The Valley of Death

        Just when you thought things could not get any worse for the ancestors, wrong! After all the changes like, that castle building stuff, new rules and regulations, all kinds of different overlords, claiming all kinds of rights and privileges. Trying to adjust to a new home, then having to ride along different paths, leading to new trading pathways that might still offer some hope for the future, were many of the families' activities. Then the little critter shown below, brought death to most all around.

      Can you believe it? The flea it is. This fella rode the back of a much larger critter called the rat. That dirty rat! The most responsible was named Rattus rattus. This rat was recognized by the fact that its tail was longer than its body and, the color was mostly black. This fella road the ships that came from various ports of trade to the shores of our little island. Here is its picture. 

       The "black death" this event was called. Not because the rat was black but, it was named after the change of appearance that the folks took after they were infected.

 

       Taking 2 to 15 days after the bite of the flea, loss of appetite (anorexia) and bone pain were the first signs. Next came very high fever (pyrexia), headache, severe fatigue (lassitude), dizziness (vertigo) and rarely shaking chills (rigor). The face would have an expression of horror.  The fever could get as high as 103-107 degree Fahrenheit. All over the body large bleeding (hemorrhages) and just under the skin bruising (ecchymoses) would occur. Pustules, abscesses and lymph node swellings called "Buboes" all appeared, thus giving the name Bubonic plague. These swellings were usually in the groin or under the arm pit (axilla). Skin would become dry and feel burning. The tongue would turn black, dry, and form ridges called furrows and, sores on the lips, gums, and nostrils would form. Low, muttering delirium would occur. Vomiting was frequent. Death rate (mortality) was around 65 % and if the infection settled in the lungs (Pneumonic plage) it was always fatal. 

       The bacteria that brought this rapid course was initially called Pasteurella pestis but, came to be named after the fellow who discovered it in 1894, Yersin, Yersinia pestis. A "pestis" it certainly was and, a real valley of death.

       The best text that discusses this plague from its historical perspective is by Philip Ziegler in 1991.

       Having just experienced our own pandemic with COVID 19, my heart has a new understanding and admiration for all my ancestors who kept that DNA flowing down the branches.

The flea picture is taken from my article "Fleas", American Family Physician, vol. 29, No. 4, April, 1984.

The rat picture from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, appearing in Manson's Tropical Diseases, p. 337. [One of my favorite tropical medicine texts published 1982, by Bailliere Tindall, London].

The text by Ziegler was first titled "Western Europe Man, Black Death. Epidemics, history I", 1969, in the United Kingdom. It was first published in the U.S. by Alan Sutton, NH, 1991. 

Circumstances

      Old ways to new ways can be difficult for those who are steeped in the old.  Seeing how my Jones surname family resided successfully at Llwyn-Ynn for the next century to come, they somehow managed to keep the home fires burning.   

      Wool and wine seemed to be an important trade issue and, Seward states that "...English wool, leather, resin, and salt." (p. 24) were all the rave across that Channel. My family would have been involved with all these trade items.

       Here is a list of my great...great grandfathers living at this time. Note that the maternal sides are named and, their townlands are noted. At times down the road, these townlands often became a helpful clue while climbing among all the branches.  

       Wow again, and again, what circumstances they must have faced.

Seward D., The Hundred Years War - The English In France 1337-1453, Penguin Books, London, 1978.

Questions Along The Way

        Many branches of my Jones surname family tree have been discussed beginning with Inigo Jones 1650's [December 15, 2021].  You might think of this blog as a book and, each post is a page in the book of my tree climbing. Only in this book, instead of page numbers, things are stored by dates written month, day, and then year of posting. From cows to Celts, then Romans, then Monks, to deciding to flop down in all those hills and valleys. Who would have thought. 

        All this tree climbing has raised a lot of questions along my families' journeys. Are there any questions or comments you might have out there regarding the clusters of branches and twists knotted about? Use the comment section at the bottom of any post (page) dealing with a topic/subject. You know, anyone can climb out their own family tree.  Besides, that Jones surname is buried just about under every rock along the way. 

         See post of November 12, 2010 [We Are The Chosen]. If this post brings a tear to your eye, you are ready to get going!

Enough Already

        By this time in my Jones surname family tree (1300 A.D.), many in the branches had to be thinking better days have to be ahead, cause things could not get any worse. Many sleepless nights around the kitchen table hearing many family stories about past days swimming around that sea of troubles. [post 1 Dec. 2023] Being reminded many times how my name Llewelyn (JL-1) was past down to me. All these new overlords demanding conduct against our very way of life. Enough is enough! Not!

       The next century brought a whole bunch of troubles yet to shake the family tree. At first, it was hoped the new supreme overlord Edward II (1307- 1327 A.D.), titled "Prince of Wales", would help us out. Then all the other overlords started steeping on one another's toes and kicking one another in the shins. Across the Channel things started getting out of hand [The Hundred Years War, starting around 1337] after our Prince of Wales lost his life at Berkley Castle whose family would connect to my Jones surname family in that yet to come Virginia colony. But first, the darkest days are yet to come.

       The above is the cover of my copy discussing this hallway of time. It was published 1978. In his Forward, Desmond Seward (born in Pairs) quotes Sir John Hawkwood who lived during this time, "Do you not know that I live by war and that peace would be my undoing". What a way to live. Enough already!

Seward D., The Hundred Years War, The English In France 1337 - 1453, Penguin Group, N.Y., 1978.

Daily Living

        Mowing grass, ranking leaves, shoveling snow, and pulling weeds are some of the seasonal activities expected living in my part of the world. The garbage goes out Wednesday night for Thursday pick-up, the water bill is due by the tenth of each month and, taxes from the city and county are paid at the beginning of the year. On and on it goes with school tax, property tax, sales tax, car tax, and any other taxes that folks in charge can contemplate. What in the world one would think. Well, just imagine what day to day living would have been in 1300 A.D.

       Those in charge were considered "overlords". The supreme overlord sat upon what was conceptualized as "The Throne" and under accepted theory owned all the land that folks of the day lived [or survived upon]. You had to mow his grass, plant and harvest his fields, milk his cows, and every other task he so desired. The system that was brought over to the neighborhood by the French speaking Normans and, their Marcher Lords, came to be called "feudalism". Of course, you had to go along to get along. 

       The best text describing the origin and introduction of this concept to the hallways of history is by two French folks, Jean-Pierre Poly and Eric Bournazel. First published in French (1980), an English translation was published in 1991. The cover of my copy is shown.

      "Seigneuries" was the new word on my vocabulary list. It meant the territory under the government of a feudal lord. Let's see now, the Norman folks who dug-in all sorts of places among my ancestors family's land, claimed all the territory they had come to occupy by force of arms. This land become their new governmental territory. They were the feudal lord, with no buts and or otherwise! 

       Daily life would certainly change from the common law of the kindred, to this new law of the feudal lord. 

The above text was translated by Caroline Higgitt and published by Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc. N.Y., 1991.