- 3 weeks ago
Category
đŸ“º
TVTranscript
00:00The most drastic limit to our lives that the UK has ever seen.
00:06Pandemic. Lockdown. Self-isolation. New normal.
00:12You could be forgiven for thinking that these words only apply to the COVID-19 crisis.
00:18But as a professor of medieval literature at Oxford, I'm only too aware that we have been here before.
00:25In the middle of the 14th century, the plague swept across the entire world.
00:33And everywhere it struck, as many as half of the population suffered a terrible death.
00:38Kidneys shut down, liver shuts down, spleen shuts down, and eventually the patient dies of toxic shock.
00:44For more than three centuries, we lived in the shadow of the plague.
00:49It transformed our society, our culture, our sense of humanity.
00:55To discover how, I turned to the literature of the time, from one of the earliest accounts in 1347.
01:03Anolo paints images of dogs and wolves running around with arms and legs in the countryside.
01:10Things are even worse.
01:11To the great plague diary of Samuel Pepys.
01:14What does he do? He gets a plug of chewing tobacco, as if that somehow will sort of ward off the plague.
01:23Delving into the BBC's archives to help bring the written words of the past to life,
01:28I'll explore how literature helped us cope with fear and tragedy.
01:33Even in the catastrophe of the Black Death, they tried to keep the administration running.
01:38It's a way of coping, I suppose.
01:40And the importance of bravery and personal sacrifice.
01:44Until the plague is over, the village must be enclosed.
01:49Can words from the past offer us the comfort and healing that we need now?
01:53In a world brought to a virtual standstill by the COVID-19 outbreak,
02:14the life I had grown accustomed to, like everyone else's, seems little more than a distant memory now.
02:25The Oxford College, where I teach medieval literature, history and culture,
02:30is, like almost everywhere, deserted.
02:33Devoid of students and lecturers alike.
02:40Save for the occasional solitary visit, such as this one.
02:50Oxford's great Bodleian Library may be closed,
02:53but here in college I have access to my own personal archive.
02:56And with a decent internet connection,
02:58I can watch films and programmes from the past 65 years of broadcasting.
03:03Like this public information film from 1955.
03:09The world is ours.
03:12Or so we like to think.
03:14And why not?
03:16Haven't we worked to make it ours?
03:20In the post-war era, there was huge optimism
03:23that medical science would finally conquer the diseases
03:26that had threatened us for millennia.
03:28Aren't we secure in our mastery?
03:30We like to think so.
03:34But this flask denies us.
03:37For its contents could strike us down in thousands.
03:40No, it is not a new type of bomb.
03:43It is the smallest creature in the world.
03:45A virus.
03:47The invisible enemy.
03:48This film was a stern warning against complacency with deadly contagion.
03:55And it's a warning that has frightening resonance today.
03:59But my area of expertise is the medieval period,
04:03a time long before we enjoyed the luxury of mass communication.
04:07Nevertheless, people did record their experience.
04:13In the middle of the 14th century,
04:16the world was gripped by another terrifying global pandemic.
04:20And we can turn to their writings now to see what that felt like.
04:24When I first heard the news of the Covid outbreak,
04:27I was immediately struck by the parallels with the past.
04:31It's a highly infectious contagion that first emerged in Asia
04:34and seems to have moved to humans from the animal kingdom.
04:38It's spread rapidly across the whole globe.
04:41It's a true pandemic.
04:42And it entered Europe via Italy.
04:45Anyone can catch it.
04:47Anyone could die from it.
04:48And it's changed how we feel about the world we live in.
04:53Well, close to 700 years ago,
04:56there was another deadly pandemic that followed a very similar pattern.
05:00And that was the bubonic plague.
05:04To find out how news of the plague first reached England,
05:08I turned to Simon Sharma's History of Britain.
05:10In this episode, he revealed how, then as now,
05:16horrifying stories of the contagion swept across Europe
05:19ahead of the disease itself.
05:24By the time it got to the great ports of Southampton and Bristol,
05:28there were already stories from traumatised cities of Italy
05:31as to how and where it had begun.
05:34In the east, on the plains of Central Asia,
05:37another of the horrors carried on the backs of the Mongol hordes.
05:43The plague cut a swathe of destruction,
05:46eastwards to China and India,
05:48and westwards into Crimea and Turkey.
