The Great Plague of London was an outbreak of bubonic plague that devastated the English capital, and was the last major epidemic of the disease in England. It was spread by fleas living on rats and brought into the crowded, unsanitary city. The authorities tried to contain it by shutting up infected houses with their inhabitants and marking them with a red cross, and by quarantine, but those who could afford to left the city, including King Charles II and the court. Estimates of the death toll are around a hundred thousand, a large share of the population. Samuel Pepys recorded events in his diary, and Daniel Defoe later wrote a novel about it. The Great Fire of 1666 followed.
Before and after
- 1664Construction of Nymphenburg Palace
- 1664Founding of Easthampton
- 1665Construction of Royal Palace of Amsterdam
- 1665Girl with a Pearl Earring
- from 1665 to 1666Great Plague of London
- 6 February 1665Birth of Anne of Great Britain
- from 4 March 1665 to 31 July 1667Second Anglo-Dutch War
- 1666Rise of 'Alawi dynasty
- from 2 September 1666 to 6 September 1666Great Fire of London
More in Society, economy & sport
- 24 August 1572St. Bartholomew's Day massacre
- 8 September 1636Founding of Harvard University
- 27 July 1694Founding of Bank of England
- 1698Founding of London Stock Exchange
- 1740Rise of Hasidic Judaism
- 12 January 1755Founding of Lomonosov Moscow State University
The era
This moment belongs to the Early modern world (1500 CE to 1760 CE), voyages, printing and new ideas. You can also browse everything in the 17th century.