Verified Document

The History Of London's Great Plague Essay

Just as technology and geography can have a major impact upon the course of human history, so can disease. Recent archeological findings in Great Britain confirmed that the Great Plague of 1665-1666 was the bubonic plague, the last major outbreak of the disease in Britain (Stanbridge). Fear was understandably rampant, given that the plague would eventually decimate a quarter of the population of London, thus leaving a lasting mark upon the city’s demographics (Stanbridge). As in the past, the plague was interpreted as a religious judgement from the divine, although it is important to remember that not all eyewitnesses to the plague viewed it as such. Author of Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe, noted how the individual’s constitution affected responses to the plague, indicating a medical, rather than theological interpretation: “The plague, as I suppose all distempers do, operated in a different manner on differing constitutions; some were immediately overwhelmed with it, and it came to violent fevers…others with swellings and tumours…others, as I have observed, were silently infected” (Stanbridge). The manner in which the plague was contained, although brutal, also showed a nascent understanding of disease. When one...

Corpses would be taken out at night and buried in pits specifically for plague victims, rather than in the usual manner of the burial of the dead (Johnson). The door of a house of someone who was infected would be marked with a cross and the words, “Lord have mercy on us,” written upon it (Johnson). Religion was appealed to, in other words, for protection and salvation from the disease, but it was not solely relied upon.
Superstition as well as religion marked the general response to the plague. Many people believed that holding a posy to one’s nose could keep away the disease, and the nursey rhyme “Ring Around the Rosy” has its origins in this superstition about the plague. The streets of London were said to be empty, as those who could (including the royal court) fled to the countryside, while those who were too poor to move had to stay. Thus, the disease disproportionately affected the poor. The close and unsanitary conditions of the poor further exacerbated the spread of the disease. Theaters and other…

Sources used in this document:

Works Cited

Johnson, Ben. “The Great Plague 1665.” Historic UK. December 11, 2018. https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/The-Great-Plague/

Stanbridge, Nicola. “DNA confirms cause of 1665 London's Great Plague.” BBC. September 6, 2016. Web. December 11, 2018. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-37287715


Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

History of Corrections
Words: 2922 Length: 8 Document Type: Term Paper

History Of Corrections Humankind, all through recorded history, has actually created innovative methods to "punish" their own kind for legitimate and even apparent transgressions. Amongst tribal communities as well as in much more developed cultures, this kind of punishment may include, amongst various other tortures, lashes, branding, drowning, suffocation, executions, mutilation, as well as banishment (which within faraway areas had been equivalent to the dying sentence). The degree related to the

Great Depression of the Early
Words: 3857 Length: 15 Document Type: Term Paper

In fact, from 1923-1929 corporate profits rose 62% and dividends rose 65%." (McElvaine R.S. p. 39) This is further evidence not only of the inequality of general wealth distribution, but also of the severe imbalance that was to create havoc in the economy. This dilemma was also further exacerbated by the fact that the Federal Government encouraged this situation. For example, President Coolidge signed the Revenue Act of 1926, which

History of Quarantine in the
Words: 3672 Length: 11 Document Type: Research Paper

She is said to have refused to stop being a cook and this led to infection of people in a New York maternity hospital consequently she was re-arrested by the health officers and taken back to quarantine in 1915 till her death in 1938. This sparked a lot of human rights issues concerning quarantine as never before. The typhoid pandemic in New York went hand in hand with the poliomyelitis

London 2012 Olympic Cultural Impact
Words: 2900 Length: 10 Document Type: Essay

NA). Sebastian Coe, the "star" of the emotive video in London's bid to host the 2012 Olympics, reflects on the fact that watching the Olympics as a child at home in Sheffield, inspired him. Speaking at the Sport Accord conference in Beijing, Coe emphasised the need to use online communities and new media to stimulate young people's interest in sport and activity. He stressed the need to involve youth to

History of Parole the Philosophy
Words: 3239 Length: 10 Document Type: Book Report

Ladow. Similar boards were provisioned for federal prisons not in the penitentiary category. Each prison was also provided with a parole officer to supervise parolees during their community corrections phase. Inmates became eligible for parole after serving a third of their total sentence -- by 1915 this was expanded to mean fifteen years for inmates serving life sentences -- contingent on the decisions and good graces of the local

Purges -- Stalin's Great Blunder
Words: 2419 Length: 6 Document Type: Term Paper

" He concluded that "the prosecutor's office must be centralized and completely independent of the local organs of authority." This conclusion, quite naturally, was buttressed with the appropriate reference to the guiding hand of the revolution's leader: "From the principle that there is a single legality obtaining throughout the Republic "and the entire federation" (Lenin) and from the obligation of the public prosecutor to see to it that no single

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now