Dealing with catastrophes has always been a problem for mankind. In Europe, which was ravaged with plagues between the early 1500′s to 1670 or so (about every 15 years one hit), with over 2 million dying in France alone in the first 70 years of the 17th Century, mankind devised all kinds of “remedies” and sought to know the underlying reasons for such plagues. In 1636 a London epidemic caused the deaths of 10,400 people between April and December. But all over Europe in the mid 1500′s and through much of the 1600′s disease was a foe that was unstoppable. It rose as the tide, coming in on the continent, flooding the land with bodies, then receding, only to return again some years later with the same deadly consequences.

Disease: The Extraordinary Stories Behind History’s Deadliest Killers

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In London, the sick were usually quarantined, but it wasn’t too effective because the sick refused to stay home. Authorities tried to identify homes with straw bundles but that didn’t work so they started making a cross on the house with the words “Lord Have Mercy On Us.” They even tried confining them to “pest houses” on the outskirts of town in Gloucester and Leicester. Gatherings were banned, including weddings or funerals, and travel was severely restricted. The theatres were closed. The government hired or otherwise enlisted “searchers” whose jobs were to find and identify the sick (so they could be quarantined). Burials were restricted to specified times at night. Animals had to be kept indoors or they would be killed. Fires were kept burning at all times to kill the bad odors or otherwise get rid of the “foul air.”

One “brilliant” idea to get rid the foul odor as to float a boat load of onions down the Thames with the idea that the pungent odor of the onions would attract the the air pollution (which they connected with the plagues). It worked about as well as security worked at American airports recently.

Finally, the Great Plague of London hit. Lady Anne Clifford wrote in her diary, the following: “And in this yeare 1665 and the beginning of the yeare following, as there a great Plague in the Cittie and suburbs of London, whereof there dyed for severall weekes together above 8000 a week, the like whereof was never known in London before.” -The Diaries of Lady Anne Clifford, p. 177.

A Journal of the Plague Year, Written by a Citizen Who Continued All the While in London

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One of the reasons for the plague growing as quietly and as deadly as it did was because London had thought itself (as did much of Europe) past the plague years. And when cases began to erupt, it was kept quiet. No one said anything for fear of being quarantined, for fear of stigma, for fear of the economic losses (merchants would refuse to come to London) and probably because they didn’t want to believe the monster had returned. Thus, the usual precautions of cleansing of the streets, quarantines, onions and a lot of other good things, were not done until it was too late. Large gatherings continued, theatres were populated, animals roamed freely, streets were unsanitary (again) and people ignored the plague until the death rate was so staggering that it could not be ignored. Not until June of that year, well into the plague, were drastic actions taken. By then, it was too late. Schools were closed and large gatherings were prohibited (though church gatherings continued) and in the city there was a rising sense of panic.

In July, the deaths rose to 8828 with over 5600 directly attributable to the plague. August saw over 18,000 deaths from the plague and in the first week of September, 6,988 died. By December, the numbers had fallen drastically and the plague ended soon thereafter for all practical purposes. The total deaths for the year long period was 97,306 deaths. Of those, 68,596 were attributed to the Plague. However, that number was probably low because in the early stages, the deaths were not reported as plague and the deaths that hit some of the rich were not attributed to the Plague because it had some pretty definite connotations of evil with it. The clergy, many of whom preached that it was a devine retribution, did not want to be known as one who died from the plague, thus some of them who died of it were not listed as dying from the plague.

Cooks were dying. Bakers were dying. Servants were dying. The rich and the poor were dying. Some of the well-to-do shut themselves away in their house, refusing to see anyone. The dead were stacking up and those responsible for burying them began to die as well. The room to bury the dead became a problem. People could not afford to pay for the burials. At the height of the plague, bodies were tossed into huge pits, sometimes up to forty at a time. Those who went around with the body carts were looked upon as death themselves and were generally seen by society as coming from the “baser sort,” probably akin to our “street people” of today.

Now we fear a terrorism that will envelope us in a maelstrom of death from violent attacks, including biological warfare which could generate a plague that would sweep across the nation and the planet as well.

We have seen, in America a deadly enemy hit us. It’s blow was, in terms of death, minor when compared to the plague that hit London in 1665. Even on an economical scale, the blow dealt to America is minor, comparatively speaking. London survived. Europe survived.

There is some question as to whether we will survive, though.

–Voyle A. Glover

Plague and the End of Antiquity: The Pandemic of 541-750

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