Picture of a Plague Physician in the William Shakespeare era!
Bubonic Plague and Shakespeare
HOW DID THE BUBONIC PLAGUE (BLACK DEATH) EFFECT THE LIFE OF SHAKESPEARE?
William Shakespeare was terrified of the Bubonic Plague - and who can blame him?
England had been ravaged by outbreaks of the plague since the 1300's
He lost his sisters Joan, Margaret ( just babies) and Anne (aged 7) to the deadly plague
He also lost his brother Edmund (aged 27)
But the greatest loss to William Shakespeare was his only son, Hamnet, who died when he was just eleven years old
So many people from just one family (the number increased after Shakespeare's death when his grandsons, Shakespeare Quiney died in infancy, aged 6 months old, in May 1617 and his brothers Richard and Thomas Quiney died of the plague aged 19 and 20 years of age)
No-one knows how many friends, fellow actors and acquaintances of Shakespeare died of the Black Death, but given the number of his close relatives who died, it must have been a significant number
There were constant outbreaks of the Bubonic Plague and every time this occurred the Theatres were shut down. The closures occurred in 1593 , 1603 and 1608
In 1563, in London alone, over 20,000 people died of the disease - In 1665 the Great Plague of London again decimated the population of the town which killed 16% of the inhabitants (17,500 out of the population of 93,000)
The plague was not just confined to the towns. Nowhere was safe the same plague outbreak of 1563 claimed 80,000 people in England
From December 1592 until December 1593 Stow (the Elizabethan archivist) reported 10,675 plague deaths in London, a city of approximately 200,000 people
THE SPREAD OF THE BUBONIC PLAGUE
The City of London was filthy during Shakespeare's era
There was no sewage system. The waste was just dumped into the River Thames
The disease was transmitted by the fleas that lived on rodents and animals, especially rats
The Bubonic plague (Black Death) was always caught or spread from an infected animal or person
THE SYMPTOMS OF THE BUBONIC PLAGUE
The symptoms are:
Painful swellings in the armpits, legs, neck, or groin
Very high fever
Delirium and mental disorientation
Vomiting
Muscular pains
Bleeding in the lungs
An intense desire to sleep, which, if yielded to, quickly proved fatal
The victims would often die within two to four days.
Some churches administered to the Bubonic Plague victims
'Wise women' were called for help
Barbers doubled as surgeons
The Apothecary would dispense drugs
Only the wealthy would receive the ministrations of an Elizabethan Physician (as pictured above)
The Physicians outlandish attire did in fact afford him some protection
The bizarre mask shielded their heads and faces from bites from the plague carrying fleas
Their robes, boots and gloves shielded their bodies
This cover-all clothing would have protected the Physician from the fleas and therefore the Bubonic Plague
The Plague Physician would not have understood why the mask and clothing offered protection but experience would have indicated that these were sensible precautions to take!
THE CURES AND MEDICAL TREATMENTS OF THE BUBONIC PLAGUE
The Elizabethans did not know what caused the Plague so they were unable to act against it or take any preventative measures
Each symptom was given a separate treatment:
Head pains were treated with with sweet-smelling herbs such as rose, lavender, sage, and bay
Stomach pains and sickness were treated with wormwood, mint, and balm
Lung problems - liquorice and comfrey
Vinegar was used as a cleansing agent
Bleeding a patient as a general cure for everything
Applying leeches to suck the blood of the victim
SHAKESPEARE WAS LIVING WITH DEATH
Very few victims of the plague survived
Shakespeare really was living with death
He must have been in constant fear
The number of outbreaks must have been terrifying
The whole of the life of William Shakespeare lived under this terrible Cloud of Death
