QUARANTINE DREAMS HOW DID PEOPLE COPE WITH ‘LOCKDOWNS’ OF THE PAST?
POPE CLEMENT VI
Pope, in office 1342-52
Clement VI (born Pierre Roger, 1291–1352) was the fourth of the seven medieval Popes who resided at Avignon rather than Rome. A cultured and worldly political operator, he enjoyed all the good things in life and raised members of his own family to high church office (including a nephew who was made a Cardinal at the age of 18).
It’s repeatedly said of Clement that when the Black Death struck, he self-isolated in a room, placing himself between two enormous fires which burned day and night. If he actually did this (and Avignon is pretty hot in summer anyway), it just might have afforded some protection from fleas carrying the disease. But we don’t seem to know for sure if he followed the advice at all. If he did, it might not have been for very long.
“A Pope should make his subjects happy,” he declared, and for all his high-living and low corruption, Clement’s response to the Black Death was humane and energetic.
He set astrologers and medical men to
