The Great Plague In London (0)

Jüri Gümnaasium
THE GREAT PLAGUE IN LONDON
Research paper
Ervin Sagor 10.h Supervisor: Kristel Kriisa
Jüri
2011
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction 3
1Bubonic plague 4
1.1Symptoms 4
2Black death in England before the great plague 5
3City life before and during the plague 6
3.1Spreading of the plague 6
3.2Bring out your dead 7
4Protection from the plague 8
4.1Plague doctors 8
4.2Costume 8
5The ending of the plague 9
5.1The Great Fire of London 10
Conclusion 11
Literature used 12
Appendixes 13
Appendix 1 - London in the 17th century 13
Appendix 2 - A newspaper release during the plague 14
Appendix 3 15
Appendix 4 16
Appendix 5 17

Introduction

The history of England has always been fascinating for me and plague was one the most horrifying diseases in human history with millions of deaths across the world. That is why I chose the Great Plague as the topic of my research.
The purpose of my study is to educate myself and gain more knowledge on the history and find out how people lived in England in the seventeenth century.
For a start, I will give a short review what the bubonic plague is. Then I tell about Black Death in England before the Great Plague, city life before and during the plague. Secondly, I will examine how the plague reached Great Britain. After that I will describe how people dealt with the plague and what the government decided to do with the corpses.
Subsequently I will write about plague doctors, what they wore as a protection against the plague, how people invented different techniques to fight the plague and what the City Corporation did with cats and dogs .
Finally, I will share the wisdom what I acquired on the fading point of the plague and how people thought that the Great Fire of London put an end to the Great Plague.

Bubonic plague

Bubonic plague also known has Black Death got its name from the symptoms because the victim's skin turned black. The plague spread from animals to humans by fleas.
Nowadays bubonic plague does not spread to advanced countries which are located in Europe .
Last greater plague outbreak was in Kongo Democratic Republic . (Wikipedia homepage: http://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katk )

Symptoms

Buboes are commonly found in the armpits, groin or neck. Due to its bite -based form of infection, the bubonic plague is often the first step of a progressive series of illnesses. Two other types are pneumonic and septicemic. However, pneumonic plague, unlike the bubonic or septicemic, induced coughing, and was also very infectious and allowed person -to-person spread. Bubonic plague symptoms appear suddenly, usually 2–5 days after exposure to the bacteria . (Wikipedia homepage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubonic_plague )
Symptoms include : chills; general ill feeling (malaise); high fever (102 degrees Fahrenheit / 39 degrees Celsius); seizures; painful lymph gland swelling called a bubo, commonly found in the groin, but may occur in the armpits or neck, most often at the site of the initial infection (bite or scratch); pain may occur in the area before the swelling appears. (Wikipedia homepage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubonic_plague )
Other symptoms include heavy breathing, continuous blood vomiting, urination of blood, aching limbs , coughing, and extreme pain. The pain is usually caused by the decaying or decomposing of the skin while the person is still alive . Additional symptoms include extreme fatigue, gastrointestinal problems, lenticular (black dots scattered throughout the body ), delirium and coma . (Wikipedia homepage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubonic_plague )

Black death in England before the great plague

First time when the Black Death entered England was in 1348 it vanished in December
1349. In 1361-1362 the plague returned to England.
The pandemic known to history as the Black Death entered England in 1348, and caused the death of between a third and more than half of the nation 's inhabitants. The Black Death was the first and most severe manifestation of the Second Pandemic, probably caused by the Yersinia pestis bacteria. Originating from Central Asia , it arrived on the British Isles from the English province of Gascony. Its first point of entry was the port of Weymouth, where it was first reported in June 1348. It reached London in the autumn of that year , and by the next summer it had covered the entire country . By December 1349 the outbreak was mostly over.
Though accurate estimates of mortality are difficult to make, the recent trend has been to adjust the estimates upwards. This is the result of recent scholarship's focus on the peasant society – which made up around 90% of the population – rather than the greater landowners and the clergy. While it was previously assumed that one third or less of the population died, today a number around half is generally accepted, though some have suggested an even higher mortality. (Wikipedia homepage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death_in_England )
In 1361–62 the plague returned to England, this time causing the death of around 20% of the population. After this the plague continued to return intermittently throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries , in local or national outbreaks. (Wikipedia homepage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death_in_England )

City life before and during the plague

In the seventeenth century London was a city with an impressive architecture. The beauties of the city were the large castles, stunning churches and amazing abbeys. The gap between rich and poor was humongous. Common people lived in houses which were made out of wood . The streets were very narrow and buildings were built close together. Most of the people were poor and the living conditions were unbearable. The city was infested by rats because of the townspeople who would throw their trash, out- dated food and sewage out on the streets.

