Main description (English)

As primary causes of mortality, infectious diseases have often marked the fate of human history. The plague, in particular, became a true pandemic in the fourteenth century and remained endemic in Europe in the following centuries. The subject of this article is one of the Renaissance plagues, that of 1485, which struck Italian cities including Milan and Rome. These two cases will be analyzed through the use of diplomatic sources belonging to the main Italian courts and cities, in order to study the strong effects this plague had not only on the population, but above all on the ambassadors who witnessed it – ambassadors who were already occupied with informing their lords about another event of “national” and international interest, the Conspiracy of the Barons of the Kingdom of Naples against King Ferrante of Aragon, in which the Church was also involved.