Former Fellows

This research project proposes a holistic approach to the study of the 1348 plague in the Western Alps. Capitalising on the exceptionally detailed data of the accounts of the territorial-administrative units of late-medieval Savoy, the project focuses on the societal and institutional response to the demographic and economic impact of the Black Death. The project seeks to bring together in an inclusive analytical framework the range of responses to the pandemic, from the scapegoating of Savoy’s Jewish community to the reforms in local governance ushered in by the spectre of the impending fiscal disaster; post-plague internal migration and other initiatives for economic recovery will also be analysed. To understand the response to the plague in Savoy, special attention will be paid to the dialogue between local communities, the territorial officers, and the central government.