The Black Death of the Republic of Venice has been described in the chronicles of the Doge Andrea Dandolo, the monk Francesco della Grazia and Lorenzo de Monacis. Venice was one of the biggest cities in Europe, and at this point overcrowded with refugees from the famine in the countryside the year prior and the earthquake in January. In April 1348, the plague reached the crowded city and the streets became littered with the bodies of the sick, dying and the dead, and with smells emanating from houses where the dead had been abandoned. Between 25 and 30 people were buried daily in the cemetery near Rialto, and corpses were transported to be buried on islands in the lagoon by people who gradually caught the plague and died themselves. So many Venetians fled the city, including the officials of the state, that the remaining members of the city councils banned the Venetians from leaving the city in July by threatening loss of their position and status if they did, to prevent a collapse of social order.