A Plague of Our Times

The plague has struck humanity repeatedly over our long history. An early mention of the plague occurs in 1 Samuel, in the old Testament, where the Philistines are struck down after they steal the Ark of the Covenant from the Israelis. The description of the disease is identical to that exhibited by the plague.  It is believed that the book of Samuel was composed between 630 and 540 BC but used much older source documents. Remarkably, Even older evidence than this has been discovered, dating to 1350 BC, when the fossilised remains of plague fleas were found in Amana Egypt.  Obviously, this disease has been around for thousands of years and been responsible for the loss of an unbelievable number of human lives.

The plague is in an acute infectious disease caused by the bacillus Yersinia pestis and is still endemic in indigenous rodent populations of South and North America, Africa and Central Asia. The disease is transmitted to humans by the bite of a flea. Primary hosts of the flea are thought to be the black urban rat and the brown sewer rat.  

The Justinian plague of 541 started in central Africa and spread to Egypt and the Mediterranean.

It was named after the Roman emperor of that time.  How unfortunate to go down in posterity named after one of the most frightening and virulent diseases!  The early historians describe the effect of the disease. They said people had a sudden fever and then they developed swellings on their body, in the groin, inside the armpit and also beside the ears and even on different points on the thighs.  Constantinople lost 10,000 of its population per day and by the end of the outbreak a third of the total population of the city had died from the plague. The disease spread as far north as Denmark, west to Ireland and then even to Africa the Middle East and Asia Minor. In total, it is thought that between the years 542 AD and 546 AD the plague killed nearly 100 million people.

An eyewitness, John of Ephesus describes the process.

“[Theodore] made very large pits, inside each of which 70,000 corpses were laid down. He thus appointed men there, who brought down corpses, sorted them and piled them up. They pressed them in rows on top of each other, in the same way as someone presses hay in a loft ... Men and women were trodden down, and in the little space between them the young and infants were pressed down, trodden with the feet and trampled down like spoilt grapes.”

It is difficult to describe the fear, the devastation and the scale of the loss of life at this time. By the end of the plague a quarter of the population of the Roman Empire was dead.

The plague returned as the black death of 1347 AD. This pandemic was brought to the Crimea from Asia Minor.  The Tartar armies of Khan Janibeg had laid siege to the town of Kaffa (now Feodosya in Ukraine) but were unsuccessful. Before they left, they catapulted the corpses of plague victims over the walls into the city.  The citizens of Kaffa fled in ships, carrying the disease with them all through Europe.  Meanwhile, the Tartars also carried the plague with them further to Russia and India.  War like fleas, it seems are perfect vectors for the spread of disease.  A lesson that humanity, even after thousands of years, it seems has not yet been learned.

In medieval accounts there are descriptions of the symptoms of the disease. It begins with tumours in the groin or armpit some of which grow as large as an apple, others the size of an egg. Then black spots appear on the arms and thighs. 

History calls it the Black Death.  The overall mortality rate varied from city to city. In Florence, half the population died. People died with such rapidity proper burial or cremation could not occur. Corpses were once again thrown into large pits and putrefying bodies lay in their homes and in the streets. Transmission of the illness was thought to be by disease carrying vapours emanating from the corpses and the from the breath of an infected or sick person. Others thought the Black Death was a punishment from God for their sins. People joined in huge processions of flagellants whipping themselves with nail embedded scourges and incanting hymns and prayers as they passed from town to town.  As much as 88% of those afflicted with the disease died. The plague lead to a preoccupation with death and some macabre artwork such as The Triumph of Death by Pieter Breughel the Elder in 1562 AD.  

By the end of the outbreak a quarter of the population of Europe, over 25 million people, were dead.  The scale of the loss of life was such that by 1430 AD Europe's population was lower than it had been in 1290 AD and indeed would not recover its pre-pandemic level until the 16th century!

In the 15th and 16th centuries doctors wore a peculiar costume to protect themselves from the plague when they attended infected patients. They were clothed from head to foot in leather or oil cloth robes, with leggings, gloves and a hood. This was topped with a wide brimmed hat and a beak like a mask with glass eyes and two breathing nostrils filled with aromatic herbs and flowers to fend off the fumes. They avoided touching their patients and would lance tumours with knives several feet long.  Even now the picture is horrific but imagine how it felt for their patients!

Another small epidemic occurred in London in September 1665 AD when 7000 people per week were dying. By the end of that year a fifth of London’s population had died.  An old familiar English nursery rhyme published in 1881, reminds us, all too clearly  of the symptoms of the plague. 

