The Rampolye Family and the Black Death’

... they covered them over with dirt. And then more bodies were put on top of them, with a little more dirt over those; they put layer on layer just like one puts layers of cheese in a lasagna.

This analogy of the composition of lasagne with that of a plague pit is perhaps the most colourful contemporary description of the impact of the first and most devastating appearance of the Black Death in Europe between1348-1350.
Chroniclers resorted to apocalyptic language as they struggled to find words to describe and explain the appearance of a deadly disease that struck at speed and seemed incurable. Stock phrases such as ‘the living were hardly able to bury the dead’ were commonplace.
However, for detailed evidence on the impact and consequences of the plague on 14th century society we need to look elsewhere.