Thank you, Maggie, for reincarnating this - I'm totally rapt!
Meanwhile - slightly off-topic, but then you were discussing plagues, ... I've recently seen a program on telly, about the possibility that more than one disease actually got misdiagnosed and labelled "The Black Death" or "Bubonic Plague". According to the written reports, there seemed to be quite a few conflicting symptoms. From what I recall, some symptoms sounded similar to what we, today, would call meningococcal disease, ... there were no "buboes" as such, just dark or black marks on the skin.
So ... perhaps the rats and fleas weren't entirely to blame, after all?!