Black Death in Russia

[4][5] The Black Death reached the Golden Horde in 1346, when the Tatars attacked the Genoese in Crimea during the siege of Caffa.

[7] As the Black Death appeared in Central Asia and Crimea, the Russian chroniclers wrote that it was "punishment from God on the people in the Eastern lands".

[13] Historians have questioned why the Black Death did not reach Russia from the south, given that there was increased commercial contact with Crimea and the Golden Horde;[12][5] Russian chronicles also recorded a second wave of plague in 1364–1365 that came from the Volga region.

[5] As most of the population of 14th-century Russia consisted of peasants who lived in rural communities, the high level of devastation suggests that pneumonic plague was to blame.

[3] The ruling family of Moscow remained small as a result of the Black Death, and a new vertical pattern of princely succession from father to son was defined.

[15] The lack of hearth counts or tax rolls makes it difficult to estimate the number of people who died in Russia as a result of the Black Death.

[6] Russian chronicles describe the same disease that had affected Western Europe earlier,[3] but use imprecise terms like "very severe" and "many died".

[4] The chronicles of Novgorod and Pskov say that hundreds died every day, while the remote town of Beloozero was so greatly affected that it had to be relocated.