1347 A. D.
Two men enter the harbor at Messina.
"In their bones they bore so virulent a disease that anyone who only spoke to them was seized by a mortal illness and in no manner could evade death."
Every person that came near or touched the two men died. Their bodies siezed by pain, and "developed in their thighs or on their upper arms a boil", and the pain would make them "violently {vomit} blood".
"This vomiting of blood continued without intermission for three days, there being no means of healing it, and then the patient expired."
This disease broke families, destroyed villages, and toppled castles. The plague ravaged until April of 1348, and the last recorded death was that of the Duke Giovanni.
The people of Messina ended up as "godless" frantics.