when was the plague

The phrase “the plague” usually refers to the Black Death, a huge bubonic plague outbreak in Europe from about 1346 to 1353.

Historians, though, talk about several major plague pandemics caused by the same bacterium, Yersinia pestis.

• First pandemic (Plague of Justinian): Started around 541 CE and continued in waves until about 750 CE, mainly around the Mediterranean and Byzantine Empire.

• Second pandemic (including the Black Death): Began in the mid‑14th century (Black Death 1346–1353) and recurred in Europe and the Mediterranean into the 17th–18th centuries.

• Third pandemic: Started in the late 19th century (around 1855) in China and spread globally into the 20th century, including India and the western United States.

So if your question “when was the plague” is about the famous medieval one people learn in school, that’s the Black Death in the late 1340s to early 1350s, with further outbreaks for centuries afterward.