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Restoration England, 1660–1685

Crisis: the Great Plague of 1665 and the Fire of London

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 2 section B

Overview

The real and supposed causes of the Great Plague of 1665, the shutting up of houses and other measures, the Bills of Mortality and Pepys, the death toll, the Fire of London of 1666, why it spread and who was blamed, what it destroyed, the Rebuilding Act and Wren's unbuilt plan.

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Key term

What did people in 1665 think was causing the plague?

Key term

What really caused the Great Plague of 1665?

Key term

How was a household treated once plague was found in it?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What really caused the Great Plague of 1665?

    Model answer

    Bubonic plague carried by fleas living on black rats, which thrived in crowded and filthy streets, though nobody at the time understood this.

  2. 2

    What did people in 1665 think was causing the plague?

    Model answer

    Miasma, or bad air rising from rubbish and sewage; the punishment of God for the nation's sins; and unlucky omens such as comets.

  3. 3

    How was a household treated once plague was found in it?

    Model answer

    The house was shut up for forty days with everyone inside, a red cross and a plea for God's mercy painted on the door and a watchman set at it.

  4. 4

    What did the Lord Mayor order done to dogs and cats, and why did it backfire?

    Model answer

    They were slaughtered as suspected carriers, which removed the very animals that had been hunting the rats actually spreading the disease.

  5. 5

    Name three other measures taken against the plague.

    Model answer

    Bonfires were kept burning in the streets, tobacco was smoked as a preventive, and the sick were sent to pest houses while arriving ships were held in quarantine.

  6. 6

    What records tell us about the spread of the plague?

    Model answer

    The weekly Bills of Mortality drawn up by parish clerks from the reports of untrained searchers, together with eyewitness diaries such as that of Samuel Pepys.

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