Restoration England 1660-1685Topic Summary
Knowledge Organiser: The Great Plague of 1665
Part of The Plague of 1665 · GCSE GCSE History revision
This topic summary covers Knowledge Organiser: The Great Plague of 1665 within The Plague of 1665 for GCSE History. Revise The Plague of 1665 in Restoration England 1660-1685 for GCSE History with 8 exam-style questions and 4 flashcards. This is a high-frequency topic, so it is worth revising until the explanation feels precise and repeatable. It is section 16 of 16 in this topic. Use this topic summary to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.
Topic position
Section 16 of 16
Practice
8 questions
Recall
4 flashcards
Knowledge Organiser: The Great Plague of 1665
Key Terms
- Bills of Mortality: Weekly printed death counts by parish — under-reported because families concealed cases to avoid being shut up
- Miasma theory: Wrong belief that plague was caused by bad air — led to bonfires, posies, fumigation; none of it worked
- Shutting up houses: Sealing infected households for 40 days — probably made transmission worse by trapping healthy with sick
- Pest houses: Isolation hospitals outside city walls — sensible idea, very limited capacity
- Buboes: Swollen, blackened lymph nodes — visible sign of infection that triggered house quarantine
Key Dates
- Spring 1665: Plague arrives in London, beginning in outer parishes (St Giles)
- Summer 1665: Rapid spread; rich (including Charles II) flee to countryside
- September 1665: Peak — 7,165 deaths in one week (week ending 7 September)
- Winter 1665-66: Cold kills flea population; plague begins to decline
- September 1666: Great Fire destroys much of the overcrowded wooden housing
Key People
- Samuel Pepys: Clerk of the Acts (Navy Board); stayed in London throughout; diary is the key primary source
- Charles II: Fled to Oxford with court — contrasts with his presence during the Great Fire 1666
- Daniel Defoe: Wrote A Journal of the Plague Year (1722) — fiction, NOT a genuine eyewitness account
Must-Know Facts
- ~100,000 deaths in London — approximately 25% of the population
- Peak: 7,165 deaths in one week, September 1665
- FARMS: Fleas on rats, Awful conditions, Rich fled, Miasma theory, Shutting up houses
- 40,000 dogs killed — actually worsened plague by removing rat predators
- Charles fled to Oxford — contrasts with his personal response to Great Fire 1666
- Miasma theory (bad air) was wrong — real cause was bacteria carried by rat fleas
- Bills of Mortality under-reported because families hid cases to avoid being shut up
- Pepys is the key primary source; Defoe wrote fiction 57 years later
Cross-Topic Links
- → Great Fire (Topic 54): The Plague (1665) and Great Fire (1666) were consecutive crises — Newton developed his laws of gravity at Woolsthorpe during the Plague year, and the Fire destroyed the overcrowded housing that had worsened plague spread.
- → Royal Society (Topic 55): The Plague exposed the failure of miasma theory and traditional medicine, demonstrating why the Royal Society's experimental approach mattered — Newton famously worked on gravity during the 1665-66 plague years.
- → Dutch Wars (Topic 52): The 1665-66 plague and fire drained England's finances at the same time as the Second Dutch War, explaining why Parliament refused to fund the navy adequately and why the Medway disaster happened.
- → Unit 4: Great Plague (Medicine Topic 38): This is the same event viewed from the Medicine Through Time thematic lens — Unit 4 analyses it in terms of continuity and change in public health responses across centuries.
- → Charles's Court (Topic 50): Charles fled to Oxford during the Plague but personally fought the Great Fire — this contrast in royal leadership is a key exam comparison point about how monarchy responded to national crises.
Common Mistakes
- Treating the 1665 Plague as identical to 1348: While causes were misunderstood in both cases, 1665 showed improved government organisation — pest houses, Bills of Mortality, paid plague nurses, and enforced quarantine; show change within continuity.
- Saying Charles II "abandoned" London: Charles moved the court to Oxford but continued to govern — his departure was a practical decision to preserve government function, not pure cowardice; the real criticism is that wealthier Londoners also fled, leaving the poor behind.
- Forgetting that Samuel Pepys is a key primary source: Pepys's diary is invaluable evidence for the plague's impact on daily life in London — examiners may provide extracts; always be ready to analyse what a named individual's account reveals about the period.
- Ignoring the financial impact: The plague and simultaneous Second Dutch War together devastated royal finances — Parliament's unwillingness to fund the war was partly a consequence of the economic disruption caused by the plague killing thousands of London's tradespeople.
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Practice Questions for The Plague of 1665
What bacterium caused the bubonic plague that devastated London in 1665?
Approximately how many people died in London during the Great Plague of 1665?
Quick Recall Flashcards
What was miasma theory?
The dominant 17th-century belief that plague was caused by 'bad air' (miasma) from rotting matter. Led to useless responses: bonfires to purify air, posies of flowers, fumigation. The theory was completely wrong — plague was bacterial, spread by fleas on rats.
What were buboes?
Swollen, blackened lymph nodes (usually in groin, armpits, or neck) — the characteristic symptom of bubonic plague. The appearance of buboes triggered house quarantine. Death typically followed within 2-5 days; mortality without treatment was 60-70%.
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