The Black Death in England

The Black Death was actually an epidemic of bubonic plague, a contagious disease that was spread by fleas feeding off the blood of their rat hosts. The march of death across continental Europe was devastating, and although England was certainly not unaffected, it experienced nothing like what was taking place across the Channel.

The Black Death first hit British shores in 1348. Initially the contagion spread as slowly as the joke in a Far Side cartoon in a crowded room, but toward the end of summer it was moving faster than Paris Hilton's panties in a roomful of equally rich heirs. By August it coming down on London. Several smaller villages and hamlets in its path had tried to protect themselves by closing the city gates; too bad that one of the things that doesn't work well at stopping rats is wood. It was only a matter of time before the Black Death would hit the capital city and it was to the Britons' ultimate misfortune that a worse place than London for the Black Death to hit would be hard to find. At the time London was filthier than a Dave Chappelle comedy routine, providing a haven for the rats and their fleas. London was also more crowded than the line at a synagogue fundraising fair feauturing a dunking booth with Mel Gibson, making the disease very communicable. Ironically, Mel Gibson is very communicable as well, so my advice is to stay away from him.

The Black Death had several social implications. The death of so many laborers led to raises in the wages paid to those who took their jobs. In addition, since this was an agrarian society and most of the work was connected to farming, the lack of workers available to harvest crops resulted in the ruin of many of those crops.