The bubonic plague had come to England for the first time, in the epidemic known as the Black Death, for the first time in 1348-50. At least a third of England's inhabitants died, although recent estimates, which make more use of records of peasant deaths, have revised this upwards to perhaps even more than half. Although one of the terrors of the plague was the way it apparently struck indiscrimately, affecting both rich and poor, the mortality rate among the peasantry does seem to have been higher. Only a decade later, in 1361, the plague struck again, although this time the death rate was lower, at approximately 20 per cent.
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Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Plague occurs in England for the second time". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 31 July 2012 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1981, accessed 23 November 2024.]
