The Black Death

The 'Black Death' - a kind of plague - reached the ports of southern England in 1348. It swept through the country in the next year. Those who caught it died in a day or two, sometimes less. Between a third and a half of the people in England died. No-one knew what caused the Black Death, or how to cure it.

We know now that the plague was carried by black rats. It was spread to humans by the rats' fleas. The dirt and rubbish which lay in the streets of towns were ideal for the rats, so the towns were hit worst by the plague. London had special 'plague pits' for burying the dead.

When townspeople fled to the country to escape the disease, they took it with them. So many peasants died that there were not enough people left to till the fields. Whole villages were deserted, and the houses began to fall down.

Walter Robson: Medieval Britain; Oxford University Press, 1991/2000, page 55