Nicholas of Autrecourt and Nicole Oresme belong to the last generation that grew up before the Black Death. Of those mentioned in this story, Nicholas and William of Ockham were probably plague victims, as were those, unknown to us, who would have been their successors. The plague’s impact on population and economic life, though catastrophic, was not quite an isolated event—there had been decline before, and recurrences of the disease prevented recovery later. But in matters of the mind, there was a distinct break in the intellectual tradition. The urban monasteries, the centers of
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