Medical Faculty of the University of Paris

While the plague raged through their cities, the rulers of Europe called on the leading men of science and medicine to provide an explanation and suggestions on how to fight the disease. In France, King Philip VI turned to the most respected institution of learning in Europe, the University of Paris. King Philip called on the university's faculty of medicine to consult together and then give a detailed report of their findings.

The Paris faculty responded in June 1348 with the following tract, explaining how the conjunction of stars and planets in the heavens, and the corruption of the air on Earth, had caused the Black Death. The faculty also pointed out that the recent unaccustomed nature of the seasons, which had not run their usual course, provided clear signs...