A History of Bubonic Plague in the British IslesA history of the bacterial disease of bubonic plague, and of the mortality, distress and panic fear that it caused in the British Isles from The Great Pestilence of 1348 to The Plague of London in 1665, with a brief account of its transient reappearances between 1900 and 1912. Professor Shrewsbury draws on his knowledge as a bacteriologist in describing the way in which the disease was transmitted from the rat, its natural host, to man and emphasizes that the Black Rat was solely responsible for its introduction to the British Isles, and for its spread from one place to another; he is thus able to identify genuine outbreaks of plague from those of other diseases. Among the consequences of the plague which Professor Shrewsbury discusses are its effect upon the growth of population, and on social and economic life, the harsh and useless regulations made in vain efforts to control it, and the collapse of law and order during its great outbursts. |
Contents
The English setting for The Great Pestilence | 17 |
Plague invades the British Isles | 37 |
The Great Pestilence in Britain | 54 |
Plague and pestilence in the years 1350 to 1500 | 126 |
The sixteenth century | 157 |
The first quarter of the seventeenth century | 264 |
The second quarter of the seventeenth century | 348 |
The second half of the seventeenth century | 433 |
Other editions - View all
A History of Bubonic Plague in the British Isles John Findlay Drew Shrewsbury No preview available - 1970 |
Common terms and phrases
active affirms afflicted Annals of Ulster annual burials Archaeol asserts attacked August autumn Black Death bubonic plague burials registered buried Cambridge caused cent century Chronicle church civic authorities contemporary Cornhill Creighton deanery death-roll diary died of plague diocese Edinburgh England English entry epidemic epidemic disease epidemic of bubonic epizootic erupted evidence excessive mortality Exeter Eyam figure fleas Harl house-rat Ibid infected houses Ireland July June Lunn manor mayor Michael Bassishaw monthly burials months Norwich notes November occurred October opines pandemic parish of St parish register Pepys persons pest pest-house pestilence plague-burials plague-deaths plague-mortality plague-sick plague-stricken population ports possibly prevalent probably Publ raged Ralph Josselin rattus records recrudesced register of St reported Scotland seems September Shrewsbury Shropshire sickness smallpox spread St Martin-in-the-Fields St Mary St Mary Somerset St Michael summer town typhus fever villages visitation week