The events of 1092 so amazed the imagination of contemporaries and descendants that they were reflected in most of the annals. First, the epidemic began in Polotsk:
Surprisingly faster Polotsk:
Apparently, there was a fog in Polotsk at that time, which was accompanied by certain sound phenomena, similar to a howl, identified with a thirst for "blood" by demons; all this happened as if "in a dream":
In addition, the Polotsk residents found hoof tracks on the roads, from which they concluded that the "demons" were equestrian. Plus, two chronicles indicate that these phenomena came from Drutsk (in the XI-XIV centuries, a city in the Vitebsk region in western Russia).
Then the pestilence came to Kiev:
That is, from November 14 to February 7, 7,000 coffins were sold.
Painting by Matthias Grunwald, depicting a patient suffering from severe ergotism. The beginning of the 16th century. Ergotism (from the French ergot "ergot") - poisoning of humans and animals with ergot alkaloids,
It is difficult to judge the nature of the disease. Eckermann (1884) linked it to an epidemic in Western Europe: in 1087, a special disease, sua quadam peste (called by contemporaries "ignis sacer" - "holy fire") spread among people, and patients either suffered from severe convulsions, or various places on the body became inflamed, and the patients died or remained alive with the loss of various members. This disease has spread to Italy, France, Spain, Germany. In Regensburg alone at this time, 8500 people died in the course of 3 months. But in later works, historians are skeptical that the epidemic, which is associated with the defeat of cereals by the ergot fungus due to certain weather conditions, could come to Russia only two years later.
Promotional video:
It could well be the flu, especially since the time of the epidemic falls on the autumn-winter-spring time.