Spreading of the plague

The reason why Great Plague spread to England is that the merchants travelled to Asia which already suffered from the plaque and when they came back they gave a free ride to the rats. With the rats came fleas which carried the deadly bubonic plague.
The more prosperous residents of the city started moving their families to their country homes and by June, everybody who could leave London did so. ( Historic UK’s homepage: http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/England-History/GreatPlague.ht m)
Plague began in London in the poor, overcrowded parish of St. Giles-in-the- Field .  It started slowly at first but by May of 1665, 43 had died.  In June 6 137 people died, in July 17 136 and at its peak in August, 31 159 people died.  In all, 15% of the population perished during that terrible summer. (Historic UK’s homepage: http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/England-History/GreatPlague.ht m)
People showing symptoms of the plague were locked in their home together with their family for 40 days after the plague victim had either died or recovered. Guards were set to stop people breaking out of the locked houses. (All Info About London’s homepage: http://london.allinfo-about.com/features/plague.html )
Thousands of Londoners lived on boats on the River Thames during the height of the plague and many of these survived. (All Info About London’s homepage: http://london.allinfo-about.com/features/plague.html )

Bring out your dead

A picture of removing corpses from the city can be seen on page 15 (Appendix 3)
The city was full of dead bodies. To solve the problem men who wore black robes were sent to the town. They used horse carts to carry the corpses out of the city to the pits. One man walked on the streets and jingled his bell and yelled: „Bring out your dead!” People then carried the corpses out of their homes on the streets and men who were dressed in robes threw them on to the carrier and removed them from the city streets.
The death toll mounted to such an extent that graveyards soon became full. Vacant land was used for 'plague pits' and quicklime was used in them. In spite of grave diggers literally working night and day, they could not keep up with deaths and so corpses were piled up awaiting burial . (All Info About London’s homepage: http://london.allinfo-about.com/features/plague.html )
The people who removed the dead bodies flagged the houses where the deceased were found. They drew a red cross on the door and wrote „Lord have mercy upon us” below the cross. (Nuffield Foundation’s homepage: http://www.primaryhistory.org/data/files/Great_Plague_resources-140.pdf )

Protection from the plague

To fight against the plague:
The City Corporation ordered a cull of dogs and cats - a poor decision , since those animals - mostly the cats - kept the population of rats (the real culprits) in check . Authorities ordered fires to be kept burning night and day, in hopes that the air would be cleansed. Substances giving off strong odours, such as pepper, hops or frankincense, were also burned, in an attempt to ward off the infection. London residents were strongly urged to smoke tobacco. (Wikipedia homepage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Plague_of_London )

Plague doctors

A picture of a plague doctor can be seen on page 16 (Appendix 4)
Plague doctors were also known as Beak doctors. They were not all qualified doctors many of them were physicians. They were hired by the city officials. Doctors belived if they wear their costume it will prevent them from getting sick and they can cure people from the plague.

