Whilst it is not essential to do any background reading before the course begins, you may find it useful to do so. The reading list below contains books that you can read. You don’t have to read all of these. Indeed, we don’t specify any that you must read. Instead, these are readings you can use to gain a preliminary understanding of topics, as well as to study in more depth those parts of the course you are particularly interested in. You may also want to take a look at magazines such as British Archaeology, World Archaeology and Current Archaeology.
GENERAL
Crawford, D. 2009. Deadly Companions: How Microbes Shaped Our History
Scott, S and Duncan, C. 2001. Biology of Plagues: Evidence from Historical Populations
Slack, P. 2012. Plague: A Very Short Introduction
World Health Organisation Plague Manual: http://www.who.int/csr/resources/publications/plague/WHO_CDS_CSR_EDC_99_2_EN/en/
THE PLAGUE OF JUSTINIAN
Harbeck M, Seifert L, Hänsch S, Wagner DM, et al. (2013) Yersinia pestis DNA from Skeletal Remains from the 6th Century AD Reveals Insights into Justinianic Plague. PLoS Pathog 9(5): e1003349.
Rosen, W. 2008. Justinian’s Flea: Plague, Empire and the Birth of Europe
THE BLACK DEATH
Cantor, N. 2001. In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death and the World It made
Cohn, S. 2002. The Black Death Transformed: Disease and Culture in Early Renaissance Europe.
Hatcher, J. 2009. The Black Death: An Intimate History. Phoenix.
Kelly, J. 2006. The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death
Twigg, G. 1984. The Black Death: A Biological Reappraisal
Ziegler, P. 1998. The Black Death.
THE PEASANTS REVOLT
Jones, D. 2010. The Summer of Blood: The Peasants Revolt of 1381
DESERTED MEDIEVAL VILLAGES
Allison, K J, Beresford, M W, Hurst, J G. 1965. The Deserted Villages of Oxfordshire, Leicester University Press.
Miles, D and Rowley, T. 1976. Tusmore Deserted Village, Oxoniensia 4, 309-315.
Rowley, T & Wood, J. 2000. Deserted Villages. Shire
THE GREAT PLAGUE OF LONDON
Porter, S. 2012. The Great Plague of London
Moote, AL and Moote, DC. 2006. The Great Plague: The Story of London’s Most Deadly Year
Pepys, S. 2003. The Diaries of Samuel Pepys. Penguin Classics
Tomalin, C. 2012. Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self