The materials being collected, it remained to consider how best to use them. The existing national epidemiologies, such as that of Italy by Professor Corradi or the older ‘Epidemiologia Española’ of Villalba, are in the form of Annals. But it seemed practicable, without sacrificing a single item of the chronology, to construct from the greater events of sickness in the national annals a systematic history that should touch and connect with the general history at many points and make a volume supplementary to the same. Such has been the attempt; and in estimating the measure of its success it may be kept in mind that it is the first of the kind, British or foreign, in its own department. The author can hardly hope to have altogether escaped errors in touching upon the general history of the country over so long a period; but he has endeavoured to go as little as possible outside his proper province and to avoid making gratuitous reflections upon historical characters and events. The greater epidemic diseases have, however, been discussed freely—from the scientific side or from the point of view of their theory.
It remains to acknowledge the liberality of the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press in the matter of publication, and the friendly interest taken in the work by their Chairman, the Master of Peterhouse.
November, 1891.
CONTENTS.
| PAGE | |
| [CHAPTER I.] | |
| PESTILENCES PREVIOUS TO THE BLACK DEATH, CHIEFLY FROM FAMINES. | |
| The plague of 664-684 described by Beda, and its probable relation to the plague of Justinian’s reign, 542- | [4] |
| Other medieval epidemics not from famine | [9] |
| Chronology of Famine Sicknesses, with full accounts of those of 1194-7, 1257-9, and 1315-16 | [15] |
| Few traces of epidemics of Ergotism; reason of England’s immunity from ignis sacer | [52] |
| Generalities on medieval famines in England | [65] |
| [CHAPTER II.] | |
| LEPROSY IN MEDIEVAL BRITAIN. | |
| Medieval meanings of lepra | [69] |
| Biblical associations of Leprosy | [79] |
| Medieval religious sentiment towards lepers | [81] |
| Leprosy-prevalence judged by the leper-houses,—their number in England, special destination, and duration | [86] |
| Leper-houses in Scotland and Ireland | [99] |
| The prejudice against lepers | [100] |
| Laws against lepers | [106] |
| Things favouring Leprosy in the manner of life—Modern analogy of Pellagra | [107] |
| [CHAPTER III.] | |
| THE BLACK DEATH OF 1348-9. | |
| Arrival of the Black Death, and progress through Britain, with contemporary English and Irish notices of the symptoms | [114] |
| Inquiry into the extent of the mortality | [123] |
| Antecedents of the Black Death in the East—Overland China trade—Favouring conditions in China | [142] |
| The Theory of Bubo-Plague | [156] |
| Illustrations from modern times | [163] |
| Summary of causes, and of European favouring conditions | [173] |
| [CHAPTER IV.] | |
| ENGLAND AFTER THE BLACK DEATH, WITH THE EPIDEMICS TO 1485. | |
| Efforts to renew the war with France | [177] |
| Direct social and economic consequences in town and country | [180] |
| More lasting effects on farming, industries and population | [190] |
| Epidemics following the Black Death | [202] |
| Medieval English MSS. on Plague | [208] |
| The 14th century chronology continued | [215] |
| The public health in the 15th century | [222] |
| Chronology of Plagues, 15th century | [225] |
| Plague &c. in Scotland and Ireland, 1349-1475 | [233] |
| [CHAPTER V.] | |
| THE SWEATING SICKNESS, 1485-1551. | |
| The First invasion of the Sweat in 1485 | [237] |
| The Second outbreak in 1508 | [243] |
| The Third Sweat in 1517 | [245] |
| The Fourth Sweat in 1528 | [250] |
| Extension of the Fourth Sweat to the Continent in 1529 | [256] |
| The Fifth Sweat in 1551 | [259] |
| Antecedents of the English Sweat | [265] |
| Endemic Sweat of Normandy | [271] |
| Theory of the English Sweat | [273] |
| Extinction of the Sweat in England | [279] |
| [CHAPTER VI.] | |
| PLAGUE IN THE TUDOR PERIOD. | |