Costume

The uniform consisted of a wide -brimmed black hat, a mask in the shape of a bird ’s beak, long, black overcoat, a wooden cane and leather breeches.
A wide-brimmed black hat was worn close to the head. At the time, a wide-brimmed black hat would have been identified a person as a doctor, much the same as how nowadays a hat may identify chefs, soldiers , and workers . The wide-brimmed hat may have also been used as partial shielding from infection. ( Grand Gallimaufry homepage: http://sylvaansuz.wordpress.com/2009/12/09/the-plague-doctors-garb/ )
They also wore a primitive gas mask in the shape of bird’s beak. People thought that the plague was spread by birds . There may have been a belief that if they dressed in a bird mask, they will have the ability to draw the plague away from the victim and onto the habiliment the plague doctor wore. The gas helmet also included eyepieces which were made out of red glass . People thought those who wore that mask would be safe from evil .
The beak of the helmet was filled with aromatic herbs and spices to overpower the miasmas or “bad air” which was also thought to carry the plague. At the very least , it may have dulled the smell of unburied corpses, sputum, and ruptured in plague victims. (Grand Gallimaufry homepage: http://sylvaansuz.wordpress.com/2009/12/09/the-plague-doctors-garb/ )
The overcoat worn by the plague doctor was tucked in behind the beak mask at the neckline to minimize skin exposure. It extended to the feet , and was often coated head to toe in suet or wax. A coating of suet may have been used with the thought that the plague could be drawn away from the flesh of the infected victim and either trapped by the suet, or repelled by the wax. The coating of wax likely served as protection against respiratory droplet contamination, but it was not known at the time if coughing carried the plague. It was likely that the overcoat was waxed to simply prevent sputum or other bodily fluids from clinging to it. (Grand Gallimaufry homepage: http://sylvaansuz.wordpress.com/2009/12/09/the-plague-doctors-garb/ )
A wooden cane was used to both direct family members to move the patient , other individuals nearby, and possibly to examine patients without directly touching them. (Grand Gallimaufry homepage: http://sylvaansuz.wordpress.com/2009/12/09/the-plague-doctors-garb/ )
Similar to waders worn by fishermen, leather breeches were worn beneath the cloak to protect the legs and groin from infection. Since the plague often tended to manifest itself first in the lymph nodes, particular attention was paid to protecting the armpits, neck, and groin. It is not known how often or widespread plague doctors were, or how effective they were in treatment of the disease . It’s likely that while offering some protection to the wearer, they may have actually contributed more to the spreading of the disease than its treatment, in that the plague doctor unknowingly served as a vector for infected fleas to move from host to host. (Grand Gallimaufry homepage: http://sylvaansuz.wordpress.com/2009/12/09/the-plague-doctors-garb/ )

The ending of the plague

Great Plague killed up to 100 000 people which is 20 % of the population.
Records state that deaths in London crept up to 1 000 people per week, then 2 000 people per week and, by September 1665, to 7 000 people per week. By late autumn, the death toll began to slow until , in February 1666 , it was considered safe enough for the King and his entourage to return to the city. By this time, however, trade with the European continent had spread this outbreak of plague to France , where it died out the following winter . (Wikipedia homepage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Plague_of_London )

The Great Fire of London

The Great Fire of London was an unofficial end of the Black Death. The fire started at the bakery of Thomas Farriner on Pudding Lane . It spread quickly west across the city of London because the houses were made out of timber .
Plague cases continued at a modest pace until September 1666. On 2 and 3 September, the Great Fire of London destroyed much of the centre of London. At about the same time, the plague outbreak tapered off. Although , it is now thought that the Plague had died off before the Great Fire of London and also the majority of plague cases were found in the suburbs of the city and not in the centre of London that was affected by the Fire. (Wikipedia homepage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Plague_of_London )

Conclusion

During my research I had a taste of life in London during the plague. How people struggled when there was no hope left. How the city was packed with dead rotting bodies and people bulled the corpses of their family members onto carts. When there was no room left in the cemetery and lots of corpses were buried in one hole. I cannot imagine the pain that people felt during the plague, how much tears they shed and how many family members and friends they lost .
The largest problem in making of my research was how to divide the information. I wrote very little about the previous outbreaks of the plague. There was a lot of information but I decided to include more details about the Great Plague in London 1665 because this was the latest attack of the plague, after that there were no plague outbreaks in developed countries and I felt that it was more important that I write more about the Great Plague in London than Black Death in general.
Unfortunately I read only one book to do this research and mostly relied on the correction of the sources from the internet .
Black Death was an unforgettable disaster which stroke England many times . Fortunately the Great Plague in London was the last bubonic plague in modern countries and I hope there will be no more.

Literature used

Oldfield, P. 2008. My Story: The Great Plague. London: Scholastic (18.02.2011)
Wikipedia homepage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubonic_plague (21.02.2011)
Wikipedia homepage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Plague_of_London (22.02.2011)
Historic UK’s homepage: http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/England-History/GreatPlague.ht m (02.03.2011)
London All Info homepage: http://london.allinfo-about.com/features/plague.html (05.03.2011)
Grand Gallimaufry homepage: http://sylvaansuz.wordpress.com/2009/12/09/the-plague-doctors-garb/ (04.03.2011)

Appendixes

Appendix 1 - London in the 17th century

Blueprint 1. London in the 17th century

Appendix 2 - A newspaper release during the plague

Blueprint 2. A newspaper release during the plague

Appendix 3

Blueprint 3. "Bring out your dead!"

Appendix 4

Blueprint 4. Plague doctor

Appendix 5

Blueprint 5. Comparison of the deaths between Great Plague and other diseases