The capripoxviruses comprise three species: goatpox virus (GTPV), sheeppox virus (SPPV) and lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV). They are large double-stranded DNA viruses with highly conserved core genom...

Sheeppox virus (SPPV) is a major livestock pathogen causing economic hardship through reduced production and death of vulnerable sheep, with written descriptions of sheeppox-like disease recorded…

Medieval parchment preserved two histories: the words written by scribes and the DNA of a sheep virus that had circulated for thousands of years. Animal skins used to make historic manuscripts have revealed the 3,500-year history of the sheep pox virus (SPPV). By recovering viral DNA from parchment, researchers traced the pathogen across Bronze Age Eurasia and medieval Europe, turning celebrated documents such as the York Gospels into unexpected records of animal health. The international project, led by University College Dublin, brought together geneticists, historians, virologists, protein chemists, and conservators. Their findings provide the first genetic evidence that sheep pox was affecting European flocks centuries before modern veterinary records began. A Virus Hidden In Parchment Sheep pox is a highly contagious disease that can spread quickly through a flock. It is especially dangerous to young animals and can cause high death rates while reducing the production of wool, meat, and milk. Parchment was commonly made from processed sheep, goat, or cattle hides. Although the manufacturing process removed most visible signs of the animal, fragments of its DNA and traces of pathogens could remain trapped in the material. Each surviving page can therefore preserve information about the animal from which it...

Medieval parchment preserved two histories: the words written by scribes and the DNA of a sheep virus that had circulated for thousands of years. Animal skins used to make historic manuscripts have revealed the 3,500-year history of the sheep pox virus (SPPV). By recovering viral DNA from parchment, researchers traced the pathogen across Bronze Age [...]