Ring a-ring a roses (a red blistering rash)

a pocketful of posies (fragrant herbs and flowers to ward off the disease)

atishoo, atishoo (the sneeze and the cough heralding pneumonia)

we all fall down.(all dead)

Just in case we think the plague is a thing of the past it's important to realise that outbreaks still occur. Here are the figures over the last few decades. 

Given our present antibiotics the death toll from the plague has been reduced to a kill rate of only 16% nowadays. However, It is particularly worrisome that some multi drug- resistant strains of the bacillus are appearing.  This is not a good  omen for the future.  The ways in which we can become infected are also multiplying. 

To make matters worse, we are sometimes playing risky games with this age old killer.  In 2015 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US reported (after inspections of an army base in Maryland) one of the Pentagon’s most secure labs, had mislabelled and improperly stored and even shipped samples of potentially infectious plague bacteria!

If history has taught us anything about this dreadful disease over the past three millennium it is surely this.

1. we should be on guard against complacency
2. avoid unnecessary wars and 
3. forced movement of millions 
4. protect the health and well being of all human beings to boost their natural immunity 
5. and never for a moment assume we have this endemic killer under our total control.

scary facts  once you open the webpage  click on it to enlarge!

PS Used a lot of info from The History of the Plague - The Three Great Pandemics by John Firth

Grandmaster Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, Cardinal Wolsey and Henry VIII meet up

Crac des Chevaliers

In 1142 Crac des Chevaliers, a Crusader castle in Syria was built by the Knights Hospitaller.  The Order of St John was founded around 1023 to provide care for sick, poor or injured pilgrims coming to the Holy Land.  The recent war in Syria has brought the conflict very close to this ancient and unique UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The Knights of St John have left their mark through much of this area and examples of their fortresses are also found in Rhodes and Malta.  Their history is a rich and varied tale.

some of the bastions at Rhodes

On the 15th June in 1522 Knights of St John defended their bastion on the island of Rhodes.  The Tower of the Virgin is surrounded by a polygon bastion and Suleiman the Sultan must have almost given up hope of ever taking this strategically vital part of the walled city. 

When the Turkish invasion force of 400 ships arrived on Rhodes on 26 June 1522, they were commanded by Çoban Mustafa Pasha. Sultan Suleiman himself arrived with the army of 100,000 men on 28 July to take personal charge.  An early description of Suleiman, a few weeks following his accession, is provided by the Venetian envoy Bartolomeo Contarini: "He is twenty-six years of age, tall, but wiry, and of a delicate complexion. His neck is a little too long, his face thin, and his nose aquiline. He has a shade of a moustache and a small beard; nevertheless he has a pleasant mien, though his skin tends to be a light pallor.”  By the time he reached Rhodes and the siege began, Suleiman was still only 28 years old.

"The Turks blockaded the harbour and bombarded the town with field artillery from the land side, followed by almost daily infantry attacks. They also sought to undermine the fortifications through tunnels and mines. The artillery fire was slow in inflicting serious damage to the massive walls, but after five weeks, on 4 September, two large gunpowder mines exploded under the bastion of England, causing a 12 yards (11 m) portion of the wall to fall and to fill the moat. The attackers immediately assaulted this breach and soon gained control of it, but a counterattack by the English brothers under Fra' Nicholas Hussey and Grand Master Villiers de L'Isle-Adam succeeded in driving them back again. Twice more the Turks assaulted the breach that day, but each time the English brothers, aided by German brothers, held the gap. " It is important to note here that the Grandmaster Villiers de L’Isle-Adam was fifty eight years old during this battle.

During these assaults the Ottomans lost over 2000 men and Mustafa himself had to be rescued by his own men as they fled the bitter conflict. The siege of Rhodes involved 600 knights and 4500 soldiers who resisted the invasion force of the Ottoman’s immense force of 100,000 men for six months. When the island was eventually defeated the grandmaster and remaining knights were allowed to leave the island with their weapons and valuables. Guarantees were given that no church would be desecrated or turned into a mosque and any individuals who decided to remain on the island would be free of Ottoman taxation for five years. On the first of January 1523 Grand Master Villiers de L'Isle-Adam and his Knights marched out of Rhodes and took 50 ships with them.  During this siege half of the invasion force had been vanquished. The Sultan was quoted as saying as he watched the elderly Grand Master Villiers de L'Isle-Adam leave with his knights “It gives me no pleasure to force this fearless old man from his home”. 

