When did the Black Death peak?

The Black Death was the most devastating pandemic in human history, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and spread primarily through flea-infested rats. It arrived in Europe in October 1347 when 12 Genoese trading ships docked in Sicily. By 1351, it had swept across the continent, killing an estimated 75–200 million people — between 30% and 60% of Europe's entire population. Some cities like Florence lost 60–80% of their inhabitants. The pandemic fundamentally reshaped European society: labor shortages gave surviving workers bargaining power, contributing to the decline of feudalism. Multiple recurrences followed over the next 400 years. The last major European outbreak was in Marseille in 1720.