**_Medieval manuscripts have preserved much more than the words written on their pages. Scientists examining the animal skins used to make books such as the 1,000-year-old York Gospels have discovered DNA from sheeppox, revealing that the devastating livestock disease was circulating across medieval Europe._** The findings come from an international study led by University College Dublin that reconstructed more than 3,500 years of the evolution of sheeppox virus, or SPPV. By analysing ancient DNA preserved in parchment and archaeological animal remains, researchers were able to trace the disease from Bronze Age pastoral communities in Eurasia through the Middle Ages and into the modern era. “The recording of ancient DNA of pathogens has completely changed our understanding of infectious disease in the past, and here we show that parchment can also preserve animal pathogen DNA,” said Louis L’Hôte, PhD candidate at UCD and lead author of the study. “It is possible that archives and libraries around the world also contain the genetic traces of disease outbreaks in animals in the past. These genomes help us understand how these pathogens evolved and how they impacted past societies – such as sheeppox virus, which we show has been affecting Eurasian sheep herds for at least three and a half millennia.” ### Disease hidden inside medieval manuscripts Cambridge, Trinity College, MS B.10.5, fol. 62v, the Epistles of St Paul, Ireland/Northumbria, 700–800 CE. Reproduced with kind permission of the Master and Fellows of Trinity College Cambridge Parchment was normally produced from the skins of animals such as sheep, goats and cattle. That means every page can potentially preserve biological information about the animal from which it was made, including traces of disease. The researchers detected sheeppox virus in parchment and paper manuscripts from Britain, France, Austria and the Upper Rhine region. The parchment examples dated from the early eighth century through the fourteenth century. Among the most important was the York Gospels, probably produced at Canterbury around 990–1020. Three folios tested positive for sheeppox virus DNA: two from the original manuscript and another from a later medieval document that had been added to the volume. The researchers also detected the virus in the Corpus Glossary, made around AD 800 and regarded as one of the earliest English dictionaries, as well as in a copy of the Epistles of St Paul dating to around AD 700. Four positive folios were also found in a _Speculum historiale_ manuscript associated with the controversial **Vinland Map**. Detail from Cambridge, Trinity College, MS B.10.5, fol. 62v, the Epistles of St Paul, Ireland/Northumbria, 700–800 CE. Reproduced with kind permission of the Master and Fellows of Trinity College Cambridge The study, which is published in _Science Advances_ , describes this as the first known recovery of pathogen genomes from medieval parchment and paper, raising the possibility that surviving books and documents could become important sources for studying the history of animal disease. “Parchment making has been considered a vanishing craft, but we are beginning to understand just how much of the past it has retained,” said Dr Kevin G. Daly, Associate Professor at UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science and the study’s supervising author. “This project shows that parchments not only preserve our cultural history for hundreds of years, but also the landscape of disease in our livestock in the medieval period. This kind of exciting, surprising discovery is only possible when researchers from a range of disciplines come together to share their expertise and data – a generosity and trust that collaborative science depends on.” ### A disease medieval farmers already knew Sheep and shepherds in a pen – British Library MS Additional 42130 f.163v Sheeppox is a highly contagious viral disease that can spread rapidly through a flock. It can sharply reduce wool, meat and milk production and can be fatal, particularly among young animals. Written evidence suggests medieval people were familiar with diseases that closely resemble sheeppox. Agricultural treatises and accounting documents from England, France and Spain increasingly refer to deadly outbreaks described as “pockes” or “variola” in sheep from the thirteenth through sixteenth centuries. The genetic evidence now pushes the history of the disease in medieval Europe considerably further back. The study found a notable concentration of positive samples dating from around AD 700 to 1450, the same broad period in which many of the manuscripts analysed were produced. Researchers suggest that sheeppox may therefore have been a recurring problem for medieval European livestock owners. The study notes that the particularly high number of medieval genomes associated with animal-skin documents suggests infection among sheep was a frequent challenge for European societies. There is another puzzle in the findings. Of the positive parchment samples, ten were identified as calfskin, four as goatskin and only three as sheepskin. That could indicate rare cross-species infections, but researchers also suggest the virus may have been transferred during parchment manufacture. Skins were commonly soaked in water-and-lime baths, creating opportunities for biological material from one animal to contaminate another. The virus can also survive outside the body for extended periods, particularly in shed scabs. Interestingly, the parchment pages carrying sheeppox DNA generally show no visible signs of lesions. Medieval parchment makers may have avoided visibly affected parts of an animal’s skin, or the scraping process used to prepare parchment may simply have removed physical evidence of infection. ### A 3,700-year history The medieval manuscripts form only part of a much longer story. The earliest genetic traces of sheeppox identified by the study came from sheep teeth recovered at Late Bronze Age settlements in Kazakhstan and Russia. One specimen from Myrzhik in Kazakhstan dates to roughly 1875–1645 BC, while another from Rublevo-VI in Russia dates to about 1336–1130 BC. These settlements depended heavily on livestock, particularly sheep raised for meat and fibre, meaning outbreaks of disease could have had serious consequences for both food supplies and wider economic activity. By comparing ancient and modern genomes, the researchers estimate that major capripoxvirus lineages, which include sheeppox, goatpox and lumpy skin disease virus, diverged thousands of years ago, broadly during the period in which domesticated livestock populations were expanding and moving across Eurasia. Despite this long history, the study found that the sheeppox genome itself remained relatively stable over the last several millennia. “People around the world are still fighting against this pathogen – there is currently an outbreak of sheeppox in Greece, causing much economic damage,” said Louis L’Hôte. “Ancient genomes can help us understand how these pathogens affecting us today evolved. We find that unlike the smallpox virus, the sheeppox virus genome was very stable over the last few millennia.” > Extremely happy to share our new study on Sheeppox virus (SPPV) ! > We notably found many genomes in Medieval parchments🦠📖 > > A short thread about it : > share.google/JqVOTB2lvxcO… > > [image or embed] > > — Louis L’Hôte (@louis-lhote.bsky.social) 8:58 AM · Sep 3, 2026 The researchers argue that the findings demonstrate the potential of manuscripts to preserve an unexpected biological record alongside their written contents. Medieval parchment, long studied for its texts, decoration and craftsmanship, may also contain evidence of the diseases that affected the animals, farms and economies behind its production. The article, “3,500 years of sheeppox virus evolution inferred from archaeological and codicological genomes,” by Louis L’Hôte, Luisa Sacristán, Róisín Ferguson, Alex Siekmann, Leland Rogers, Barbara Richter, Herbert Weis`senböck, Jenny Lorke, Lara Artemis, Élodie Lévêque, Richard Hark, Patricia Engel, Mary Teresa Josephine Webber, Madison Bennett, Kristine Rose-Beers, Emma Nichols, Marta Munoz Alegre, Max Ramsøe, Sarah Fiddyment, Laura C. Viñas-Caron, Dimitry V. Papin, Ian C. Light-Maka, Felix M. Key, Jonas Albarnaz, Tim Downing, Jonathan Pekar, Philippe Lemey, Daniel Bradley, Jiří Vnouček, Cheryl A. Makarewicz, Joanna Story, Matthew Collins, Matthew D. Teasdale, Annelise Binois-Roman, Sébastien Calvignac-Spencer and Kevin G Daly, is published in _Science Advances_. **Click here to read it**. _Top Image: The York Gospels, fols. 22v–23r, showing St Matthew and the opening of his Gospel. DNA analysis of the manuscript’s parchment has revealed traces of sheeppox virus._ ## Subscribe to Medievalverse Email address First name Last name I consent to receiving your weekly newsletter via email. Subscribe #### Related Posts * The Vikings also suffered from Smallpox, researchers find * What Medieval Teeth can tell us * Seven videos on making medieval manuscripts * Medieval Manuscripts Reveal Hidden Animal DNA Archive * Seven videos on making medieval manuscripts

Some of Europe's most well-known historic manuscripts, including the York Gospels, have proven to be biological time capsules for uncovering the 3,500-year history of the sheeppox virus (SPPV).