Grand Master Villiers de L'Isle-Adam

Grand Master Villiers de L'Isle-Adam spent seven more years wondering from place to place facing political intrigue, plagues, division and infighting among his own knights and was heard to proclaim “I am miserable weary and breathless old man and after so many efforts spent in vain may prove to be the last grandmaster!” at this he broke down in tears and could not go on. The determination that the grandmaster showed in subsequent years demonstrated his clear vision to find a new centre for the Knights of St John. Grand Master Villiers de L'Isle-Adam had long called for support and supplies for Rhodes knowing invasion troops were on their way.  It was said that on the very day that Rhodes succumbed to attack, part of the architecture of the Pope's Chapel, in Rome, fell down and a piece of marble killed the guard walking just in front of the the Pope. It was taken by many as a sign of the wrath of God especially by the knights who defended Rhodes so valiantly and felt that support for them in their endeavour had been lacking from many in power throughout Europe. 

Many times Grand Master Villiers de L'Isle-Adam spoke to his Knights to try and unite them while they wandered from location to location after losing the island of Rhodes. On one memorable occasion the whole multitude had their eyes fixed “on the venerable old man whose constancy and resolution made him as illustrious under his misfortunes as his bravery in the defence of Rhodes had made him glorious”. In his talks he strove to knit together the divided and dispirited knights. In order to obtain permission to move the Knights of St John to Malta and Gozo the grandmaster had to win the support of many of the kings of Europe and indeed Pope Clement VII. In addition to dealing with royalty like Charles V and the king of France, who were at war with one another, he had to convince competing sides that his order deserved support. In these confusing times Pope Clement VII was actually held in prison for six months by Charles V. It was the dictates of those days that Popes had to be clean-shaven but during the six months of his imprisonment Pope Clement VII grew a long beard which he kept for the remainder of his life to signal his despair at his imprisonment and the destruction of Rome. Not only did he kept his beard until his death but the next 24 popes all grew a beards as well! 

Pope Clement VII

After meeting with royalty of Portugal, Spain, Frances and the pope  Grand Master Villiers de L'Isle-Adam set off to England to meet with Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey. By now the grandmaster was 66 years old and considered a venerable old man who had fought a glorious battle. His reputation was known to all throughout Europe. In 1529 he travelled to England and met with Henry VIII (38 years old). Henry VIII was proud and arrogant and at 6 foot 2 inches cut an impressive figure but despite his passion for competitions and hunting he was unused to real battles and hardship. 

Cardinal Wolsey (56 years old) dressed like a king, ate like a horse and drank like a fish. 

In his household Wolsey had 500 servants. He was known for his intelligence and avarice.  He had graduated from Oxford at the age of just fifteen. Within a year of this meeting with the Grandmaster Wolsey would be dead with all his great power seized from him by Henry VIII because of his inability to provide his King with the divorce he wanted from Catherine of Aragon. 

It was in this environment  of greed and power and riches that the Grand Master Villiers de L'Isle-Adam had to navigate.  Here was a Cardinal of the church Wolsey, with his immense riches and illegitimate children and on the other hand Henry VIII who would marry so many women and make a habit of beheading a few. As the elderly Grand Master Villiers de L'Isle-Adam  who had taken not only a vow of poverty,celibacy and obedience approached King Henry VII’s court they went out and greeted the old warrior with great pomp and ceremony. King Henry went out of his way to show favour to the elderly hero and the Grandmaster’s presence had a real impact on the court. He made a huge impression on those present, as he had on the pope and others and through his determination a centre for the knights would be created in Malta on 26 October 1530.  Within a few years the grandmaster died at a convent in Rabat on Malta on 21 August 1534 with his mission complete. The room in which he died has been preserved along with his belongings in a simple manner befitting the dignity and simplicity of this unusually fearless character.  

Grand Master Villiers de L'Isle-Adam's room, Rabat

"The two most powerful warriors are patience and time."

Leo Tolstoy

The Charge of the Light Brigade and Florence Nightingale

(first part of this story is given in  Sa Maison and Lady Lockwood this is part 2)

After a peaceful decade of living in Malta with her daughter and son, cultivating her lovely garden Lady Lockwood must have felt a genuine relief that the torment and turbulence of her married life was behind her.  Given the court case and widespread publicity within the British papers of her husband’s abuse her garden and home in Sa Maison must have been a solace.  Few, knew of her here and she could live a quiet life in the sunny and friendly Mediterranean island.  The views from her villa and garden are breath taking and the area to this day has a wonderful calm atmosphere.

