AVIGNON/lands to the west of the Rhône August, 1348 AD
By August, 1348, the plague had dispatched half of the population of Avignon. Hot, dry weather provided ideal conditions for the epidemic to rage, uncontrolled. There was no indication of it abating. The survivors fell into three types. Some accepted Clément"s condemnation that God had espied and was punishing their sinful behaviour. He commended the power of supplication as a weapon with which to confront evil in its myriad forms. They prayed in the cathedral – now the only place open to them. The second group remained indoors, either by choice or on account of their houses being closed up, the doors marked with the dreaded, red cross. The third, a minority, were the men and women who fought the disease, as best they could, without c
