The Disease-causing Power of Comets: On the Search for Causes of Plagues in Old-Polish Literature

Abstract

Rapidly spreading and ravaging diseases were not a rarity in Old Poland. The medical knowledge of the era could not properly explain the nature of infectious diseases and the mechanism of their spreading, so there were many different attempts at explaining their causes. Some suspected their enemies and infidels of poisoning air and water; others attributed pestilence to God’s wrath or to unfavourable configurations of heavenly bodies that were said to bring misfortune. The most devastating effects were attributed to comets; a comet’s appearance was seen either as a sign or as a cause of impending disasters, which, apart from pestilent air, included earthquakes, deaths of kings, wars, and tumults. Astrological explanation of the plagues proved to be very persistent and became a stock motif in the literature devoted to the subject, which, however, does not mean that it was accepted without criticism.