Some of Europe’s most treasured historic manuscripts have turned out to be unlikely biological time capsules, preserving genetic traces of a devastating livestock disease that has plagued sheep for thousands of years. An international team of researchers has reconstructed more than 3,500 years of the evolution of the sheeppox virus (SPPV) by extracting ancient DNA from animal skins used to make centuries-old parchment. The findings, published in Science Advances, offer the first genetic evidence of how the highly contagious disease affected livestock long before the modern era. Among the manuscripts analysed was the 1,000-year-old York Gospels, one of the finest surviving illuminated manuscripts from the early Anglo-Saxon period. Researchers also examined the Corpus Glossary of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, one of the earliest English dictionaries, along with other medieval codices from Britain and continental Europe. The results revealed traces of sheeppox virus DNA in several historic documents. In some cases, multiple pages from the same manuscript carried evidence of the virus, suggesting that animals infected with sheeppox may have been used to produce the parchment. Parchment was traditionally made from the hides of livestock, including sheep, goats and cattle, effectively preserving a biological snapshot of an animal's health at the...

Manuscritos antiguos como los Evangelios de York están revelando los 3.500 años de historia del virus de la viruela ovina, ofreciendo a los científicos nuevas pistas sobre las enfermedades del ganado, su evolución y los brotes en toda Europa. Imagen de una oveja. Crédito: Pixabay. Los Evangelios de York, y otros manuscritos históricos europeos bien conocidos, han demostrado ser cápsulas del tiempo para desvelar los **3.500 años** de historia del virus de la viruela ovina (SPPV). Los científicos pueden extraer ADN de las pieles de animales utilizadas para fabricar el pergamino, y un equipo internacional liderado por el University College Dublin ha proporcionado la**primera evidencia** genética de cómo esta enfermedad afecta a los rebaños de los agricultores europeos. ## ¿Qué era este virus? La viruela ovina es altamente contagiosa y se propaga rápidamente entre los rebaños. Puede causar altas tasas de mortalidad, especialmente en animales jóvenes, y reduce la productividad de la granja al perjudicar la producción de lana, leche y carne. «El registro del ADN antiguo de patógenos ha transformado por completo nuestra comprensión de las enfermedades infecciosas del pasado, y aquí demostramos que el pergamino también puede preservar el ADN de patógenos animales. Es posible que archivos y bibliotecas de todo el mundo contengan también rastros genéticos de brotes de enfermedades en animales en el pasado», afirmó Louis L'Hôte, candidato a doctorado en la UCD. «Estos genomas nos ayudan a comprender cómo evolucionaron estos patógenos y cómo impactaron en las sociedades del pasado, como el virus de la viruela ovina, que, como demostramos, ha afectado a los rebaños de ovejas euroasiáticos durante al menos tres mil quinientos años». En el nuevo estudio, el equipo reconstruyó más de 3500 años de evolución de la viruela ovina, identificando la enfermedad en manuscritos antiguos. Entre las obras analizadas se encontraban los **Evangelios de York,** de 1000 años de antigüedad, uno de los manuscritos iluminados más valiosos del período anglosajón temprano. Epístolas de San Pablo, primer plano. Crédito: Cambridge, Trinity College, MS B.10.5, fol. 62v, Epístolas de San Pablo, Irlanda/Northumbria, 700–800 d. C. Reproducido con la amable autorización del Rector y los Miembros del Trinity College de Cambridge. En varios casos, se encontró **ADN** del virus de la viruela ovina en múltiples páginas del mismo manuscrito, lo que demuestra que se habrían utilizado ovejas infectadas para producir estos documentos. Dado que el pergamino utilizado estaba hecho de pieles de animales como vacas, cabras y ovejas, constituye un archivo biológico único, que preserva la salud de los animales en el momento de su muerte. Uno de los hallazgos más sorprendentes del estudio fue la presencia del virus de la**viruela ovina** en pergaminos hechos de pieles de vaca y cabra, lo que sugiere que pudo haber habido una infección o contaminación cruzada entre especies durante la elaboración del documento. Artículo relacionadoEl virus que se llama "doblado por el dolor" y que el calentamiento global está empujando hacia tu ciudad “La elaboración de pergaminos se ha considerado un oficio en vías de extinción, pero estamos empezando a comprender cuánto del pasado ha conservado. Este proyecto demuestra que los pergaminos no solo preservan nuestra historia cultural durante cientos de años, sino también el panorama de las enfermedades en nuestro ganado durante la Edad Media”, afirmó el Dr. Kevin G. Daly, profesor asociado de la Facultad de Agricultura y Ciencias de la Alimentación de la UCD. **“Este tipo de descubrimientos fascinantes y sorprendentes solo son posibles cuando investigadores de diversas disciplinas se unen para compartir sus conocimientos y datos: una generosidad y confianza de la que depende la ciencia colaborativa”.** Mediante el estudio de los manuscritos y muestras antiguas de dientes de ovejas de la Edad del Bronce, el estudio demostró que la viruela ovina ha amenazado al ganado durante unos 3700 años. Los dientes pueden conservar evidencia genética de infecciones a lo largo de miles de años, proporcionando un registro importante de brotes pasados. ## Encontrar las primeras evidencias El equipo ha descubierto que la evidencia más antigua del virus de la viruela ovina proviene de restos dentales de antiguos asentamientos pastoriles en la estepa euroasiática. Al comparar las secuencias antiguas con las modernas, estiman que los **capripoxvirus** (virus de la viruela ovina, virus de la viruela caprina y virus de la dermatosis nodular contagiosa) divergieron hace entre 11.500 y 3.700 años. Esta cronología coincide con la domesticación de los animales y el traslado de ovejas desde la estepa a Europa. Artículo relacionadoEl genoma de los murciélagos ofrece una nueva esperanza para combatir enfermedades virales como el coronavirus «En todo el mundo, la gente sigue luchando contra este **patógeno** ; actualmente hay un brote de viruela ovina en Grecia, que está causando grandes pérdidas económicas», declaró Louis L'Hôte. «Los genomas antiguos pueden ayudarnos a comprender cómo evolucionaron estos patógenos que nos afectan hoy en día. Hemos descubierto que, a diferencia del virus de la viruela humana, el genoma del virus de la viruela ovina se mantuvo muy estable durante los últimos milenios». «Esto podría significar que los cambios genéticos anteriores a este punto fueron cruciales para la evolución del virus de la viruela ovina y su capacidad de infectar a su huésped, lo que podría ayudarnos a combatir el patógeno en el futuro». ### Referencia de la noticia : L’Hôte, L., Sacristán, L., Ferguson, R., Siekmann, A., Rogers, L., Richter, B., Weissenböck, H., Lorke, J., Artemis, L., Lévêque, É., Hark, R., Engel, P., Josephine Webber, M. T., Bennett, M., Rose-Beers, K., Nichols, E., Alegre, M. M., Ramsøe, M., Fiddyment, S., … Daly, K. G.. (2026). 3,500 Years of sheeppox virus evolution inferred from archaeological and codicological genomes..