05:53We can see the similarities.
05:56The xenophobic reaction that accompanied the disease's arrival,
06:00and the fact that Italy would become Europe's grand zero.
06:07In the great city of Florence,
06:09the fatality rate had been astonishing.
06:13Nearly three-quarters of the population were killed.
06:17And now, in Siena,
06:19the death toll was soon rising.
06:26One of the earliest eyewitness accounts of the plague,
06:29the diary of Siena merchant Agnolo di Tura,
06:32gives us an immediate, personal insight
06:34into something almost indescribable.
06:37It was a cruel and horrible thing.
06:41One became stupefied by seeing the pain and suffering.
06:46Blessed are those who did not witness such horror.
06:50People were dying in such numbers and so quickly
06:54that they could not have proper burials.
06:58Agnolo paints images of dogs and wolves
07:01running around with arms and legs,
07:04and then says,
07:05in the contado, in the countryside,
07:07things are even worse.
07:10Father, abandoned child.
07:13Wife, husband.
07:15One brother, another.
07:16What fascinates me is how di Tura's account
07:23begins as an attempt to recount history dispassionately,
07:27but it becomes impossible.
07:29The tragedy becomes his own.
07:32No one could be found to bury the dead
07:35for money or friendship.
07:39And I, Agnolo di Tura,
07:42buried my five children
07:45with my own hands.
07:51The plague spread inexorably across Europe,
07:54carried in all directions.
07:57In the summer of 1348,
07:59it arrived on the south coast of England.
08:03By November,
08:05it had reached London.
08:06As a specialist in medieval literature,
08:15the historical context is vital
08:17to understanding the world our authors lived in.
08:20Maintaining a suitably safe distance,
08:23I asked Hannah Skoda
08:24to paint me a picture of the plague's arrival.
08:27This is a period of really intensive
08:30and also expanding international trade.
08:32So it comes in via ships in Italy
08:35and then it travels very rapidly through France.
08:39It arrives in England,
08:40probably via Dorset
08:42and then spreads very, very quickly.
08:45I have been struck looking back
08:46at the various chronicles,
08:47just random chronicles from the period
08:49where they'll give you a paragraph
08:51of total horror
08:52and then say,
08:54anyway, so back to the war in France
08:55and here's what was happening.
08:57Yeah, I quite agree.
08:58It's absolutely staggering
08:59how many 14th century texts
09:01are actually, I don't know,
09:03they don't seem to be that bothered by the plague
09:05or at least they prepared to see it
09:06as part of a bigger picture.
09:08And maybe that's the point
09:10that this is something really horrific
09:11which is going on
09:12but it's happening at the same time
09:14as climate disaster.
09:17The early 14th century
09:18is often labelled as a mini ice age.
09:22Dramatic climactic change
09:24leads to a series of catastrophic harvest failures
09:26and a cattle moraine
09:28which engenders this huge, catastrophic famine.
09:30It's happening at the same time
09:32as endemic warfare.
09:33It's happening at the same time
09:35as mass poverty and famine
09:37on a horrendous scale.
09:39Which doesn't mean they're blasé
09:40about the Black Death at all.
09:41It's clearly an absolutely terrifying phenomenon.
09:44But the idea that, you know,
09:46mass death is round the corner
09:47is perhaps, you know,
09:49it's going to have a different kind of resonance
09:50to how it feels now.
09:51Compared with what we're facing today
09:55the sheer mortality rate of the plague
09:58was unimaginably horrific.
10:00This contemporary chronicle from England
10:02echoes the account of Agnolo di Tura.
10:06Mortality devoured such a multitude of both sexes
10:09that no one could be found
10:11to carry the bodies of the dead to burial.
10:15But men and women
10:16carried the bodies of their own little ones
10:19to church on their shoulders
10:20and threw them into mass graves
10:22from which arose such a stink
10:25that it was barely possible
10:27for anyone to go past a churchyard.
10:32Given how sensitised we have all become
10:35to hearing about the symptoms of COVID-19
10:37there really is no pleasant way
10:40of describing the onset of the plague.
10:43Within a few days of a bite
10:45from an infected flea
10:46the lymph nodes of the neck
10:48or groin
10:49or armpit
10:50would swell up
10:51and turn black.
