The Black Death in England

From 1348 to 1350 Europe was devastated by an epidemic of plague, called at the time the Great Mortality and later the Black Death. The epidemic reached southern Europe from the Middle East and spread northward, reaching England in June 1348. Contemporary descriptions leave no doubt of the diagnosis, but estimates of the mortality differ widely owing to lack of contemporary statistics; in England it was probably between one-third and one-half of the population. The Black Death and subsequent plague epidemics in the 14th century had marked social and economic effects, reduced the prestige of the Church and off the medical profession, and were a factor in the social unrest which led to the Renaissance of the Reformation.