The Plague

When was the great plague?

1665

How many people died from the great plague?

100,000 in London

What was the great plague caused by?

Poor sanitation resulting in an increase in the population of black rats which carried the bubonic plague bacteria. As plague numbers increased, many wealthy people moved to their countryside houses which risked spreading the bacteria across England

What did the government do to respond to the great plague?

A quarantine was introduced to all ships entering London, if someone in a household got the plague, all of the members of that house would be locked inside with the doors and windows barred and a Red Cross was painted on their door. Searchers were employed to walk the streets, enter plague houses and identify the cause of death. All stray cats and dogs were also killed due to the false belief that they caused plague - although this may have exacerbated the situation as cats would catch and kill rats - and a belief in miasma meant that people lit fires in the streets to create smoke to mask the bad smell and hopefully stop the plague

What methods were used to cure the plague?

Similar to those used to treat the Black Death; bloodletting and purging were common (showing that the four humours were still believed to cause disease), and people lit fires and carried sweet smelling herbs or flowers to ward off bad smells

What were plague doctors?

Doctors who treated patients with the Plague - they wore special outfits to prevent them from catching the plague too. This included leather cloaks coated in wax to prevent blood or bodily fluids from penetrating through the material, and herb filled masks which prevented the doctor from smelling the streets. All of their skin was covered. Although the belief in miasma was incorrect, the outfits worn to prevent getting the plague did work

Did knowledge of disease change?

Not much, since the four humours were still widely popular. This meant that cures were often ineffective as germs hadn’t been discovered

What was the impact of the Great Plague?

Although fewer people died than during the Black Death, there were still hundreds of thousands of deaths. Overall, there was faster and more effective government action to reduce the spread of plague