If you're enjoying all the content in this episode and the rest of the

gone medieval series then why not join us for a trip retracing the discovery of

Richard the third we're visiting key locations that tell the story of the life and death of King Richard the third.

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forward slash trips. History Hit.com. Forward slash Trips. It's the mid-14 century and Europe is beginning to find its feet again.

After a series of terrible famines and in places like England a crushing livestock blight,

life is returning to normalcy.

The populace, however, is weakened. Years of malnourishment have loved bodies emaciated, and substantial loss of life has shrunk towns and villages.

Little did anyone know that further east, a new and horrifying reality, would soon exploit these

frailties further.

It's 1345, and a pestilence is raging in the lands of the golden horde in what is now southern Russia.

For years, the Khan Yani Beg was attempting to besiege the Crimean city of Kaffa.

His efforts were stymied as his men began to drop dead from the mysterious illness.

The traders in the city, who hailed from across the Mediterranean, were delighted that they

might soon be freed.

One way or another, however, the illness found its way over the walls.

Gabriel de Musis of Piencenza claimed that the Khan had kick-started this by

catapulting the corpses of two of his infected men into the city.

As dramatic as that story is, it's also quite possibly false.

Regardless, as the newly freed Caffins fled the city on boats,

they carried the pestilence with them.

It's 1347, and the plague has arrived in Egypt.

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