The Black Death
Dan Snow's History Hit
History Hit
4.7 • 12.9K Ratings
🗓️ 13 November 2025
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Could the plucked backside of a chicken really cure the plague? If that question has ever crossed your mind, then this episode is for you. Today, we’re diving into the Black Death - where it originated, how it tore across continents at terrifying speed, and the gruesome symptoms it unleashed.
We're joined by Helen Carr, author of 'Sceptred Isle', a new history of the 14th century. She takes us through this tale of a deadly pandemic, bizarre cures, and a continent in crisis…
Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi buddy, welcome Dan Snow's history hit. Today we are talking about a catastrophe, a cataclysm, |
| 0:11.3 | possibly the grisliest incident in European history. And friends, that is up against some pretty |
| 0:16.0 | stiff competition. In the 14th century, a great pestilence, a plague spread across the continent, |
| 0:25.0 | killing possibly up to 60% of the continent's population. It changed everything. |
| 0:32.8 | It changed the economics, the politics, the social relationships, the religion of Europe. |
| 0:37.8 | The bodies piled up in the streets. |
| 0:40.0 | Cities emptied out and became ghost towns. |
| 0:43.1 | England was thrown into revolt and tumult. |
| 0:47.1 | I'm talking, of course, about the Black Death, and I've got one of the best telling me all about it. |
| 0:51.9 | I've got the history hit collaborator, friend of the podcast TV |
| 0:55.2 | presenter, brilliant author, Helen Carr, on the podcast right now to tell me all about it. |
| 1:00.1 | Helen's just written a book, in fact, about the 14th century called Scepterd Isle. |
| 1:05.0 | Helen is going to tell me and you how to survive the Black Death. And do that, you've got to know where it's coming from. |
| 1:12.3 | What it is? |
| 1:13.4 | Are there any treatments that work? |
| 1:14.7 | What do they think works at the time? |
| 1:16.5 | Can you escape? |
| 1:17.8 | And also, if you do survive, |
| 1:19.1 | what is the Europe that you are going to rebuild your life in? |
| 1:24.8 | T-minus 10. |
| 1:26.1 | Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. God save the king. No black-quus 10. The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. |
| 1:28.4 | God save the king. |
... |
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