A Great Carolingian Panzootic: The Probable Extent, Diagnosis and Impact of an Early Ninth-Century Cattle Pestilence

Abstract

This paper considers the cattle panzootic of 809-810, the most thoroughly documented and, as far as can be discerned, spatially significant livestock pestilence of the Carolingian period (750-950 CE). It surveys the written evidence for the plague, and examines the pestilence’s spatial and temporal parameters, dissemination, diagnosis and impact. It is argued that the plague originated east of Europe, was truly pan-European in scope, and represented a significant if primarily short-term shock to the Carolingian agrarian economy. Cattle in southern and northern Europe, including the British Isles, were affected. In all probability, several hundreds of thousands of domestic bovines died, adversely impacting food production and distribution, and human health. A diagnosis of the rinderpest virus (RPV) is tentatively advanced.