DISEASE AND SOCIETY IN PREMODERN ENGLAND Disease and Society in Premodern England examines the impact of infectious disease in England from the everyday to pandemics in the period c. 500–c. 1600, with the major focus from the eleventh century onward. Theilmann blends historical research, using a variety of primary sources, with an understanding of disease drawn from current scientific literature to enable a better understanding of how diseases affected society and why they were so dif- ficult to combat in the premodern world. The volume provides a perspective on how society and medicine reacted to “new” diseases, something that remains an issue in the twenty-first century. The “new” diseases of the Late Middle Ages, such as plague, syphilis, and the English Sweat, are viewed as helping to lead to a change in how people viewed disease causation and treatment. In addition to the biology of disease and its relationship with environmental factors, the social, economic, political, religious, and artistic impacts of various diseases are also explored. With discussions on a variety of diseases including leprosy, tuberculosis, malaria, measles, typhus, influenza, and smallpox, this volume is an essential resource for all students and scholars interested in the history of medicine and disease in pre- modern England. John Theilmann is Andrew Helmus Distinguished Professor of History and Politics at Converse University. He has published several articles and book chap- ters dealing with topics in medieval history and the history of diseases, and a book and several articles in political science dealing with congressional elections. DISEASE AND SOCIETY IN PREMODERN ENGLAND John Theilmann Cover credit: Dance of Death. Allegory of universality of the death. Colored engraving, 14th century © Lanmas/Alamy Stock Photo First published 2022 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2022 John Theilmann The right of John Theilmann to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for this book ISBN: 978-1-032-10412-6 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-10413-3 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-21521-9 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003215219 Typeset in Bembo by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. CONTENTS List of tables vii Acknowledgements viii Short titles ix Introduction 1 1 Finding the impact of disease in premodern England 8 2 Human impacts on health in premodern England 30 3 The everyday threat of infectious disease 64 4 Epidemic disease and its arrival in England 92 5 The second plague pandemic and the demographic crisis it produced 109 6 Responses to the plague 143 7 New diseases at the turn of the sixteenth century: The mystery of the English Sweat 182 8 New diseases at the turn of the sixteenth century: The certainty of syphilis, the great pox 210 vi Contents 9 A new era for epidemic disease 232 10 Disease and its impact at the beginning of a new era 254 Guide to further reading 264 Index 267 TABLES 7.1 Symptoms Comparison 196 7.2 Conditions Comparison 196 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Converse University contributed to this work with a sabbatical leave and a sum- mer research grant. One of the pleasures of teaching at, until recently, a liberal arts college for women has been the chance to engage in research work with superior students who went on to further study in medicine, veterinary medicine, mathematics, public health, epidemiology, and music. Thank you, Frances Cate, Jennifer Jones, Stacy Thrall, Whitney Weeks†, Lindsey Eller, Abigail Sweet, Zoe Kushubar, and Isabel Fangman for stimulating conversation, good ideas, and some laughs along the way. Several aspects of this work have been presented at con- ferences, most notably the Southern Association for the History of Medicine and Southeastern Medieval Association. Thanks to other attendees for helpful com- ments and questions. A long lunchtime conversation with Ann Carmichael came at the right time for causing me to rethink some points. I’ve also engaged in several thought-provoking conversations with Dr. James Thompson SHORT TITLES BHM Bulletin of the History of Medicine Creighton, Epidemics Charles Creighton, A History of Epidemics in Britain, 2 vols., 2d ed. (London: Frank Cass, 1965, 1894) EconHstRev Economic History Review EETS Early English Text Society Fracastoro, Contagion Girolamo Fracastoro, De contagion et contagiosis morbis et eorum curatione, libre III, Wilmer Cave Wright, trans. (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1930, 1546) JHM Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences PNAS Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences PRHS Proceedings of the Royal Historical Society Riley, Memorials of London H.T. Riley, ed. and trans., Memorials of London and London Life in the XIIIth, XIVth, and XVth Centuries (London: Longmans, 1868) Slack, Impact of Plague Paul Slack, The Impact of Plague in Tudor and Stuart England (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985)