In 1347, a terrible plague brought death and destruction to Europe. It started in Sicily in 1347. Citizens in the small seaport of Messina began to get headaches. Then came
fevers, chills, nausea, and pain. Soon, red blotches appeared on their skin, and the lymph nodes
(clumps of tissue) in their armpits and groins swelled to the size of eggs.
The nodes grew hard until they turned black and
oozed blood and pus. In most cases, death came soon
afterward. "It was such a frightful thing." observed
Giovanni Boccaccio (Joh-VAHN-nee
boh-KAH-chee-oh), an Italian writer, "that when it
got into a house...no one remained. Frightened people
abandoned the house and fled to another."
The gist: