The Black Death in London

by Barney Sloane

The Black Death of 1348–49 may have killed more than 50% of the European population. This book examines the impact of this appalling disaster on England's most populous city, London. Using previously untapped documentary sources alongside archaeological evidence, a remarkably detailed picture emerges of the arrival, duration and public response to this epidemic and subsequent fourteenth-century outbreaks. Wills and civic and royal administration documents provide clear evidence of the speed and severity of the plague, of how victims, many named, made preparations for their heirs and families, and of the immediate social changes that the aftermath brought. The traditional story of the timing and arrival of the plague is challenged and the mortality rate is revised up to 50%–60% in the first outbreak, with a population decline of 40–45% across Edward III’s reign. Overall, The Black Death in London provides as detailed a story as it is possible to tell of the impact of the plague on a major mediaeval English city.

Genres: History, London, Nonfiction, Science

224 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2011

Reviews

[Otto Benz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story of the progress of the Black Death in London

Barnie provides some interesting anecdotes about the impact of the plague on the people of London backed up with real research, covering the 4 successive plagues from 1348/9. He provides a fascinating insight into how the plague hit London, and what the people did as a consequence and how they coped, cared for the sick and the dead and rebuilt.

[O Babs · Rating 3 out of 5]

An academic book in premise and style (hundreds of citations plus the usual references) and still very readable. In addition to the narrative about the plagues of 1348-1375, there are interesting glimpses at how people lived in 14c. Only detriment was that the ebook version I have is missing the illustrations referenced; not many, but I missed them.

[Vysloczil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very detailed account of the first plague outbreak in London (1348). Of scholarly value.
He could have written/speculated a bit more about the long-term impacts.
Impacts on demographic structure and population movement have not been even touched upon.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

London and the 1348-1378 Plagues

Very informative examination of the affects of the Plague on the people in London in economic, political, and social terms. Lots of numbers, but paints a very in script I've picture of the response to the Black Death in London.

[Víctor Hugo · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I See it, this a good book because explain everything really good to me

[Simon Dobson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A detailed examination of the Plague in London in 1349 and subsequently. Sloane finds a novel way to track the progress of the Black Death, using wills and ecclesiastical replacements to identify "hot spots" that can be tentatively projected out to the rest of the population. While being very careful to recognise the limits of this approach, he arrives at a mortality rate of around 45% of London's population.

One surprising snippet from the book is the surprisingly few children couples were having in the 14th century: not much higher than in modern times in Europe, in essence, whereas I'd expected something closer to rates in modern Africa.

The book has a good bibliography into modern Plague research, which (given I'm reading this for professional purposes as well as just for interest) will come in handy.

[Elysium · Rating 1 out of 5]

Made it to page 70 and gave up. There has been huge list of people who died and when they made their will and what their possible family members got and when they would die. And it goes page after page. Don't know if the whole book is like that but I really don't care.

[Zuzu Burford · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is more of a text book, too academic for a pleasant read. The research Barney Sloane has done is amazing. If one was looking for a reference point for this subject then the rating would be 5.

[Elle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would've rated this book higher had I been reading it for class/research. If you're just looking for a book to read for pleasure, I wouldn't recommend this one.

[Neeuqdrazil · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was painfully boring, and I just couldn't do it.