Great Plague of London

Plague has been the most feared disease across Europe since the Black Death in the 1340s. Dreaded because of the scale of the mortality and its sheer foulness, its periodic outbreaks had a devastating impact. London’s last and most destructive attack came in 1665, when, according to Bishop Gilbert Burnet, ‘a most terrible plague broke out, that depopulated the city of London, ruined the trade of t...