This was fascinating to read early ideas of limited social gatherings - although six servants is still a lot of people.
This is in the sixteenth century, and it's striking how many centuries the plague remained a threat for. I wonder what it was like, knowing that maybe one year, after decades have passed, the plague would strike -- like knowing Covid would return, continued for hundreds of years, but normalised and ingrained. Just: part of life. You would grow up knowing and expecting it. Perhaps influenza was like this early 20th century.
It would be remiss not to point other HN readers at Connie Willis's Doomsday Book: an amazing novel, Hugo and Nebula Award winner, which mixes both a modern day plague and the horrifying medieval one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_Book_(novel)
In period relativistic perspective it's worth keeping in mind that there are many 20th century plague outbreaks that were severe yet are not discussed in the history books. I am aware of some in Asia. These were just as horrifying, with large portions of the population dying simultaneously.
When we say “the plague” we often mean the bubonic plague (Yersinia Pestis) outbreak in 13th century Europe (“Black Death”). As far as I know, current evidence points to this originating in Asia as well.
Asia is probably the continent with the longest continuous “threat” of plague in recorded history.
This is in the sixteenth century, and it's striking how many centuries the plague remained a threat for. I wonder what it was like, knowing that maybe one year, after decades have passed, the plague would strike -- like knowing Covid would return, continued for hundreds of years, but normalised and ingrained. Just: part of life. You would grow up knowing and expecting it. Perhaps influenza was like this early 20th century.
It would be remiss not to point other HN readers at Connie Willis's Doomsday Book: an amazing novel, Hugo and Nebula Award winner, which mixes both a modern day plague and the horrifying medieval one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_Book_(novel)
Asia is probably the continent with the longest continuous “threat” of plague in recorded history.