The Scarcity of Rats and the Black Death: An Ecological History

David E. Davis

The Journal of Interdisciplinary History

Vol. 16, No. 3 (Winter, 1986), pp. 455-470 (16 pages)

Published By: The MIT Press

https://doi.org/10.2307/204499

Dear Gloria,

I just worked about the apparition of Rattus norvegicus in Spain. As you know, historical geography of this species is complex, and genetics studies made it recently more complex . But, documents converge in the case of Spain: the arrival of Rattus norvegicus seems to be late: around 1800.

Rattus rattus: the introduction of the black rat into Britain | Antiquity | Cambridge Core

Hello Gloria,

Fun to look into this for you, for Rattus rattus in the UK we're talking circa 11th century about the same time as the crusades. Archaeological digs of Roman sites suggest a range between 'late second or early third century' in mainland Europe probably earlier if I were to guess at it. 1 Rattus Norvegicus we're looking at the 18th century in Europe2 it's funny the blamed the Norwegians for these new comers to the Aisles.

Hope this helped Gloria

Best Regards

Jeff