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Black Death Timeline: The Plague That Devastated Medieval Eurasia and Reshaped the History That Followed

A 14th-century bubonic plague pandemic that swept from Central Asia across Europe, killing a large share of the population and reshaping medieval society.

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c. 1331 Outbreaks in Central Asia 1346 Siege of Caffa 1347 Arrives in Sicily 1348 Spreads across Western Europe 1348 Persecution of Jewish communities 1351 First wave subsides 1381 English Peasants' Revolt

c. 1331 Plague outbreaks emerge in Central and East Asia

Historical and genetic evidence points to plague outbreaks emerging in Central Asia in the early 1330s, spreading gradually westward along Silk Road trade routes.

1346 Plague reaches the Black Sea port of Caffa

A Mongol army besieging the Genoese trading post of Caffa in Crimea is struck by plague; fleeing merchants are traditionally linked to carrying the disease westward by ship, though historians debate the exact route.

1347 Plague-carrying ships reach Messina, Sicily

Genoese trading ships arrive at the Sicilian port of Messina carrying the disease, marking one of the pandemic's first documented footholds in Western Europe.

1348 The plague spreads rapidly across Italy, France, Spain, and England

Within a year the disease moves along trade and pilgrimage routes into most of Western Europe, overwhelming towns and cities with mortality on an unprecedented scale.

1348 Jewish communities are scapegoated and attacked

Amid panic over the plague's cause, Jewish communities in parts of Europe are falsely blamed for poisoning wells, leading to massacres and expulsions in several cities.

1351 The initial pandemic wave subsides in most of Europe

By around 1351 the first and deadliest wave of the pandemic recedes across most of Europe, having killed a very large share of the population, though plague continues to recur for centuries.

1381 Labor shortages contribute to England's Peasants' Revolt

Decades later, labor shortages and resentment over wage controls imposed after the plague contribute to the 1381 Peasants' Revolt in England, one of several upheavals linked to the pandemic's economic aftermath.

Last updated: August 2026

History Timelines. (August 2026). Black Death Timeline: The Plague That Devastated Medieval History. Retrieved from https://history-timelines.org.uk/events/black-death/

This black death timeline of events traces the deadliest pandemic in recorded history, part of the wider history of the black death timeline that begins with plague outbreaks in Central Asia and ends with a transformed medieval Europe still recovering from the death and disruption the plague caused.

Black Death Timeline: Origins and Arrival in Europe

The Black Death was a devastating outbreak of plague, most likely caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, that swept across Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe in the mid-14th century. Historical records and modern genetic research suggest the pandemic’s roots lay in Central Asia, with outbreaks recorded in the region in the early 1330s before the disease moved gradually westward along Silk Road trade routes. It is traditionally associated with the 1346 Mongol siege of Caffa, a Genoese trading post on the Black Sea, where plague broke out among the besieging army; fleeing merchants are often credited with carrying the disease to Mediterranean ports by ship, though historians caution the disease likely spread through multiple routes and contacts rather than one dramatic episode. By October 1347, plague-carrying ships had reached Messina in Sicily, giving the pandemic one of its first documented footholds in Western Europe.

A Plague Without Precedent

From Sicily, the plague spread with alarming speed, reaching mainland Italy, France, Spain, and England within about a year, and much of the rest of Europe, including Scandinavia and parts of Russia, within a few years more. Contemporary chroniclers described entire villages emptied and city streets filled with the dead, and modern historians estimate the pandemic killed a very large share of Europe’s population: commonly cited estimates range from roughly one-third to half, though precise figures remain uncertain given the limits of medieval record-keeping. Medical understanding of the time offered no effective treatment for the plague or accurate explanation for its spread, and public panic over its cause led to tragic scapegoating: in a number of European cities, Jewish communities were falsely accused of poisoning wells and causing the plague, resulting in massacres and expulsions despite explicit condemnation of these accusations by some religious and civic authorities at the time.

A weathered stone archway leading into a deserted medieval courtyard at dusk

Aftermath: A History Transformed by Plague

By around 1351, the pandemic’s first and deadliest wave had subsided across most of Europe, although the plague continued to recur in periodic outbreaks for centuries afterward. The story did not end with the plague’s retreat: the scale of mortality reshaped medieval society in ways that unfolded over decades. The sudden scarcity of labor gave surviving peasants and workers greater bargaining power over wages, prompting some governments to impose wage controls and labor restrictions intended to hold down costs for landowners. Resentment over these measures, combined with taxation and broader social grievances, contributed to unrest such as England’s Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, one of several upheavals historians link to the plague’s long economic aftermath. The pandemic also affected religious life, artistic themes, and attitudes toward mortality, and some historians argue the resulting labor shortages helped accelerate longer-term economic shifts in late medieval history, though the extent of the plague’s role in those broader changes remains a subject of ongoing debate within the wider history of the black death timeline of medieval Europe.

Frequently Asked Questions

What caused the Black Death?

Most historians and scientists attribute the pandemic to the bacterium Yersinia pestis, likely spread by fleas carried on rodents and transmitted between humans, though details of its exact transmission routes are still debated.

How many people died in the Black Death?

Precise figures are impossible to confirm, but commonly cited estimates suggest the plague killed roughly one-third to half of Europe's population during its first wave in the mid-14th century.

Where did the Black Death originate?

Evidence points to Central Asia, where outbreaks are recorded from the early 1330s, with the plague spreading along Silk Road trade routes before reaching Mediterranean Europe by 1347, the route this black death timeline of events follows closely.

What were the long-term effects of the Black Death?

The resulting labor shortages shifted bargaining power toward surviving workers, contributed to unrest such as England's 1381 Peasants' Revolt, and reshaped medieval economies and social history over the following decades.