Sophie Lenny Kira & Tom B Shannon & Rebecca Asiatu Max & Dominique Liam & Ellie Tom H & Georgia Rebecca & Jonny Alice Amarilda Branden Joe Chelsea Connor

What do you think is happening in this picture? Discuss and write down what you think this image is showing? An image taken after workmen uncovered a plague pit (one of many around London). These pits contain the remains of the or more people that died in the summer of 1665 during the ‘Great Plague’.

LO: What did people understand in the 17 th century? Learning Outcomes A – Evaluate medical understanding of disease between the Black and Death and the Great Plague. C – Compare the Black Death and the Great Plague. D – Describe the impact of the Great Plague

1348 – The Black Death Quick Spider diagram in your books what you can remember about the Black Death. Causes / Treatments / What did they think?

The GREAT Plague. The Black Death hit Britain in 1348 but continued to strike at regular intervals throughout the 1400’s and 1500’s. THEN in 1665 London was hit was by the worst outbreak for hundreds of years over died (Out of total of ). This is known as the GREAT Plague. We will investigate what people thought caused the plague, how has medical knowledge improved over the last 317 years… You each have a source, what does it tell you about the plague. Write it down and pass it around … SOURCECAUSEPREVENTIONSPREAD A B

TASK Any house containing a Plague sufferer has to be sealed up for 40 days until the person is dead or better. The door of the house has to be marked with a red cross and the words, ‘Lord, have mercy upon us’. ‘Searchers’ are to be appointed to examine each corpse for 1p per body to find out the cause of death. Public entertainments are to be stopped. All dogs and cats are to be caught and killed; the dog catcher is to be paid about 1p for each animal. Fires are to be lit in the streets. Bodies are to buried after dark. Write down in order those you think might actually work in preventing the spread of the Plague – Explain why you made this choice. EXT: Why would people disobey these orders?

TASK Look at your notes about Sources A – H. Make a list of the ways in which people tried to avoid the Plague. Would any of these have been successful? Q. In your opinion do you think people in the 17 th Century understood the Plague better than people did in the 14 th Century? Think about -Their thoughts on how you caught the disease. -Their ideas for preventing it. -Their ideas on how the Plague spread.

Question… Q. – Between the Black Death and the Great Plague was there much progress in people’s ideas about disease? Between the Black Death and the Great Plague people ideas about the causes of disease progressed/regressed/didn’t change… for example…

Plenary Sum up your learning for today. Write one word or sentence starting with the letters of P.L.A.G.U.E. P. L. A. G. U. E.

Any house containing a Plague sufferer has to be sealed up for 40 days until the person is dead or better. The door of the house has to be marked with a red cross and the words, ‘Lord, have mercy upon us’. ‘Searchers’ are to be appointed to examine each corpse for 1p per body to find out the cause of death. Public entertainments are to be stopped. All dogs and cats are to be caught and killed; the dog catcher is to be paid about 1p for each animal. Fires are to be lit in the streets. Bodies are to buried after dark. Source A – Special orders issued by the Mayor of London in an attempt to stop the spread of the Plague. “When anyone bought a join of meat in the market, they would not take it from the butcher’s hand, but took it off the hooks themselves. On the other hand, the butcher would not touch the money, but had it put in a pot full of vinegar. The buyer always carried small money, so that they might take no change.” Source C – In 1722, D Defoe wrote ‘A journal of the Plague Year’. August - The sickness increases. There are many who wear amulets made of toad's poison which, if there is any infection, it raises a blister, which a plaster heals, and so they are well… September – It is increasing. Friend, get a piece of gold. Keep it in your mouth when you walk out or any sick persons come to you. You will find strange effects of it for good in freedom of breathing, if you lay with in your mouth without teeth as I do. Source B – Letter written between two Londoners in 1700

Source D – Plague doctor wore costumes like this when he visited victims. Recipe for the Plague Wrap in woollen cloths, compel the sick party to sweat which if he does, keep him there until the sores begin to rise. Then apply a live pigeon cut in half or a plaster made of the yolk of an egg, honey, herbs and whet flower. Source E – People spent a fortune on crazy cures like this one. Today, it is easy to laugh but imagine how scared people must have been. They were willing to try anything…

F - A drawing from a Plague broadsheet (a leaflet) printed in Can you spot the examiners checking the houses, dogs being killed, men taking away rubbish (Householders had to keep their houses clean), a fire in the street (fires purified the air).

G - A drawing from a Plague broadsheet (a leaflet) printed in Can you spot the mass grave, the dead woman who dropped down by the road, birds dropping from the sky (they must have hit bad air?).

H - A drawing from a Plague broadsheet (a leaflet) printed in Can you spot the searchers (with the long poles) examining people who were ill or who had died, the coffin read for the dead person on the left, the doctor on the right giving medicine to the patient in the bed.