Anatomy of a Plague: A Glimpse of an Epidemic Through the Observations of One London Parish

Abstract

The Great Plague of London in 1665 was the last major outbreak of the bubonic plague in Great Britain. The wide effects of the plague impacted every aspect of the population. There is much research on the plague and the effects on Tudor-Stuart England. However, much of the research fails to combine not only a historical/demographic analysis of the 1665 plague, but also biomedical model of the plague. This study combines the biomedical model of plague research with a historical demographic model. St. Giles of Cripplegate is utilized as a representational case study for the impacts of the 1665 plague of London. The parish records from St. Giles of Cripplegate are used for the demographic database and the results from the database were compared to various 1665 narratives and pamphlets for the impact of plague on a society.