In the early 17th century, living in London was pretty lousy, and dying was even worse. The first thing the doctor did when trying to cure you was draw up a horoscope to understand which planet was ruining you with its influence (and he was also a good doctor!). It was especially stupid when a person had a stroke or heart attack, and the doctor who came running to the call sat down at the table to make sure that the patient’s Mercury was not in conflict with Mars.
The most common cause of death was consumption, that is, tuberculosis. Scrofula, known as the “King’s Evil,” a tuberculosis infection that affected the lymph nodes in the throat, was also rampant. Despite the belief that the monarch’s touch could cure the disease, scrofula claimed at least 30 Londoners a year between 1629 and 1660.
Dental infections also posed a significant health risk in the 1600s. They were the fifth leading cause of death in London. But there was also bloody diarrhea, smallpox, jaundice and suppuration, which they could not treat back then. Just darkness!
Here are the most curious and strange examples from 1632:
Fever – terrible fever. Most likely malaria.
Apoplexy — a stroke.
Migraine – Strong headache. Likely a symptom of things like a brain tumor, brain hemorrhage, or concussion.
Bloody diarrhea – aka bloody gumboil; dysentery, cholera.
Sudden infant death – death of a baby shortly after birth.
Chrysoma – also the sudden death of a baby who was not baptized (for people of that era this was completely different).
Colic and stones – severe abdominal pain, stones in the bladder and kidneys. Abdominal rupture (appendicitis, bladder rupture, etc.).
Consumption — tuberculosis.
Stone cutting – death during surgery to remove a stone from the bladder.
Dropsy – swelling, accumulation of fluid in any part of the body.
Teaching – epilepsy and fainting.
Smallpox – in general, all diseases that cause ulcers on the body.
French smallpox — syphilis.
Jaundice – liver problems, hepatitis.
“Slack Jaw” – most likely a symptom of tetanus infection.
Suppuration – abscess, deep-seated infection.
Scrofula – aka “Royal Evil”, aka tuberculosis infection of the cervical glands. It was believed that the touch of the monarch would cure this disease.
Lethargy – it can be either coma or depression.
Swollen liver — most likely a euphemism for alcoholism. But this could be a whole range of reasons.
Death by crime – a banal crime.
Removing the baby – death as a result of accidental crushing (the parent rolled over to the other side while sleeping).
Fasting at the wet nurse’s – death of an infant despite good feeding. The child did not grow, wasted away and died.
Hemorrhoids – aka “svai”, aka pochechuy.
Planida – literally death from fate. Any sudden severe illness or paralysis was believed to be due to the influence of some planet. For example, the moon causes madness.
Pleurisy – pneumonia.
Bruisede – bruises on the body. The reasons are unclear, clearly a symptom of many very different diseases.
Tonsillitis – tonsillitis, especially with an abscess and difficulty breathing.
Lung lift – at that time it was believed that if the lungs (after all, they are lungs!) rose too high in the body, the person would die. Perhaps this refers to croup – a very strong, barking cough.
Sudden death – nothing to add: fell, dead.
Binge eating – all deaths associated with obesity. It could also be a euphemism for a person who drank too much and suffocated on his own vomit.
Bloating – also known as tympany, when there is so much gas that slapping the stomach makes it sound like a tambourine, that is, a tambourine.
Cough – obviously another definition of tuberculosis.
Continuing the topic of deaths in London in those years, we advise you to read our old article about murders in the capital of medieval England:
mortal
2024-02-08 11:50:45
#common #death #London
