Available online
Description
Until recently, knowledge has been vague about the penetration of bubonic plague in English towns. In this- programme Paul Slack summarises demographic research which has shown that plague deaths a...nd casualties relate remarkably closely to areas - indeed quite small pockets - of poverty within cities and London in particular. Rich areas of the capital, for instance, escaped relatively lightly, partly because the wealthy had the resources to flee, and what casualties did occur in the prosperous inner city areas have now been traced very largely to the poor, living in the alleyways and courts at the back of grander houses. The programme also traces the increasing precision with which the London Company of Parish Clerks were able to provide statistics and therefore the increased knowledge of the distribution of the plague available to government. Of course this did not mean that curative measures improved in parallel, but it did mean that enquiry about the causes of Black Death increased and became more rational.
Until recently, knowledge has been vague about the penetration of bubonic plague in English towns. In this- programme Paul Slack summarises demographic research which has shown that plague deaths a...nd casualties relate remarkably closely to areas - indeed quite small pockets - of poverty within cities and London in particular. Rich areas of the capital, for instance, escaped relatively lightly, partly because the wealthy had the resources to flee, and what casualties did occur in the prosperous inner city areas have now been traced very largely to the poor, living in the alleyways and courts at the back of grander houses. The programme also traces the increasing precision with which the London Company of Parish Clerks were able to provide statistics and therefore the increased knowledge of the distribution of the plague available to government. Of course this did not mean that curative measures improved in parallel, but it did mean that enquiry about the causes of Black Death increased and became more rational.
| Module code and title: | A322, English urban history 1500-1780 |
|---|---|
| Item code: | A322; 06 |
| Recording date: | 1976-08-03 |
| First transmission date: | 31-07-1977 |
| Published: | 1977 |
| Rights Statement: | Rights owned or controlled by The Open University |
| Restrictions on use: | This material can be used in accordance with The Open University conditions of use. A link to the conditions can be found at the bottom of all OUDA web pages. |
| Duration: | 00:17:58 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | Edward Hayward |
| Contributor: | Paul Slack |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Keyword(s): | Bill of Mortality; Divine Scourge; Searcher of the Dead |
| Master spool number: | TLN31950H020 |
| Production number: | TLN31950H020 |
| Available to public: | no |
