The moment
Plague reached Sicily and Italy by ship in 1347 and over the next few years killed perhaps a third or more of Europe's people. Many read it as God's judgement: bands of flagellants whipped themselves through the towns of central Europe until Pope Clement VI banned them in October 1349, and mobs accused Jews of poisoning wells. On 14 February 1349 the townspeople of Strasbourg burned the city's Jews alive, about 2,000 by a chronicler's count, although Clement had declared the charge false and given Jews refuge at Avignon.
People: Pope Clement VI