Beginning in 541, an unprecedented pandemic of bubonic plague, known as the Plague of Justinian, tore through the Byzantine Empire. Thought to have originated in India, the plague swiftly made call at every major port on the Mediterranean Sea and plunged northward into Europe, reaching Britain within three years. It is recorded as one of the deadliest epidemics in history, killing between 30 and 50 million people, or roughly 15% of the world’s entire population.
