Black Monks
There is an excavation of an old medieval Benedictine monastery that could shed some light on the origins of syphilis:
The skeleton of the unknown woman, aged between 17 and 25, was dug up as part of a routine excavation ordered at the old churchyard in 1991 by the then county archaeologist Malcolm Atkin. Dr Charlotte Roberts of Bradford University examined the contents of grave 77 and concluded the
woman had died between 1400 and 1450 from the advanced stages of syphilis. According to her dates, the young woman died of the disease well before Columbus is supposed to have brought the disease back from the Americas in 1493.
woman had died between 1400 and 1450 from the advanced stages of syphilis. According to her dates, the young woman died of the disease well before Columbus is supposed to have brought the disease back from the Americas in 1493.
It had been widely believed that the disease was brought from the New World to Europe. This could mean that the disease had been actually in the wild in the 14th and 15th centuries, and then exploded as armies started moving through Europe. If syphilis had been in Europe prior to that, that piece of history has to be reevaluated.
via Dangercat