‘The union of soul and body’ : medical, religious and civic responses to the Great Plague of London, 1665-66 : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History at Massey University, New Zealand
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2025
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Massey University
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Abstract
Historians’ views on seventeenth-century medicine tend to emphasise the changes it was undergoing as part of the medical ‘marketplace,’ broadly in line with trends that would lead to the advent of modern secular medicine, and the demise of traditional Galenic ideas about the human body. Medical crises are often seen as catalysts for change and innovation in medical ideas. The Great Plague of London in 1665-6 was a catastrophic event, and as it turned out, the last of the major plague epidemics to strike England. But whether it prompted changes in views about the causes and treatment of plague is questionable. “New” medical ideas were certainly gaining popularity, but they were opposed by a continued adherence to classical interpretations of the factors which influenced health. It is also argued that religion had begun to play a less important role in explanations for and treatment of plague, but this view can be qualified: the relationship between religion and medicine was still inextricable. This thesis examines responses to the outbreak through the lens of medical pamphlets, sermons and civic legislation to illuminate some of the complexities of attitudes to plague, and to argue that both Galenic theory and religious thought continued to dominate responses to the Great Plague of London.