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The Great Plague In The 17th Century

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Overview
The first officially recorded death of the plague occurred in April 1665. By mid-July, a thousand people a week were dying.
In July, King Charles left the city and went to Oxford. Thousands of other people fled from the city, taking the plague with them. However, unlike the Black Death, which had affected the whole countryside, the 1665 epidemic was mainly confined to the towns.

70,000 - 100,000 People in London Killed ( Around 15-20% of Londoners at the time)
Causes
Medicine in the 17th century was backward. Knowledge about disease was poor (most people thought that bad smells caused illness), and doctors were too expensive for ordinary people to be able to afford. …show more content…

As a result, early modern London was a very unhealthy place – the average life expectancy in 1721 was only 32 years old.

Medicine in the 17th century was backward. Knowledge about disease was poor (most people thought that bad smells caused illness), and doctors were too expensive for ordinary people to be able to afford.

The plague was endemic in London in the 17th century – there were only three years before 1665 when someone had not died of the plague. There had been epidemics of the plague in 1603, 1609, 1625 (when 35,000 Londoners died) and 1636. It is most likely that the 1665 plague originated in London itself. Something in the summer of 1665 caused the plague to become an epidemic. The summer of 1665 was very hot, and it may be that the rats and fleas multiplied.

Attempting Cures
Public:
Public prayers, and days of

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