and how print culture altered the transmission and authority of advice.
The book argues that medieval writers were often attentive to local conditions and practical prevention, and that later early modern changes—religious interpretations, blaming outsiders, and print dissemination—reshaped public understanding.
By comparing continental and English sources, Jones highlights differences in medical infrastructure, the role of universities, and the impacts of the Reformation and expanding trade networks.
The work situates plague writing within broader cultural and political shifts, demonstrating continuity and change in responses to epidemic disease.
Jones uses manuscript and printed plague treatises to trace who authored such texts, how medical and religious frameworks shifted, and how print culture altered the transmission and authority of advice.
The book argues that medieval writers were often attentive to local conditions and practical prevention, and that later early modern changes—religious interpretations, blaming outsiders, and print dissemination—reshaped public understanding.
By comparing continental and English sources, Jones highlights differences in medical infrastructure, the role of universities, and the impacts of the Reformation and expanding trade networks.
The work situates plague writing within broader cultural and political shifts, demonstrating continuity and change in responses to epidemic disease.
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Danièle Cybulskie
Patterns of Plague with Lori Jones
