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| A '''plague pit''' is the informal term used to refer to ]s in which victims of the ] were buried. The term is most often used to describe pits located in ], but can be applied to any place where ] victims were buried. | A '''plague pit''' is the informal term used to refer to ]s in which victims of the ] were buried. The term is most often used to describe pits located in ], but can be applied to any place where ] victims were buried. | ||
| eventually the normal patterns of burial and funerary observance broke down. | |||
| ==Origin== | |||
| The plague which swept across ] in the 14th century is estimated to have killed between one-third and two-thirds of ].<ref name="barry">Stéphane Barry and Norbert Gualde, "The Greatest Epidemic of History" ("La plus grande épidémie de l'histoire", in '']'' n° 310, June 2006, pp.45-46, say "between one-third and two-thirds"; ] (1983). "Black Death" in '']'', volume 2, pp.257-67, says "between 25 and 45 percent".</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://history.boisestate.edu/westciv/plague/15.shtml |title=Population Loss |publisher=History.boisestate.edu |date= |accessdate=2011-10-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/osheim/plaguein.html |title=Plague and Public Health in Renaissance Europe |publisher=.iath.virginia.edu |date=1994-10-28 |accessdate=2011-10-27}}</ref> Disposal of the bodies of those who died presented huge problems for the authorities, and eventually the normal patterns of burial and funerary observance broke down. | |||
| ==Major plague outbreaks== | ==Major plague outbreaks== | ||
| ⚫ | a half times their normal number, with 2,111 deaths overall and 1,427 attributed to plague.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.ac.uk/cmh/epiharding.html |title=Burial of the plague dead in early modern London |publisher=History.ac.uk |date= |accessdate=2011-10-27}}</ref> | ||
| Plague pits were used especially often during major plague outbreaks, such as the ]. During these times, graveyards rapidly filled, and such graves became available only to wealthy people. Parishes became strained; one example, the records of St. Bride on Fleet Street during the London 1665 plague, shows typical methods employed by the parishes. | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| ==Controversy== | ==Controversy== | ||
Revision as of 15:41, 17 February 2013
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A plague pit is the informal term used to refer to mass graves in which victims of the Black Death were buried. The term is most often used to describe pits located in Great Britain, but can be applied to any place where Bubonic plague victims were buried.
eventually the normal patterns of burial and funerary observance broke down.
Major plague outbreaks
a half times their normal number, with 2,111 deaths overall and 1,427 attributed to plague.
Controversy
Some scientists have put forward the idea that the Black Death was not caused by yersinia pestis as some have thought, and some evidence of this has been found in plague pits, where other diseases, such as anthrax, have been discovered.
References
- "Burial of the plague dead in early modern London". History.ac.uk. Retrieved 2011-10-27.