 starter activity

1. starter activity The pictures above suggest ways in which people tried to cure the Black Death (1348). Can you remember what they refer to? Do you think people in the C17th were any better / worse prepared?

2.  Key words: epidemic broadsheet quicklime How effectively did the authorities deal with the plague?  LOs TBAT explain & evaluate the reactions of the authorities to the Great Plague of London (1665)

3.  Your task • Go around the class in a clockwise direction. Complete your chart as shown. • Try to reach a judgement on how well the authorities responded to the Plague. • Look out for the extension questions on the sources and try to answer these

4. Source A “To draw the poison from the plague sore, take the feathers from the tail of a chicken and apply to the sore. The chick will gasp and fight for its life…when the poison is drawn out by the chicken the patient will recover.. wrap in woollen cloth, make the person sweat, which if he do, keep him warm until the sores begin to rise. Then apply to the sores live pigeons cut in half or else a plaster made of yolk of an egg, honey, herbs and wheat flour” A seventeenth century treatment for the plague Are there any similarities with treatments you have studied elsewhere in our course?

5. Source B In 1665, mortality bills were published each week, detailing the causes and numbers of deaths of citizens across London. Can you spot any other attempts to improve the health of Londoners on this document?

6. Source C In 1666, Sir Christopher Wren put forward proposals for new designs for the city of London with large, open roads, radiating out across the city and wooden buildings being replaced by brick and stone. Many of the homeless resisted the plans, because it would have been too costly and time-consuming to rebuild their homes in this way.  Who else opposed Wren’s plans?

7. Source D “When anyone bought a joint of meat in the market, they would not take it from the butcher’s hand, but took it off the hooks themselves. On the other hand, the butcher would not touch the money, but had it put in a pot full of vinegar. The buyer always carried small money, so that they might take no change.” Extract from Daniel Defoe’s (author of Robinson Crusoe) ‘Journal of the Plague Year’ Why do you think people used vinegar as a defence against the plague?

8. Source E Any house containing a plague sufferer has to be sealed up for 40 days until the person is dead or better The door of the house has to be marked with a red cross and the words ‘Lord have mercy upon us’ Searchers are to be appointed to examine each corpse for 1p per body to find out the cause of death Public entertainments are to be stopped All dogs and cats are to be caught and killed; the dog catcher is to be paid about 1p for each animal Fires are to be lit in the streets Bodies are to be buried after dark The Lord Mayor of London, Sir William Lawrence, issued special orders, drawing on experiences of previous epidemics . They were first published on 1st July 1665. Before the orders were issued 267 Londoners died a week, the week afterwards 1843 died. Why were they seemingly ineffective?

9. Source F A plague broadsheet showing bodies being piled into mass graves or plague pits. The pits were 6 feet deep and the bodies covered with quick lime. It’s estimated that 70,000 people died in London (population 400,000). To avoid spreading the plague, burials were often at night or dawn and only family members were allowed to attend. Do you think sights like the above made people more or less religious?

10. No change • Regular outbreaks of plague continued – 1604, 30% of York died from plague • Over-crowding • Poor sanitation • Limited law enforcement – expensive to employ officers; no police force • Superstition – Samuel Pepys noted red crosses & ‘Lord have mercy’; prayers; public fasting; charms • Planetary movements - comets in the heavens; conjunctions of the planets • Poisonous air – miasmas • Quack remedies – use of dried toads

11. New ideas • Observation – bills of mortality helped link dirt with disease • Certificates of health • Quarantine – victims enclosed 40 days with red cross & guards at door; constables enforced regulations • Examiners – investigated types of sicknesses in each parish • Women searchers – identified causes of death • Rakers – to clear away rubbish from streets • Fumigation – smoke used to clean bedding • Regulations – ale & coffee shops houses closed; plays & public entertainments banned; animals slaughtered or sent outside city; beggars executed • Burials – mass graves called plague pits, 6ft deep; quicklime; no mourners

12. This house believes that there was no significant improvement in the way British people responded to the Great Plague of London of 1665 compared to the Black Death of 1348.

13.  Homework • Imagine you are a Londoner living through the plague. Use the information from your table and the film you saw to write your own plague diary. You need to include the following as separate diary entries • Seventeenth century explanations for the plague • References to the treatments • Explanations of the different people employed by the city to protect the survivors • Refer to the return of Londoners and the Great Fire by conducting your own research

15.  Extension • Conduct some research into Daniel Dafoe and Samuel Pepys and find out about their experiences of the plague. Produce brief factoids on both men. Daniel Dafoe, author of Robinson Crusoe Samuel Pepys, famous diarist