It must have been horrendous to find that peace shattered by the onset of war in the Crimean.  The British Expeditionary force arrived on route to the Crimea and some of her husband’s ex regiments were included in the battalions posted to Malta.  It seems a strange coincidence that some of the British force should be billeted in her very garden.  For a year and a half Malta was full of soldiers and in order to get to their accommodation they had to gain access through her garden.  One of the soldiers posted at this time was an artist and his paintings ( and some photographs of troops) in Malta show how much the British Expeditionary force dominated the island during this period.

Having arrived in 1843-46 Various accounts suggest that they needed to use the site of her house to position guns to defend the walls.  They wanted to demolish her house and for a year and half Lady Lockwood held out hoping that she would not lose her home.  Having been to the garden and examined the bastions it seems strange to position the guns on this lower bastion when much higher sites on the walls above would have provided greater height and range.  In the end the military had their way and her villa was knocked to the ground.  It originally was a hunting lodge built in the 18^th century and its seems a shame that such a historic building was flattened to provide two gun mountings.  Lady Lockwood left the island and all that remains are the beautiful gardens and two circular slabs on which the guns were mounted.  On the adjacent walls the military have carved their insignia which can just be made out although weather worn.  I know historians have argued that the demolition  of the house was purely a military expediency but one wonders what other factors played a role in their decision.  All the paintings shown above are by a soldier from her husband’s old regiment the rifle brigade.  In the officer’s circles they must have known of her husband, Captain Robert Manners Lockwood and his disgrace in the press which had happened a few years previously.  From one historical account there is this piece which is tantalising.

‘In 1853 British military experts obtained permission to pull down the house to make way for a gun platform... the decision to bring in the Military experts to decide on the dismantling of the house was taken after Lady Lockwood gave the cold shoulder to a high ranking military official’. 

Who knows?  I found it fascinating to see that there are actual photographs of the troops at the Crimean war.  I had thought that this was before cameras were available but no there are these shots of various officers from this time and it makes it all seem so much closer.    

Florence Nightingale and forty of her nurses visited Malta on route to the Crimea and their services were much needed.  In the Crimean War (October 1853 – February 1856) Russia lost to an alliance of France, Britain, the Ottoman Empire, and Sardinia.  At its end there were 350,000–375,000 dead.  

Florence Nightingale 1854

I remember my father would often quote from a famous poem (by Lord Tennyson) about a battle of the Crimea known as the Charge of the Light Brigade.

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
"Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismayed?
Not tho’ the soldier knew
Someone had blundered:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

It ends with a section celebrating their bravery

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honour the charge they made,
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.

A wonderful poem. It is thought a mistake was made in sending instructions to this brigade and they were sent into direct withering fire.  I find it hard to celebrate anything about war and loss of life.  Certainly, no glory or long lasting good seems to emerge from most conflicts.  Over 20,000 of the British Expeditionary force would die in the Crimean war.

“How is it possible for men to fight from morning until evening, killing each other, shedding the blood of their fellow-men: And for what object? To gain possession of a part of the earth! Even the animals, when they fight, have an immediate and more reasonable cause for their attacks! How terrible it is that men, who are of the higher kingdom, can descend to slaying and bringing misery to their fellow-beings, for the possession of a tract of land!

The highest of created beings fighting to obtain the lowest form of matter, earth! Land belongs not to one people, but to all people. This earth is not man’s home, but his tomb. It is for their tombs these men are fighting. “ Baha’i Writings

Yesterday, I walked along the front to the gardens of Sa Maison and found the flowers blooming along its outer bastions.  Spring has arrived and Lady Lockwood might have been delighted to see how much of her garden remains.  Perhaps, as Marcus Aurelius said so succintly around 170 AD, 

“What we do now echoes in eternity.”

Do you ever get sick of yourself?

Do you ever get sick of yourself?

I mean really weary and fed up.

When, if it were anyone else you’d just walk way?

But that’s it, isn’t it.

When it is yourself, there is no escape!

In ancient Greece a young girl committed suicide and suddenly there was an epidemic of copycat suicides among girls her age in the city.  It reached such a pitch that the senate needed to act.  So one elderly senator introduced a law, which stopped the loss of life immediately. 

What was the law?

They introduced a law that if a young woman committed suicide her naked body would be carried through the market place for all to see.  This stopped the dreadful avalanche of death.  Evidently, fear of shame was a fate worse than death. 

