PUNISHMENT SENT FROM ON HIGH? Once the Black Death hit, populations would be obliterated at frightening speed – leaving those left to wonder what they had done to deserve God’s wrath
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Boils were a sign of the Black Death and, despite various methods, doctors could do nothing for the afflicted
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Two ships arrived at the small Dorset port of Melcombe on a June day in 1348. For the local people, their arrival was nothing out of the ordinary. They, like many in England, had heard rumours of a terrible pestilence ravaging Europe, but that did not mean it had to concern them. Such faraway places were beyond their imagination, separated by a sea most had never journeyed across. Instead, the people of Melcombe were more interested in preparing for the Feast of St John the Baptist, one of the oldest of the Christian festivals, marked with bonfires and an open-air feast of roasted meat, bread, cheese and beer.