"In the year of Our Lord 1349, a violent pestilence broke out beyond measure in the whole of the Kingdom of England, and especially in the City of London, where the people superabounded. So great a multitude eventually died that all the cemeteries of the aforesaid city were insufficient for the burial of the dead. For this reason, many were compelled to bury their dead in places unseemly, not hallowed or blessed; some, it was said, cast the corpses into the river."
- from the introduction

The Black Death of 1348/–49 may have killed more than 50% of the European population, and this book examines the impact of this appalling disaster on England's most populous city. Using previously untapped documentary sources alongside archaeological evidence, a remarkably detailed picture emerges of the arrival, duration, and public response to this epidemic and subsequent 14th-century outbreaks. Wills and civic and royal administration documents provide clear evidence of the speed and severity of the plague, detail how victims made preparations for their heirs and families, and illuminate the immediate social changes that the aftermath brought. The traditional story of the timing and arrival of the plague is challenged and the mortality rate is revised up to 50-60% in the first outbreak, with a population decline of 40–-45% across Edward III's reign.