So, for dire situations we need effective strategies.  When life takes a deep plunge into despair I have my own technique.  You can tell I am a pessimist from the constant cheery refrain I am prone to reassure myself with, at such times

“However awful life appears, it can always get worse!”

In other words, whatever calamity we face usually there is another one possible that makes the present one seem like a picnic.  For some reason, that calms and soothes my spirit.  Things seem suddenly not so bad at all.

Another positive take is however awful I may be, whatever dreadful deed I may have done/omitted I have a few minutes, hours, months to alter and to make amends.  Making things right is not achieved by silent contemplation of my navel.  No, my worth is probably measured on what my contribution to this world has been, in real terms.

So, being heartily sick of oneself can be a really good thing.  It is the diagnosis of a skilled physician who sees the problem and then seeks the remedy.  Too often we get hung up on the first step.  That honest introspection needs to be followed by action and deeds.

The world is weary of words

We want to see our life mean something

That change we seek within ourselves

Will always be linked with the change

Our lives bring to others.

Perhaps that is why we are still here!

"How does one look forward to the goal of any journey? With hope and with expectation.”

We are born, we live and we die.  Life on this material plane exists of these three stages.  Birth is pretty traumatic, you emerge down a narrow restrictive channel bruised, bleeding and gasping for air.  Dying, I’m told can be pretty traumatic too.  Again, gasping for that last breath, facing darkness and feeling battered from holding on to life. What about the in between?  Well, living that gap between birth and death, can be bloody, breath taking and you invariably find yourself in the dark at times.

So what do we learn from all this?  For one, I tend to find the whole idea of re-birthing hogwash.  As if repeating the birthing experience as an adult can exorcise what went wrong first time around.  I feel the same way about reincarnation, the idea of having to live another life again, how depressing and repetitive.  I also am heartily fed up of listening to people who claim they were Princess Antoinette, or the Queen of Sheba in a previous life.  Please, isn’t living one life sufficient and having the notion of endless repeat attempts an admission of failure (a sort of university of life, examination resit schedule for the chronically incapable)? And doesn’t having that notion of endless repeat attempts steal from this one life the priceless unique opportunity that it really is.  Much as some would prefer to think otherwise, this is it folks, no rehearsals, no second takes we have only one shot.

You cannot even prepare the baby within for that shock of birth.  No stroking of that bump or careful explanations of the coming process can help.  Pre-natal classes, prepare parents but we are kidding ourselves if we think they make a major difference to the actual experience ahead for the baby.  Being born is traumatic.  Having a chilled out mother perhaps reduces adrenalin flowing to the baby, a darkened room helps reduce the shock of bright lights on the newborn, a quiet delivery room avoids the noise assault experienced somewhat.  The voices of family members, whose voices are familiar, can be comforting, but who are we kidding here.  Birth is traumatic for a reason.  Without that shock perhaps that first vital breath is not taken.  Indeed some babies require removal of fluid from their airways and a jolt to the body to get truly going.  Transition is painful, by definition there is a letting go of what one has become accustomed to.  We can have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the next phase of our life.

By contrast, dying can sometimes be incredibly peaceful too.  Weariness, deep tiredness to the bone can anaesthetise that final transition.  Sleep is referred to as ‘the little death’ for many reasons.  It is also a surrendering to oblivion, to a different state.  So, if our physical life is like bookends, with birth and death at either end, perhaps there are lessons that can be learned and applied.  Not being afraid will help reduce the trauma, a peaceful environment soothes the spirit (not easily found in the modern hospital environment) and being surrounded by those closest, remind you that you are not alone even at this final moment and wrap you in that greatest comfort blanket of all, love.  I chose to think that we are then, freed of our physical body much as when you remove the cage, the bird is finally free to fly.  This transition is traumatic but necessary.  At a recent funeral a family friend was speaking to the audience of mourners and pointed out that death is not a shameful and fearful thing to which the recently departed loved one has been subjected to.  It is a part of life, like birth and a path each one of us sooner or later will take.  He then asked the question, “How should we view death?”  and gave this quote as an answer,  "How does one look forward to the goal of any journey? With hope and with expectation.”

So, what about that period in the middle called life?  Well, it can be traumatic but then that usually  means a time of change has come.  Be comforted that you are at a turn in the road and a time of transition.  You may well be a little bloodied, somewhat in the dark, not sure of the way ahead, but don't forget to enjoy the journey.