  The Black Death is regarded as a turning point in late medieval European
history. Recent studies have shown that even regions that have so far been
perceived in the literature as not or only marginally affected by the epidemic,
suffered from its profound demographic and economic consequences. The scale and
geographical range of the plague in Central Europe, the Kingdom of Poland
included remains, however, a matter of dispute and from the beginning scholar's
views on this matter have been divided. What is particularly important, the
outbreak of the plague in Western Europe coincided with the reign of Casimir of
the Piast dynasty, the only ruler of Poland to receive the nickname the Great,
who is associated with the modernization and extraordinary development of his
kingdom which was entering the golden age of its history.
