Great Plague of London
June 1665
The bubonic plague, which had smoldered in England for decades, erupted in St. Giles and swept London through a hot summer. Seventy thousand perished; carts rolled through the streets each dawn calling for the dead. The king fled to Oxford. Samuel Pepys, who stayed, wrote down everything he saw, leaving a record of suffering and courage unmatched in English prose.
In context
Also in 1665 (3 other events on record)
- Newton's Annus Mirabilis Begins · Europe · Science
- Philosophical Transactions Launched · Europe · Science
- Second Anglo-Dutch War Begins · Europe · War
Before and after in Europe
Before and after in Science
Era
Enlightenment (1651–1800), one of 696 events from that era on Saeculum.