2. why was the plague called the “black death”? what were some of the common symptoms?

Detail of London Scenes of the Plague 1665-1666 (Museum of London)

This was the worst outbreak of plague in England since the black death of 1348. London lost roughly 15% of its population. While 68,596 deaths were recorded in the city, the true number was probably over 100,000. Other parts of the country also suffered.

The earliest cases of disease occurred in the spring of 1665 in a parish outside the city walls called St Giles-in-the-Fields. The death rate began to rise during the hot summer months and peaked in September when 7,165 Londoners died in one week.

Rats carried the fleas that caused the plague. They were attracted by city streets filled with rubbish and waste, especially in the poorest areas.

Those who could, including most doctors, lawyers and merchants, fled the city. Charles II and his courtiers left in July for Hampton Court and then Oxford. Parliament was postponed and had to sit in October at Oxford, the increase of the plague being so dreadful. Court cases were also moved from Westminster to Oxford.

The Lord Mayor and aldermen (town councillors) remained to enforce the King’s orders to try and stop the spread of the disease. The poorest people remained in London with the rats and those people who had the plague. Watchmen locked and kept guard over infected houses. Parish officials provided food. Searchers looked for dead bodies and took them at night to plague pits for burial.

All trade with London and other plague towns was stopped. The Council of Scotland declared that the border with England would be closed. There were to be no fairs or trade with other countries. This meant many people lost their jobs – from servants to shoemakers to those who worked on the River Thames. How did Londoners react to this plague that devastated their lives?

Use this lesson to work with original documents which tell the story of the Great Plague 1665-1666.

Tasks

Background

There are three types of plague. Most of the sick in 1665-1666 had bubonic plague. This created swellings (buboes) in the lymph nodes found in the armpits, groin and neck. Plague sufferers experienced headaches, vomiting and fever. They had a 30% chance of dying within two weeks. This type of plague spread from a bite caused by a black rat flea that carried the Yersinia pestis bacteria.

Worse still was pneumonic plague, which attacked the lungs and spread to other people through coughing and sneezing, and septicaemic plague, which occurred when the bacteria entered the blood. In these cases, there was little hope of survival.

Treatments and prevention at the time did not help. Sometimes, patients were bled with leeches. People thought impure air caused the disease and could be cleansed by smoke and heat. Children were encouraged to smoke to ward off bad air. Sniffing a sponge soaked in vinegar was also an option.

As the colder weather set in, the number of plague victims started to fall. This was not due to any remedies used. Nor was it due to the fire of London that had destroyed many of the houses within the walls of the city and by the River Thames. (Many plague deaths had occurred in the poorest parishes outside the city walls.)

Some scientists suggest that the black rat had started to develop a greater resistance to the disease. If the rats did not die, their fleas would not need to find a human host and fewer people would be infected. Probably, people started to develop a stronger immunity to the disease. Also, in plague scares after 1666, more effective quarantine methods were used for ships coming into the country. There was never an outbreak of plague in Britain on this scale again.

Teachers' notes

The lesson considers the measures taken by King Charles II in response to the plague and the reactions of some of the people to these restrictions, as well as providing contemporary comment on the situation. The questions encourage pupils to investigate the sources and make their own judgements on the evidence where possible. It is suggested that teachers/helpers read through the documents together with the class. Have a go at reading the original document first to spot familiar words, but all documents are transcribed and have simplified transcripts. Here are some suggestions for further activities:

• Students write a diary entry about the plague. They could use evidence from the lesson, plus the following extract and others from the Diary of Samuel Pepys to support them. Be sure to define: melancholy; apothecary, physician, decrease; Westminster.

“6th October 1665: But Lord, how empty the streets are, and melancholy, so many poor sick people in the streets, full of sores, and so many sad stories overheard as I walk, everybody talking of this dead, and that man sick, and so many in this place, and so many in that. And they tell me that in Westminster there is never a physician, and but one apothecary left, all being dead – but that there are great hopes of a great decrease this week. God send it.”

• Students can create their own role play or drama set at the time using the sources.
• Students could read extracts from Daniel Defoe’s ‘A Journal of the Plague Year’, 1722, which is available online.