Sheeppox virus (SPPV) is a major livestock pathogen causing economic hardship through reduced production and death of vulnerable sheep, with written descriptions of sheeppox-like disease recorded sinc...

Sheeppox virus (SPPV) is a major livestock pathogen causing economic hardship through reduced production and death of vulnerable sheep, with written descriptions of sheeppox-like disease recorded sinc...

Some of Europe's most well-known historic manuscripts, including the York Gospels, have proven to be biological time capsules for uncovering the 3,500-year history of the sheeppox virus (SPPV). By extracting DNA from the animal skins used to make the documents' centuries-old parchment, an international team of geneticists, historians, virologists, protein chemists and conservators, led by University College Dublin have provided the first genetic evidence of how this devastating disease plagued European farmers' herds long before the modern era. A highly contagious disease, sheeppox spreads rapidly and can affect large portions of a flock in a short time. The disease is particularly dangerous because it can cause very high mortality rates, especially in young animals, and dramatically reduces productivity by damaging wool, meat and milk yields. "The recording of ancient DNA of pathogens has completely changed our understanding of infectious disease in the past, and here we show that parchment can also preserve animal pathogen DNA. It is possible that archives and libraries around the world also contain the genetic traces of disease outbreaks in animals in the past," said Louis L'Hôte, PhD candidate at UCD and lead author of the study. "These genomes help us understand how these pathogens evolved...

Sheeppox virus (SPPV) is a major livestock pathogen causing economic hardship through reduced production and death of vulnerable sheep, with written descriptions of sheeppox-like disease recorded sinc...

Sheeppox virus (SPPV) is a major livestock pathogen causing economic hardship through reduced production and death of vulnerable sheep, with written descriptions of sheeppox-like disease recorded sinc...

Sheeppox virus (SPPV) is a major livestock pathogen causing economic hardship through reduced production and death of vulnerable sheep, with written descriptions of sheeppox-like disease recorded sinc...

Some of Europe's most well-known historic manuscripts, including the York Gospels, have proven to be biological time capsules for uncovering the 3,500-year history of the sheeppox virus (SPPV).

ALT: Sheep Boops Cow in Grassy Field

Some of Europe's most well-known historic manuscripts, including the York Gospels, have proven to be biological time capsules for uncovering the 3,500-year history of the sheeppox virus (SPPV).