Paola
Paola asked Anne Easter Smith:

Just discovered your lovely books. I would like to ask one question: I am no historian so I am sure you can clarify; at a certain point in your book Kate sings Ring a Ring o' Roses to her children.........but I had always thought of that song as something sung in the 1700s or later certainly not as early as 1470s....I know the plague was around but I didn't think the song was known. Have you any info for me? Thanks.

Anne Easter Smith Thank you for your message, Paola. I am very careful with my research and this little London ditty came from the time of the Black Death around 1348.
The bubonic plague had several iterations in England after that, including in the Wars of the Roses period. The worst epidemic in London after the 14th century one was of course in 1665 ("hardly anyone left alive'"). Best, Anne

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