Procession of FlagellantsIn this manuscript illumination from 1349, shirtless flagellants, men and women who whipped and scourged themselves as penance for their and society’s sins, walk through the Flemish city of Tournai, which had just been struck by the plague. Many people believed that the Black Death was God’s punishment for humanity’s wickedness. (The Flagellants at Doornik in 1349, copy of a miniature from the Chronicle of Aegidius Li Muisis/Private Collection/The Bridgeman Art Library)