A town crier calls on the people to "bring out your dead" in a medieval scene from the time of the Black Death. The victims were then hauled away for burial in mass graves.
Courtesy of the National Library of Medicine
The Black Death: The Greatest Catastrophe Ever
The Black Death was an epidemic of bubonic plague, a disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis that circulates among wild rodents where they live in great numbers and density.
The Black Death was highly contagious, meaning that it was capable of being passed from person to person by direct contact with a diseased individual.
The bubonic plague, better known as The Black Death, has existed for thousands of years.
The first outbreaks swept across England in 1348-49.
Great Plague of 1665-1666: How did London respond to it?
How did health officials try and stop or prevent the spread of the plague (primary sourced information).
Black Death Quarantine: How did we try to contain the most deadly disease in history?
The practice of quarantine is nothing new. This article explores how it was used alongside other measures in the 14th century to curb the disease that became known as the Black Death…
Medieval Cures for The Black Death
Before the real cause of the plague was known, the plague was attributed primarily to supernatural causes – the wrath of God, the work of the devil, the alignment of the planets – and, stemming from these, “bad air” or an unbalance of the “humors” of the body which, when in line, kept a person healthy.
The 432-year-old Manual on Social Distancing
A medieval list of rules was published as a booklet for medieval people to help stop the plague.
Social Distancing and Quarantine were used in Medieval Times to fight The Black Death
A medieval Italian legislation document, dating from 1377, reveals that social distancing and quarantine measures were practiced during the bubonic plague.
