Hearth Interactive

Places

Barqa (Cyrenaica)

The coast of eastern Libya, which Ibn al-Wardi names on the plague's path west of Egypt.

Today: eastern Libya

The Plague Goes Town by Town

Ibn al-Wardi, The Report of the Pestilence, from his chronicle (Aleppo, 1348) · 1348 (the essay); the chronicle entries 1346–1349

3

ثم تيمم الصعيد الطيب وأبرق على برقة منه صيب، ثم غزى غزة وهز عسقلان هزة، وعك إلى عكا، واستشهد بالقدس، وزكى فلحق من الهاربين الأقصى بقلب كالصخرة، ولولا فتح باب الرحمة لقامت القيامة في مرة، ثم طوى المراحل ونوى أن يلحق الساحل، فصاد صيدا، وبغت بيروت كيدا، ثم سدد الرشق إلى جهة دمشق، فتربع ثم وتميد وفتك كل يوم بألف وأزيد فأقل الكثرة وقتل خلقا ببثرة.

Then it went down to Upper Egypt, as a believer turns to clean earth for washing. A cloudburst of it flashed lightning over Barqa. Then it raided Gaza and gave Ashkelon a shaking. It pressed hard on Acre. In Jerusalem it took martyrs. It overtook even those who had fled the farthest, with a heart as hard as the Rock. Had the Gate of Mercy not been opened, the Resurrection would have come at once. Then it covered the stages of the road, meaning to reach the coast. It hunted down Sidon and caught Beirut off guard by a trick. Then it aimed its volley at Damascus. There it settled in and swayed [?], killing a thousand and more every day. It made the many few, and it killed a multitude with a single pustule.