Pestilence in Pskov in the 14th - 15th Centuries: the Impact of Epidemics on the Life of the Urban Community

The topic of this work is the impact of epidemics on the life of an urban community (commune) on the life of the population of Pskov. The purpose of the work is to determine the impact of epidemics on the life of the urban community of medieval Pskov. In the work, the influence of epidemics will be considered from three positions, namely: the fight against epidemics, the influence on the course of military operations, and the political sphere will be considered from the point of view of princely power. The subject of the study is the influence of “pestilence” on the life of medieval Pskov residents. The research question of the work can be formulated as follows: how did epidemics affect the urban community of medieval Pskov in the 14th-15th centuries? The main conclusion of the work is that there have been significant changes in the perception of epidemics by Pskov residents. At first, the epidemics were described in sufficient detail in chronicles. Later, when epidemics became more frequent, chroniclers stopped recording the details of epidemics as carefully. The exceptions were large-scale pestilences with a large number of victims. This is also evidenced by the fact that ordinary events that occurred during the epidemic were described in detail, while no attention was paid to the epidemics themselves. Thus, certain formulas were developed according to which descriptions of epidemics were compiled. Thus, there was an unusual fluctuation in the perception of epidemics by the population of Pskov. They adapted to life in an epidemic, and chroniclers, in turn, recorded outbreaks, following formulas and supplementing them with various incidents that occurred in parallel. From these descriptions, it seems possible to trace how the Pskov people fought epidemics. It will also be possible to analyze how pestilence influenced the course of hostilities and affect the political sphere from the point of view of princely power during epidemics. An analysis of chronicle news shows that not all epidemics directly influenced the course of hostilities on the Pskov-Livonian-Lithuanian border. The plague of 1342 and the Black Death of 1352 caused such serious damage to Pskov that the Pskov residents were forced to abandon military campaigns. In the event of conflicts of 1367–1371 and 1406–1409 epidemics in Pskov, on the contrary, did not have a significant impact on the course of hostilities, and the Pskovites continued to fight them. Epidemics led to a crisis of princely power in Pskov, since the disease affected everyone, regardless of status - many Pskov princes died after taking monastic vows, and some fled from the city, where death reigned.