Responses to outbreaks of the plague

• Between 1500 and 1667 there were many serious outbreaks of the plague, the most serious being the Great Plague of 1665

• The plague was frightening to the people because it came back frequently, the symptoms were terrible, many people died from it and nobody understood the cause of it

• People still believed that the disease was God’s punishment for sin

• The miasma theory was still accepted although by the end of the period scientists began to think that close contact with an infected individual was the cause of the spread

1518

• New rules isolated victims in their houses and identified them using straw hung outside of the infected houses and by making them carry a white stick when they left the house

• People were isolated in pesthouses outside of the city walls

• This had limited effectiveness as the orders were not enforced everywhere

1578

• Plague orders: seventeen orders including recording the spread of the disease, financial aid for the sick, burning of victims clothes and bedding

• Victims and anyone living in the house were quarantined for at least six weeks

• Special prayers asked for God’s forgiveness

• These were effective at reducing the spread however it quarantined healthy people with those who were sick which caused criticism

• A connection between dirt and disease was made

1604

• The Plague Act increased financial aid for the families of the sick

• Town watchmen introduced harsh punishment to enforce the policy of isolation

• Harsher sanctions were introduced on those who left isolation ( they could even be hanged)

• The punishments reduced the spread of the disease

• Still unaware that the disease was spread by fleas and rats

Individual responses

• People went to church to pray

• The rich left infected towns but most people could not afford and were forced to stay

• People tried to find a cure, doctors using sweet smelling posies to fight miasma and people smoking tobacco

• People avoided sick people