The Great Plague, 1665: Case Study (Edexcel GCSE History)

Comparing the Great Plague to the Black Death - Summary

After the Black Death in 1348, England dealt with outbreaks of plague every 10-20 years. The majority of these had a minor impact on society, until 1665 when a serious outbreak of plague struck England. It began in St Giles-in-the-Fields, a suburb of London, and spread across the country. Fleas on rats were responsible for the disease, the same way that the Black Death began. London presented perfect conditions for plague to thrive. Filth covered the streets and people disposed of their waste by throwing it out of their windows. In September, 7,165 Londoners died in one week. From June to November 1665, roughly 100,000 people died in London (⅕ of the population). There are few reliable records of deaths outside of London. Historians know that the village of Eyam in Derbyshire lost 273 of their 350 residents to plague. 

Many people suspected that contact with other people spread disease. This shows they had a better understanding of the cause of disease than during in the Black Death. People like lawyers, doctors and merchants immediately moved to less populated areas. King Charles II left London in July and settled in Oxford during the plague. The poor remained in London along with the Lord Mayor and town councillors. The role of local governments was to enforce the King’s decree on reducing the spread of the plague. They hired watchmen to guard infected houses and searchers to locate the dead. This shows progression from the government actions during the Black Death because local governments were taking more responsibility over the safety of their citizens. Enforcing quarantine of infected people within their houses is a method of disease prevention still used today. 

People’s reaction to the Great Plague was similar to the reaction to the Black Death. Many blamed God, the stars or miasma for their ill-health. People prayed or undertook bizarre methods of treatment like strapping a live chicken to a bubo. Plague doctors only wore masks because they believed bird-shapes attracted diseases. They believed mask would remove the illness from the patient transferring it into the mask. To effectively tackle epidemics like the Great Plague, much more needed to be learnt about causes of disease, effective treatments and preventative approaches

Ideas About Causes of the Great Plague

Astrology

• People continued to look at astrology for signs of future events

• In late 1664:

  • An unusual alignment between the planets occured

  • People observed a comet in the sky

    • People believed that the combination of both these events was unlucky

Punishment From God

• Many people believed that the Great Plague was a punishment from God due to people's wickedness

• From the reign of Henry VIII to 1665, England’s official religion had changed many times from Catholic to Protestant 

  • People believed that God was angry at them for this and the plague was a punishment

Miasma

• Most people believed that miasma was the main reason for the Great Plague

• The people thought that:

  • Bad air vapours gathered in the soil when it was cold, then when the weather got warmer, miasma was released from the soil into the air

  • This belief fitted the pattern that plague outbreaks appeared when the weather turned warmer

• In reality, the warmer weather attracted more rats. The filth on the streets and warm weather were perfect conditions for bacteria to grow

Other People

• Some people correctly believed that the disease spread from person to person

  • Plague victims were quarantined to stop them from spreading the disease to someone else

• During the Renaissance, there was no proof that diseases spread through human contact

  • This limited the popularity of this explanation

  • It took until the 19th century to prove that diseases transmitted in this way

Approaches to Treatment in the Great Plague

New Ideas

• It was popular to use the idea of transference to treat the plague:

  • Strapping a live chicken on a bubo to draw out the plague and pass it onto the chicken was a common treatment

• Physicians recommended wrapping patients in woollen cloths and laying them by the fire

  •  This was to allow the patient to sweat the plague out of their body

Herbal Remedies

• These continued to be as popular in the Renaissance as they had been in the Medieval period

• Herbal remedies could be in one of the following forms:

  • Medicine - drunk or swallowed

  • Poultices - placed on a wound

  • Rubs - placed on the skin

• Most remedies were ineffective because apothecaries did not understand the true causes of the Great Plague

Quack Doctors

• Fake doctors with no medical qualifications were called 'quacks'

  • ‘Quack’ is short for ‘Quacksalver.’ The word originates from Dutch:

    • ‘Quacken’ means ‘to croak’, alluding to how much they boasted

    • ‘Salve’ means ‘to rub with ointment’, referencing the remedies they would sell

• The background of each ‘quack’ would differ:

  • Some were businessmen wanting to make money

  • Some had medical training but did not hold full medical degrees

• The quack doctors preyed on the general public by selling famous ’cures’ for the plague

  • The cures were mostly ineffective

    • Many remedies contained honey or alcohol which relieved pain in the short-term but possessed no healing properties

  • Quack doctors continued to be a problem in the UK into the 20th century

    • They often gained influence in times of fear and national health emergencies

Approaches to Prevention in the Great Plague

Advice from Physicians

• Physicians advised the following actions to remain healthy during the plague:

  • Prayer

  • Quarantine

  • Carrying a pomander

  • Fasting

  • Eating sage and garlic

• Some physicians became plague doctors

  • Birds were considered to attract disease so it was believed that the plague would move from the victim to the doctor's mask

  • Plague doctors wore distinctive outfits with each element designed to protect themselves from catching the plague

Advice From Other Healers

• Apothecaries recommended ‘plague water' as a herbal remedy

• Many apothecaries also advised people of methods to ward off miasma including:

  • Herbs like mint for its strong smell

  • Smoking tobacco to fill the air with that smell

• A few healers recognised that syphilis and the plague both had buboes as symptoms

• Some suggested to catch syphilis as a way to avoid catching the plague

Government Action

• Charles II released a royal decree

• The decree listed rules as well as the actions people should take to avoid catching the plague

• Local officials and the mayor enforced the rules and took actions including:

  • A 28-day forced quarantine for those people who had the plague

  • A red cross marking plague-infested houses

  • A ban on theatres, public meetings, fairs and large funerals

  • Lighting fires in the street to ward off miasma

  • Killing cats, dogs and pigeons due to their role in spreading disease

• The mayor hired:

  • Searchers - people who found plague victims and removed bodies for burial

  • Watchmen - people who monitored those in quarantine to ensure they stayed

• Many people simply moved away from the cities to avoid catching the plague, as they did in 1348