Sources

Source 1 provides some figures on plague deaths and evidence on the role of the searchers (SP 29/132 f28).

Source 2 shows evidence of how contemporaries tried to prevent the spread of the disease (SP 29/155 f102). It might also encourage pupils to think about law and order in a wider historical context. For example, after the experience of English Civil War, people were probably more accepting of authority.

Sources 3a and 3b reveal some contemporary attitudes to the restrictions (SP 29/134 f31 and PC 2/58).

External links

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Why-Is-Eyam-Significant/

The plague did not only affect London. This tells the famous story of the village of Eyam in Derbyshire that deliberately isolated itself to stop the spread of the disease to nearby villages.

A journal of the plague years

Read the online version of Daniel Defoe’s thoroughly researched reconstruction of 1665.

Connections to curriculum

Key stage 1 An event beyond living memory that is significant nationally.

Key stage 2

Key stage 3

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Introduction

Medieval people called the catastrophe of the 14th century either the "Great Pestilence"' or the "Great Plague." Writers contemporary to the plague referred to the event as the "Great Mortality." Swedish and Danish chronicles of the 16th century described the events as "black" for the first time, likely to refer to black as glum or dreadful denoting the terror of the events. The German physician Justus Hecker suggested that a mistranslation of the Latin atra mors (terrible, or black, death) had occurred in Scandinavia when he described "The Black Death in the 14th century." Black Death became more widely used in the German- and English-speaking worlds.

The Death Toll

In October 1347, a ship came from the Crimea and Asia and docked in Messina, Sicily. Aboard the ship were not only sailors but rats. The rats brought with them the Black Death, the bubonic plague. Reports that came to Europe about the disease indicated that 20 million people had died in Asia. Knowing what happened in Europe, this was probably an underestimate, because there were more people in Asia than Europe. Best estimates now are that at least 25 million people died in Europe from 1347 to 1352. This was almost 40% of the population (some estimates indicate 60%). Half of Paris's population of 100,000 people died. In Italy, Florence's population was reduced from 120,000 inhabitants in 1338 to 50,000 in 1351. The plague was a disaster practically unequalled in the annals of recorded history and it took 150 years for Europe’s population to recover.

The Plague Doctor Costume

The plague doctor costume consisted of an ankle length overcoat, a bird-like beak mask filled with sweet or strong smelling substances, along with gloves and boots. The mask had glass openings for the eyes. Straps held the beak in front of the doctor's nose which had two small nose holes and was a type of respirator. The beak could hold dried flowers (e.g roses or carnations), herbs (e.g. mint), spices, camphor or a vinegar sponge. The purpose of the mask was to remove bad smells, thought to be the principal cause of the disease. Doctors believed the herbs would counter the "evil" smells of the plague and prevent them from becoming infected. The costume included a wide brimmed leather hat to indicate their profession. They used wooden canes to point out areas needing attention and to examine patients without touching them. The canes were also used to keep people away and to remove clothing from plague victims without having to touch them.

Three Forms of the Plague

Three forms of the plague brought an array of signs and symptoms to those infected:

• Bubonic plague refers to the painful lymph node swellings called buboes, primarily found around the base of the neck, in the armpits and groin which oozed pus and bled. Victims underwent damage to the skin and underlying tissue until they were covered in dark blotches. Most victims died within four to seven days after infection. When the plague reached Europe, it first struck port cities and then followed the trade routes, both by sea and land. The bubonic plague was the most commonly seen form during the Black Death, with a mortality rate of 30-75% and symptoms including fever of 38 - 41 °C (101-105 °F), headaches, painful aching joints, nausea and vomiting, and a general feeling of malaise. Of those who contracted the bubonic plague, 4 out of 5 died within eight days.
• The pneumonic plague is an airborne plague that attacks the lungs before the rest of the body. Pneumonic plague was the second most commonly seen form during the Black Death with a mortality rate of ninety to ninety-five percent.
• The septicaemic plague is a form of deadly blood poisoning. The disease is contracted primarily through the bite of an infected insect. Septicemic plague can cause disseminated intravascular coagulation, and is almost always fatal; the mortality rate in medieval times was 99-100 percent. Septicemic plague is the rarest of the three plague varieties.

