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The Great Plague

`The Great Plague' is a fascinating historical look into the last major outbreak of the bubonic plague to occur in England in 1665, an event known as the Great Plague. Using new epidemiological and scientific evidence, the programme traces the pathway of the disease, from its source in a parish to its devastating fatality rate in London and beyond. Medic Xand van Tulleken, archaeologist Raksha Dave and journalist John Sergeant work together to uncover the historical lessons the epidemic can teach them about the Covid-19 pandemic.

Early Pandemics: The Plague

It's 1645, and the plague that is ravaging Europe has arrived in Scotland. George Rae, a plague doctor, is standing Leith outside one of the isolation huts. He dreads the thought of what is waiting for him inside; more victims dying an incurable, horrible death – with little he can do to help.

As he watches the dead bodies being removed from the neighbouring huts, he takes a deep breath, comforted by the sweet smell of herbs from inside his beaked mask. For he believes it is bad air, called 'miasma', that has caused the plague to ravage the port of Leith once again.

But, although he didn't know it, George's true protection was his leather cloak, which was stopping the fleas carrying the plague virus from biting and infecting him, as they had done with so many others.

The plague first emerged in Central Asia in the 1300s and spread like wildfire, before reaching Europe in 1347. Over the course of two and a half centuries, the plague is estimated to have wiped out half of Europe's population and killed tens of millions of people across the globe.

Those infected initially developed a fever, aching and vomiting, before painful buboes would appear and, for around half, death would swiftly follow mere days later.

Scotland was no stranger to the plague, suffering multiple waves and thousands of deaths from the start of the Black Death until the mid-17th century.

The port of Leith was particularly vulnerable, as ships from plague infected areas overseas harboured rats that infected Leith's unfortunate locals. The outbreak in 1645 proved the most devastating, leading to the demise of over half of the town's population.

In the 1600s, understanding of what caused and spread the plague was limited. Some saw it as God's punishment on a sinful population and thought the best way to fight the disease was through prayer. Others blamed miasma – inhaling 'poisonous' or 'bad' air from rotting food and waste that lined the streets.

To prevent the plague spreading in Scotland though miasma, 'foul clengers' were hired to dispose of the dead and cleanse the air.

But you'll be familiar with the most effective method – public gatherings were banned and plague victims were forced to isolate for forty days. In Italy, this was called 'quaranta giorni' or quarantine, meaning forty days.

Measures like forced isolation and wearing protective clothing did actually help to prevent the plague from spreading even if not for the reasons they thought at the time.

Through the late 19th century, medical discoveries led people to realise that bacteria, and not bad air, was the cause of the disease, and the theory of miasma was replaced with Germ Theory.

The plague's origins were only discovered by researchers in 2022. Using DNA technology, they uncovered the plague's origins – uncovering skeletons buried in modern-day Kyrgyzstan that had been infected by the bacteria that caused and spread the plague.

See, the plague was actually caused by a bacterium called Yersinia pestis, spread by infected fleas and transported worldwide by rats.

And the plague itself? Well, it never actually went away. The last outbreak here in the UK was in 1980, and in China as recently as 2020.

Bubonic Plague

Scientists sequence the full Black Death genome and find the mother of all plagues

Scientists sequence the full Black Death genome and find the mother of all plagues

This is an updated version of an old piece, edited to include new information. Science progresses by adding new data to an ever-growing picture. Why should science writing be different? The road of East Smithfield runs through east London and carries a deep legacy of death. Two cemeteries, established in the area in the 14th […]

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