| Chronology of the outbreaks of Plague in London, provincial towns, and the country generally, from 1485 to 1556 | [282] |
| The London Plague of 1563 | [304] |
| Preventive practice in Plague-time under the Tudors | [309] |
| Sanitation in Plantagenet and Tudor times | [322] |
| The disposal of the dead | [332] |
| Chronology of Plague 1564-1592—Vital statistics of London 1578-1583 | [337] |
| The London Plague of 1592-1593 | [351] |
| Plague in the Provinces, 1592-1598 | [356] |
| Plague in Scotland, 1495-1603—Skene on the Plague (1568) | [360] |
| Plague in Ireland in the Tudor period | [371] |
| [CHAPTER VII.] | |
| GAOL FEVERS, INFLUENZAS, AND OTHER FEVERS IN THE TUDOR PERIOD. | |
| The Black Assizes of Cambridge, 1522 | [375] |
| Oxford Black Assizes, 1577 | [376] |
| Exeter Black Assizes, 1586 | [383] |
| Increase of Pauperism, Vagrancy, &c. in the Tudor period | [387] |
| Influenzas and other “strange fevers” and fluxes, 1540-1597 | [397] |
| [CHAPTER VIII.] | |
| THE FRENCH POX. | |
| Meagreness of English records | [414] |
| Evidence of its invasion of Scotland and England, in 1497 and subsequent years | [417] |
| English writings on the Pox in the Elizabethan period, with some notices for the Stuart period | [423] |
| The circumstances of the great European outbreak in 1494—Invasion of Italy by Charles VIII. | [429] |
| [CHAPTER IX.] | |
| SMALLPOX AND MEASLES. | |
| First accounts of Smallpox in Arabic writings—Nature of the disease | [439] |
| European Smallpox in the Middle Ages | [445] |
| Measles in medieval writings—Origin of the names “measles” and “pocks” | [448] |
| First English notices of Smallpox in the Tudor period | [456] |
| Great increase of Smallpox in the Stuart period | [463] |
| Smallpox in Continental writings of the 16th century | [467] |
| [CHAPTER X.] | |
| PLAGUE, FEVER AND INFLUENZA FROM THE ACCESSION OF JAMES I. TO THE RESTORATION. | |
| Growth of London in the Tudor and Stuart periods | [471] |
| The London Plague of 1603 | [474] |
| Annual Plague in London after 1603 | [493] |
| Plague in the Provinces, Ireland and Scotland, in 1603 and following years | [496] |
| Malignant Fever preceding the Plague of 1625 | [504] |
| The London Plague of 1625 | [507] |
| Plague in the Provinces in 1625 and following years | [520] |
| The London Plague of 1636 | [529] |
| Fever in London and in England generally to 1643 | [532] |
| War Typhus in Oxfordshire &c. and at Tiverton, 1643-44 | [547] |
| Plague in the Provinces, Scotland and Ireland during the Civil Wars | [555] |
| Fever in England 1651-52 | [566] |
| The Influenzas or Fevers of 1657-59 | [568] |
| [CHAPTER XI.] | |
| SICKNESSES OF EARLY VOYAGES AND COLONIES. | |
| Scurvy in the early voyages, north and south | [579] |
| The remarkable epidemic of Fever in Drake’s expedition of 1585-6 to the Spanish Main | [585] |
| Other instances of ship-fevers, flux, scurvy, &c. | [590] |
| Scurvy &c. in the East India Company’s ships: the treatment | [599] |
| Sickness of Virginian and New England voyages and colonies | [609] |
| Early West Indian epidemics, including the first of Yellow Fever—The Slave Trade | [613] |
| The epidemic of 1655-6 at the first planting of Jamaica | [634] |
| [CHAPTER XII.] | |
| THE GREAT PLAGUE OF LONDON, AND THE LAST OF PLAGUE IN ENGLAND. | |
| Literature of the Great Plague | [646] |
| Antecedents, beginnings and progress of the London Plague of 1665 | [651] |
| Mortality and incidents of the Great Plague—Characters of the disease | [660] |
| Plague near London and in the Provinces, 1665-66 | [679] |
| The Plague at Eyam 1665-66 | [682] |
| The Plague at Colchester, 1665-66, and the last of Plague in England | [688] |
ERRATA.
At p. 28 line 4, for “for” read “at.” At p. 126 line 2 for “1351” read “1350;” same change at p. 130, lines 6 and 9. At p. 185 note 1 read “Ochenkowski.” At p. 264 line 18, and at p. 554 line 11 from bottom, read “pathognomonicum.” At p. 401, note 3 for “1658” read “1558.” At p. 420, line 17, for “Henry IV.,” read “Henry V.” At p. 474, line 4, for “more” read “less.” At p. 649 line 22 omit “Hancock.”