It was of such a fury and so tempestuous that in houses in which it took hold previously healthy servants who took care of the ill died of the same illness. Almost non of the ill survived past the fourth day.
Neither physicians nor medicines were effective. Whether because these illnesses were previously unknown or because physicians had not previously studied them, there seemed to be no cure.
There was such a fear that no one seemed to know what to do. When it took hold in a house it often happened that no one remained who had not died. And it was not just that men and women died, but even sentient animals died. Dogs, cats, chickens, oxen, donkeys sheep showed the same symptoms and died of the same disease. And almost none, or very few, who showed these symptoms, were cured.
The symptoms were the following: a buboe in the groin, where the thigh meets the trunk; or a small swelling under the armpit; sudden fever; spitting blood and saliva (and no one who spit blood survived it). An egg sized buboe Image from Tom Bacig, University of Minnesota Thanks to Renaissance Links on the WWW for Medicine Amongst all the troubles a macabre sense of humour remained resulting in the nursery rhyme still sung in England by young children today although the meaning has long since been forgotten:
"Ring a ring of roses a pocket full of poses. Atishoo, Atishoo. All fall down."
The roses in the rhyme refer to the red spots and buboes. Poses were used to disguise the smell whereas "all fall down" was the tragic end awaiting most victims. (The rhyme probably dates from the Plague epidemic in the 17th Century).
(Thanks to Lyle Svendsen lsvendse@d.umn.edu and Tom Bacig for their helpful web site at the University of Minnesota)
