Bulgaria

1/18/2015                                                                                    link back up to main Chapter 262 Coins

Black Death plague

Ivan Alexander here on left-left holding cross in right arm with son Mikail on my recent eBay year 1331-1371 (1347 specified - as end of a Byzantine civil war)  coin purchase. He was Tsar of Bulgaria during the Black Death plague that swept through Europe that year. Image on right back of coin is Christ standing with halo. The disease attributed to the Bubonic plague via rats and flea bacteria was spread by the Mongolians from the far East as they invaded Kaffa, Crimea below Ukraine. The attacking mongols were stalled by disease but they catapulted the infected dead bodies of their comrades over the city walls thus triggering the spread of the scourge into Europe (biological warfare). It then killed about 1/3 of the European population, about 200 million people over the next 8 years.

Ghoulish, disgusting or simply awful yes. But I love the iconography and always wanted a coin to represent this important chapter of his story. We studied the Bubonic Plague at the College of Forestry, an important vector species in our Entomology course. You can still find remnants of the Bubonic Plague today even in America . The nursery rhyme Ring around the Rosie was conceived as a mock to this virulent pandemic, the symptoms on the skin and the burning of the dead to ash.

With ebola raising it's ugly head just imagine a world where a pandemic is not isolated wiping out 1/3 of America. OK, you don't want to think about it. 

This location has always had historical significance as being on the silk road. The interconnecting travel route for European traders traveling to China seeking silk and spices. As I write this CNN breaking news: French terrorists arrested in Bulgaria. Part of the Paris Islamic terror cell attempting to escape through Istanbul to Syria and beyond.

moral: Just be Cognizant.

Had to get up early to bid on this coin from a site in Slovenia.

Reference ME 36459

Vampires Gypsies etc I watched a lot of Sesame Street with kids years ago. Turns out the Bulgarian Count Dracula was based on true history including a stake through the heart.

I recall only one Ivan in my life. Back in the early days of Virgil Ivan Inman lived up the road. Can still remember the rectangular brown porcelain space heater, probably gas, maybe charcoal? The 1940 census shows Ivan to be a 15 year old farmer in Virgil. I guess it was his Dad Claude who was head of household. But this 1946 newspaper shows Mr. and Mrs. Ivan were  guests so Claude. Also shows Mom and Carol going to Fern Olmsted wedding shower in Cinncinatus.