Rats

The bubonic plague mechanism was dependent on two populations of rodents: one resistant to the disease, which acts as hosts, keeping the disease endemic; and a second that lacks resistance. When the second population dies, the fleas move on to other hosts, including people, thus creating a human epidemic. The original carrier for the plague-infected fleas thought to be responsible for the Black Death was the black rat. The bacterium responsible for the Black Death, Yersinia pestis, was commonly endemic in only a few rodent species and is usually transmitted zoonotically by the rat flea. Brown rats may suffer from plague, as can many non-rodent species, including dogs, cats, and humans.

The Nuremberg Chronicle

The burning of Jews in the 14th century during the black death (bubonic plague). Jews were perceived as being less susceptible to the plague than their neighbours (likely the result of Jewish ritual regarding personal hygiene) and they were accused of poisoning Christian wells: thought to be the source of the plague.

Page CCXXX, English Translation:

"The miserable wretched Jews, in A.D. 1337, at Deckendorf, on the Danube, in Bavaria, in scorn and ignominy of the divine majesty and high veneration paid to our Lord Jesus Christ and to the holy Christian religion, stabbed the Holy Sacrament many times. They then threw it into a hot oven, and as it remained unconsumed, they finally placed it on an anvil and struck it with hammers. When this became known, the Jews were seized by Hartmann von Degenberg, the caretaker, and the citizens; and when the truth was established, they were deservedly condemned to death. And this same Host, being present at the Holy Sepulchre, is venerated for its many miracles.

Thereafter, in the year A.D. 1348, all the Jews in Germany were burned, having been accused of poisoning the wells, as many of them confessed.

At this time locusts and vermin passed through the sky from east to west like a thick cloud, devastating all vegetation and fruits; and after they were dispersed the stench caused a horrible pestilence.

A pitiful and lamentable pestilence began in the year 1348 and endured for three years throughout the world. It resulted from the aforesaid locusts or vermin. It started in India and spread as far as England, ravaging Italy and France, and finally Germany and Hungary. The mortality was so rapid and great that barely ten persons out of every thousand survived. In some regions only about one third of the population escaped. Many cities, towns, marts and villages died out entirely and remained void. Some said that the Jews increased this calamity by poisoning the wells."

Page CCLXIIII, English Translation:

"Nothing is better than death, nothing is worse than an unjust life. Death, the best for men, the everlasting rest from labors, You loosen the yoke of old age by the will of God, You remove the heavy chains from the neck of those held captive, And you take away exile. You break open prison doors. You snatch away the unworthy, making possessions equal in fair portions, And you remain unmoved, incapable of being persuaded by any means. Set in place since the first day, you order the soul to Bear all things serenely with the promise of an end to labors.

Without you life is torment and an everlasting prison."

Treatment

Some medieval cures and preventive measures for the plague:

• Plague is a scourge from God for your evil deeds—by scourging yourself with a whip like a flagellant, then God has no reason for scourging you with plague.
• Apply a mixture of tree resin, roots of white lilies and human excrements.
• Bathing should not be avoided, and be done with vinegar and rosewater—alternatively in your own urine.
• Drink the pus of lanced buboes.
• Quarantine people for 40 days (quarantine comes from latin for 40)—first done in Venice in 1348.
• Place a live hen close to the swellings to draw out the pestilence then drink a glass of your own urine twice a day.
• Grind up an emerald and drink it in wine.
• Injest snakeskin, bone from the heart of a stag, Armenian clay, precious metals, aloe, myrrh and saffron.
• Roast the shells of newly laid eggs, and grind them to a powder—add Marigold flowers and treacle—drink in warm beer every morning and night.

©2017 John Martin Rare Book Room, Hardin Library for the Health Sciences, 600 Newton Road, Iowa City, IA 52242-1098 Image: Pieter Bruegel, The Triumph of Death (detail), c. 1562, oil on panel, 117 x 162 cm, Museo del Prado, Madrid   Acknowledgements to Alice M. Phillips for her work editing the original exhibit material and subsequent web design.