127. The Lepers' Plot, Southern France 1321

In April, 1321, the lepers of Southern France found themselves accused of poisoning the community wells, with some sort of powder. They were, the theory went, attempting to spread leprosy to the rest of the population. They weren't doing that, or anything like that, but they were tortured and executed, and the leprosaria, the houses where they lived, were taken over, and all of the goods and moneys belonging to either the lepers or the leprosaria were confiscated. Soon after the lepers started getting decimated (along with foreigners, just cause they were there), the focus moved to the Jews, who were also tortured and executed, the survivors mostly leaving the country. For a while, Southern France had few lepers and few Jews. Anne is really happy that she gets to explain leprosy and tout the Leprosy Museum in Bergen, Norway, and Michell adores the scholar she found who explains why the whole horrible debacle happened. It was money. Follow the money.