<head id="NEST_Svano.h1">Svartedauen</head><head id="NEST_Sva_160en.h1">The Black Death</head>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s1">Øyenvitner</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s1">Eyewitnesses </s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s2">«Min bror!</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s2"> «My brother!</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s3">Hva skal jeg si?</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s3">What do I tell you?</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s4">Hvordan skal jeg begynne?</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s4">Where do I start?</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s5">Hvor skal jeg vende meg hen?</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s5">Where do I turn?</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s6">På alle kanter hersker sorg.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s6">In every corner, there is sorrow.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s7">Overalt rår angst og frykt.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s7">You find anxiety and fear everywhere.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s8">Min bror, jeg ønsker at jeg aldri var blitt født eller i det minste hadde fått dø før denne tid.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s8">My brother, I wish I was never born or at least that I had died before this moment.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s9">Hvordan skal kommende slekter kunne tro at det en gang fantes en tid da alle mennesker var døde, da nesten hele jorden var uten innbyggere?</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s9">How can future generations comprehend that there once were a time when all people were dead – when almost the entire earth was without people?</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s10">Da den forferdelige og altomfattende ensomhet hersket?»</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s10">When devastating and all-embracing loneliness dominated? </s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s11">Den italienske dikteren Francesco Petrarca kunne ikke finne ord som var sterke nok når han skulle fortelle sin bror i Frankrike om tilstanden i Italia omkring 1350.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s11"> The Italian poet, Francesco Petrarca could not find strong enough words to describe the circumstances in Italy around 1350.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s12">Som hele det øvrige Europa hadde landet gjennomlevd en folkeulykke av forferdelige dimensjoner, en tragedie så stor at den for alle tider prentet seg inn i folkets bevissthet.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s12">As the rest of Europe, the country had experienced a human disaster of terrible dimensions, a tragedy so great that it is stuck in people’s mind for eternal time.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s13">Høsten 1350 var Europa å ligne nærmest med en sammenhengende kirkegård, en likhaug, et kjempemessig gravkammer.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s13">In the fall of 1350 Europe could almost be compared to a continuous graveyard, a pile of corps, a giant tomb.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s14">Fra Lofoten i nord til Malaga i sør, fra Irland i vest til Novgorod i øst – overalt hopet likene seg opp i titusenvis, overalt hersket død og oppløsning.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s14">From Lofoten in the North to Malaga in the South, from Ireland in the West to Novgorod in the East – piles of corpses piled up in tens of thousands, death and dissolution reigned everywhere. </s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s15">Og dog var Europa ikke egentlig noen slagmark.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s15">Though Europe was not really a battlefield.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s16">Tvertom: alle arméer hadde vært trukket tilbake.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s16">On the contrary: all armies where withdrawn.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s17">Ikke et eneste slag var blitt utkjempet.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s17">Not one battle fought out.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s18">Hverken sverd eller lanser, piler, buer eller kniver hadde vært brukt.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s18">Nor sword or lance, arrows, bows or knifes had been used.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s19">Soldatene hadde mønstret av.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s19">Soldiers had signed off.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s20">Tallrike beleiringer var blitt hevet, kriger avblåst.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s20">Numerous of sieges had been set aside, wars called off. </s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s21">Ikke et eneste hus var blitt ødelagt.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s21">Not a single house was destroyed.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s22">Alt var intakt, byer og landsbyer, festninger og katedraler, stuer og hytter, fjøs og låver.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s22">Everything was intact, cities and villages, fortresses and cathedrals, cabins and cottages, cowshed and barns.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s23">Men mange av menneskene som hadde bodd i dem, var døde.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s23">But many of the people who had once lived there were dead.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s24">De lå livløse i sengene sine.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s24">They were laying lifeless in their beds.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s25">Eller ute på veiene.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s25">Or out in the roads.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s26">Eller i store massegraver, stablet tett i tett, lag på lag, like utenfor bymurene der myndighetene mange steder hadde beslaglagt store jordarealer til begravelsesformål.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s26">Or in huge mass graves, stacked on top of each other, in rapid succession, just outside the City Wall where the authorities many places, had confiscated huge acres of soil to be used for burial purposes. </s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s27">Dødslukten drev tungt over Europa.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s27">A scent of Death flew heavily over Europe.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s28">Millioner av nyoppslåtte graver vitnet om at en katastrofe hadde gjort verdensdelen til et døende kontinent.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s28">Millions of new graves gave evidence of a catastrophe that had turned this part of the world into a dying continent.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s29">25 millioner mennesker var blitt revet bort på en pinefull og uhyggelig måte.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s29"> 25 million people were snatched away in a painful and eerie way.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s30">Bare i løpet av noen måneder.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s30">Just in a couple of months.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s31">Hvert tredje menneske hadde måttet dø.