Medieval Christianity: The Black Death

From rural labourer to nobleman, from village priest to abbot, contemptuous of rank and wealth, Death was the guest of every late-medieval household in "pestilence time". In this masterly survey, Colin Platt examines what it was like to live with plague at all levels of society. Drawing on evidence from architecture and the arts, he examines the visible legacies of the investment that Christian men and women made in the provision of after-death soul-care. In addition he examines the social and economic consequences of a steep and unprecedented population decline. It is argued that the severe labor shortage that persisted for over a century after the Black Death ultimately broke the ties of feudal bondage. Written with verve and rich in detail, "King Death" offers an important analysis of one of the most potent instruments of change in late-medieval England, and a fascinating insight into the industry of death that pestilence brought with it. It will be required reading for all students of late-medieval England.

Essentially a study of church leadership, "The Black Death and Pastoral Leadership" also reaches into related areas of theology, law, liturgy, demography, and literature. Dohar concludes that, while ecclesiastical structures were subject to immense strains during and after the Black Death, they proved remarkably resilient; also, in spite of the shortage of parish clergy in the post-plague church and added burdens of clerical recruitment, there were few serious compromises to traditional standards of pastoral competence. As a local history, this book offers rare insight into the government of a medieval diocese, its pastors, and their duties in a changing world.

Defoe's account of the bubonic plague that swept London in 1665 remains as vivid as it is harrowing. Based on Defoe's own childhood memories and prodigious research, A Journal of the Plague Year walks the line between fiction, history, and reportage. In meticulous and unsentimental detail it renders the daily life of a city under siege; the often gruesome medical precautions and practices of the time.

Biography of seventeenth century English priest who was several times exiled and finally executed because of his religious beliefs.

In "The Great Plague", historian A. Lloyd Moote and microbiologist Dorothy C. Moote provide an engrossing and deeply informed account of this cataclysmic plague year. At once sweeping and intimate, their narrative takes readers from the palaces of the city's wealthiest citizens to the slums that housed the vast majority of London's inhabitants to the surrounding countryside with those who fled. The Mootes reveal that, even at the height of the plague, the city did not descend into chaos. Doctors, apothecaries, surgeons, and clergy remained in the city to care for the sick; parish and city officials confronted the crisis with all the legal tools at their disposal; and commerce continued even as businesses shut down. To portray life and death in and around London, the authors focus on the experiences of nine individuals - among them an apothecary serving a poor suburb, the rector of the city's wealthiest parish, a successful silk merchant who was also a city alderman, a country gentleman, and the famous diarist Samuel Pepys. With these people's letters and diaries, the Mootes support fresh interpretations of key issues in the history of the Great Plague: how different communities understood and experienced the disease; the reactions of medical, religious, and governmental bodies; how the social order held together; the economic and moral dilemmas people faced when debating whether to flee the city; and the nature of the material, social, and spiritual resources sustaining those who remained.

Presents aspects of family life in the preindustrial Western world, including households of the wealthy and the poor, courtship and marriage, and the care and training of children.