Was the Plague of Justinian as deadly as the Black Death?
here are reasons to think so, reasons to be doubtful, and reasons to hope that we'll keep learning more. Analysis of DNA from archaeological remains has proved that the Plague of Justinian (starting in AD 541) was caused by the same bacterium that caused the Black Death in the 14th century. Historians suspected as much, based on eyewitness accounts, already exhibited all of the virulence factors that made it so nasty later.