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s31">Every third human being had lost his or her lives. </s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s32">En stillhet senket seg over den europeiske landsbygda som i seg selv må ha vært svært uhyggelig.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s32">A silence fell over the European countryside, which in itself must have been very frightening.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s33">Tusener på tusener av landsbygder lå mennesketomme og spøkelsesaktige igjen i landskapet.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s33">Thousands and thousands of villages lay lifeless and haunted, emptied of people around the landscape.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s34">Kirkene stod tomme, klokkene ringte ikke mer, og gudstjenester fant ikke sted.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s34">Churches stood empty, no bells were ringing, and no church services took place.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s35">Prestene og kannikene var døde, og lys kunne ikke tennes på grunn av trekken fra de glassløse vinduene.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s35">The priests and the canons were dead, and it was not possible to light a candle due to the draught from the glassless windows.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s36">Takene lekket, det regnet inn på altrene, treverket råtnet opp.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s36">The roofs were leaking, it was raining on the altar, and the woodwork were decomposing. </s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s37">Enkelte av byene hadde hatt så mange døde at de overlevende flyktet i redsel.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s37">Some cities had so many deceased that the survivors fled in fear.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s38">Tilbake stod bare levninger av noe som viste at dette hadde vært et tilholdssted for mennesker.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s38">Left behind were only the remains of something proving that this once had been people’s whereabouts. </s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s39">Selv i de største byene var ødsligheten og forfallet påtagelig.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s39">Even in the largest cities the desolation and decline was obvious.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s40">Hundrevis av større og mindre hus sto tomme, åpne for bander av tyver som herjet og stjal.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s40">Hundreds of larger and smaller houses stood empty, open to gangs of criminals ravaging and stealing.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s41">Selv de prektigste og mest storslåtte bygninger forfalt til rene skygger av seg selv.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s41">Even the most splendid and magnificent buildings declined into a shadow of its former self.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s42">Mange av katedralene, Europas stolthet, ble merket for alltid.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s42">Many Cathedrals, Europe’s pride, were forever marked.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s43">Sienadomen ble stående ufullført, Nidarosdomen forfalt og kirkene i den Evige Stad tjente som fjøs for krøtter.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s43">The Siena Dom/Cathedral was left incomplete.</s> <s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s44">Nidarosdomen declined and the churches in the Eternal City served as a cowshed for cattle.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s44">På de store torgene i Roma gresset okse og geit; monumentene fra den klassiske storhetstid falt sammen, noen ble ødelagt for alltid.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s45">Cows and goats were grazing on the large marketplaces in Rome; monuments from the classical days of glory collapsed, some forever destroyed. </s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s45">I byenes by, Paris, var forfallet og ødsligheten åpenbar, selv Louvre så ille ut.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s46">In the city above cities, Paris, the decay and desolation was obvious, even Louvre was in a bad shape.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s46">En tilreisende beskrev byen som en ruinhaug.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s47">A traveller described the city like a heap of ruins. </s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s47">«Til og med Seinen flyter dystert avgårde, som om den føler byens sorg og gråter over hele landets skjebne.»</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s48">“Even the Seine flows gloomy away, like it is feeling the town’s grief and tears over the entire country’s destiny”. </s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s48">Fra alle kanter lød ropet: «De dødes antall er større enn de levendes!»</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s49">From all sides it cried: </s> <s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s50">“The number of dead are greater than the living!” </s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s49">«Vi klager til himlen over vår ulykke – frykter flukten og har heller ikke mot til å bli hvor vi er.»</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s51">“We moan to Heaven about our misery – fear the exodus and do not have the courage to stay where we are. </s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s50">«Når har man tidligere hørt om eller vært vitne til noe slikt?» spurte Petrarca i sitt før nevnte brev til broren.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s52"> “When have you ever heard about or been witness to such a thing?” asked Petrarca in his previously mentioned letter to his brother.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s51">«I hvilken krønike har det noen sinne stått å lese at husene ble forlatt, byene lagt øde, landsbygda forsømt, jordene for små til å romme alle våre døde?</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s53">In what chronicle has it ever been mentioned that houses were abandoned, cities deserted, rural communities neglected, fields too small to hold all our dead?</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s52">Spør historikerne, de tier.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s54">Ask the historians, they will keep silent.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s53">Spør legene, de er rådløse.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s55">Ask the physician, they are at loss.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s54">Søk et svar hos filosofene, de trekker på skuldrene og rynker på øyenbrynene – med fingeren på munnen ber de deg om å tie stille.</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s56">Seek an answer by the philosophers, they shrug their shoulders and knit their eyebrow – with the finger against the mouth, they tell you to be quiet.</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s55">Kommer etterverdenen noensinne til å tro på disse ting, når vi som har sett dem knapt våger å tro på dem?</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s57">Will future generations ever believe these things, when we who have experienced them hardly believe them ourselves?</s>
<s id="NEST_Svano.s56">Vi ville tro vi hadde drømt om vi ikke hadde sett hele ulykken med våre egne øyne.»</s><s id="NEST_Sva_160en.s58">We would have believed that we had been dreaming if we had not seen the disaster with our own eyes. </s>