Serendipitously I’m reading Tuchman’s A Distant Mirror. It’s a frustrating book, very knowing, referencing many historical figures without any sort of introduct

Serendipitously I’m reading Tuchman’s A Distant Mirror. It’s a frustrating book, very knowing, referencing many historical figures without any sort of introduction. I’m not sure I’d recommend and I hope there’s a better book written. France is its main focal point, though it discusses French relations with the Italian city states at length. The Black Death came to Genoa in 1348 and decimated Europe’s population over the next two years. Smaller waves of the plague occurred every decade or two as population immunity waned (due to children not having been exposed). The decrease in the labor forced caused a spike in inflation. So I kind of think there’s a closer parallel to ~1400 than 1500…