The Great PlaguePlague has been the most feared disease across Europe since the Black Death in the 1340s. Dreaded because of the scale of the mortality and its sheer foulness, its periodic outbreaks had a devastating impact. London's last and most destructive attack came in 1665, when, according to Bishop Gilbert Burnet, 'a most terrible plague broke out, that depopulated the city of London, ruined the trade of the nation, and swept away about a hundred thousand persons'. Roughly one-fifth of the city's population died, most of them within just eight months. The epidemic was not confined to London; East Anglia and southern England also suffered, and it spread as far north as Tyneside and Wearside. Places such as Colchester, Winchester, Southampton, Norwich and, the most famous case of all, Eyam in Derbyshire, suffered a higher proportion of deaths than did London. It is small wonder that Daniel Defoe described 1665 as 'this calamitous Year'. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
apothecaries attributed to plague August Bell Bills of Mortality Black Death Bubonic Plague Cambridge caused Celia Fiennes cent city’s Colchester communities Cripplegate Crown copyright CSPD Daniel Defoe deaths from plague Diary of Pepys died disease Dutch early economic effects England epidemic Eyam flea high mortality Historical Sources History of Bubonic households Impact of Plague increase infected inhabitants John Evelyn Josselin July June large numbers Loimologia months mortality rate Nathaniel Hodges Nicholson Norwich number of burials numbers of deaths numbers of plague October orders outbreak of plague Oxford parish pest house plague deaths plague in London plague victims poor population Privy Council problem quarantine rats regulations reported Richard Baxter risk Royal Samuel Pepys September seventeenth century Shrewsbury sick Slack spread St Giles St Giles-in-the-Fields streets suspected Thames Thomas towns trade University Press week Wellcome Institute Library Wenceslaus Hollar Westminster William winter