Patterns of Plague with Lori Jones

There are some very entrenched cultural ideas about the plague these days, involving big, beaky masks, and agonized people flagellating themselves in the street. But the way people thought about and treated plague changed over time, as the disease revisited populations regularly over the course of centuries. And just like our imaginings of plague today can tell us a lot about how we see the medieval world, so the changing way people wrote about plague can tell us a whole lot of interesting stuff about medieval and early modern culture. This week, Danièle speaks with Lori Jones about the evolution of the plague tract, who was considered qualified to write about plague, and some surprising ways religion fits – or doesn’t fit – into the picture. This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of medieval history, please visit patreon.com/themedievalpodcast

You can listen to Patterns of Plague with Lori Jones online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Patterns of Plague with Lori Jones is an episode from The Medieval Podcast by Danièle Cybulskie.

This episode is 46:16 long.

This episode was published on Apr 2, 2026.

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