I am writing a historical drama set in Venice in 1347-1348, when the plague first hit European shores. How much information about the disease might have travelled to Venice and Italy before the endemic struck? For instance were people in Italy (specifically Venice, but Sicily and Florence as well) aware of the bio-warfare tactics used by Mongol warriors (catapulting infected corpses into besieged cities, etc.), and the virulent spread of the disease throughout Asia from the 1330s onwards.
Hi there, sounds like you have some excellent subject matter to write about!
Edited for clarity and formating
The spark or source of the plague comes from many routes, however one of the more well documented is the 1346 siege of Caffa , where the besieging Tartars had a plague running rife through their camp. Before breaking off the siege (due to plague losses) they launched the decaying bodies of the plague victims in catapults over the walls where they fell amongst the Genoan defenders and the rats of the city.
Plague soon impacted water supply and the infection spread rapidly.
Those inhabitants of the city who did escape boarded ships already infected with the plague (as well as rat carriers of the disease), and they set off towards friendlier shores.
Refused and kept in quarantine at each port where the carriers sought medical attention, their numbers dwindled each day. While the humans aboard could not disembark the rats could all swim ashore and spread the disease. Also as the carriers route passed close to many population centers, it is not difficult to imagine these shallow water vessels stuck close to shore on their journey and dumped their dead overboard which would have further spread the disease.
Some ships lost entire crew and ran aground as ghost ships in Sicily & Campania areas- these were looted where they ran aground and the disease spread further through Europe. Other sailors finally reached home in Venice and Genoa but as they were carriers by this point the disease quickly spread amongst their friends & family as well as along trade routes originating from these port cities.
The seige of Caffa was in 1346, and plague had appeared in the historical record in Constantinople & Sicily by 47, Venice and Genoa by 48 (as well as Marseilles and Barcelona). From the main port cities it spreads inland and its transmission becomes more difficult to track.
Horrox, R (1994) "The Black Death"
Wheelis, M (2002) "Biological Warfare at the 1346 Seige of Caffa"
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