When the Black Death swept through Europe beginning in 1347, the plague wiped out more than half of the continent’s population, upending societies and interrupting wars.

New research suggests that a volcanic eruption or multiple eruptions, unknown to Europe’s inhabitants, most likely catalyzed the pandemic’s arrival on the continent’s shores.

The theory, described in a study published Thursday in the journal Communications Earth & Environment , suggests the eruptions set off a series of events that enabled the fleas that spread the plague to proliferate in Europe.

The eruptions dimmed global temperatures for a few years, causing a sudden climate shift that affected harvests in Europe. With crops failing and fears of starvation rising, some wealthy Italian city-states like Florence and

See Full Page