10:53A horrible sign
10:54that later gave the disease
10:56the name Black Death.
10:58Amid violent fever
11:00and agonising pain
11:01the immune system
11:03was soon overwhelmed.
11:06If the infection reached the lungs
11:08death came after
11:09just a couple of days
11:11of bloody coughing.
11:12and this form of the plague
11:14could be caught
11:15by inhaling
11:16the tiniest droplets
11:17on the air.
11:19The bubonic plague
11:20would start off
11:21very similar
11:21to a lot of other diseases.
11:23You would often
11:24become quite lethargic.
11:25You would have
11:26a fever and chills.
11:28That's sounding
11:28a bit familiar.
11:30It absolutely is.
11:32It would feel
11:33a little bit flu-like.
11:34Through her studies
11:34in medieval witchcraft
11:35and medicine
11:36Tabitha Stanmore
11:37has researched
11:38the primary written sources
11:40on the plague.
11:41I asked her to describe
11:42what sufferers
11:43must have felt.
11:44The initial response
11:45from the body
11:45would just be
11:46to try to kill off
11:47as much of
11:48this infection as possible.
11:50And to do that
11:51it sends it to the lymph system
11:52which is our kind of immune system
11:53and tries to drain it
11:55through the lymph nodes.
11:57And the main lymph nodes
11:58in the body
11:58are in the neck
11:59in the armpits
12:00and in the groin.
12:01That's when the bubo
12:02start to appear.
12:03And these buboes
12:04would be large swellings.
12:06They'd grow in size
12:07over the course
12:08of four to six days
12:09and they would
12:10become very, very tender.
12:13It's deeply uncomfortable.
12:16They become very tender
12:17and they start to weep pus
12:19if you're lucky.
12:20Actually, you're much more likely
12:21to recover from
12:22bubonic plague
12:23if the buboes
12:24start to weep.
12:25But that's how
12:26the bubonic plague works.
12:27It begins with these buboes
12:28on the outside of the body
12:29but also the bacteria
12:31ends up going
12:32throughout your lymph system.
12:33So you end up
12:34having these boils
12:34inside as well.
12:36So you've got
12:37incredible pain
12:37on the outside
12:38from these buboes
12:39and you've also got
12:39just tremendous pain
12:42in your torso
12:42as well.
12:43And eventually
12:44the lymphatic system
12:45just gets overwhelmed.
12:46Your kidneys shut down,
12:47liver shuts down,
12:48spleen shuts down
12:49and eventually
12:50the patient dies
12:50of toxic shock.
12:51Right.
12:53Yeah.
12:56So what can we take
12:57from all this
12:58other than a queasy
12:59sense of relief
13:00that we really hope
13:02doesn't turn out
13:02to be hubris
13:03that things now
13:04are absolutely
13:05not as bad
13:06as they were back then?
13:07Well, we might hope
13:10that medical science
13:11could give us the answers.
13:13After all,
13:13surely by now
13:14we've pinned down
13:15how the plague works.
13:20Well, surprisingly,
13:22not quite.
13:24Most, but not all,
13:26scientists agree
13:27that the cause
13:27of the Black Death
13:28was the bacterium
13:29Yersinia pestis.
13:31But just as we face
13:33many unanswered questions
13:34about COVID-19,
13:36the plague's precise
13:37mode of transmission
13:38is disputed
13:39even today.
13:42Some argue
13:43that person-to-person
13:44contagion
13:45or bites
13:46from another
13:47vector insect,
13:48human fleas
13:49or lice
13:50could also
13:50have played a part.
13:52So what hope
13:53did they have
13:54of understanding
13:55it in the 14th century?
13:56The literature focuses
14:01on an invisible enemy
14:02carried on foul-smelling air,
14:05the so-called
14:05miasma.
14:08And if sickness
14:09arose from stench,
14:11they reasoned,
14:11then sweet smells
14:13were an obvious remedy.
14:14I get a real sense
14:20of tragic optimism
14:21in the recipes
14:22and potions
14:23they devise
14:24to guard against infection
14:25or to act as a cure
14:27for the stricken.
14:31Five cups of rue
14:33if it be a man
14:34and if it be a woman
14:35leave out the rue.
14:37Five little blades
14:38of columbine,
14:40a great quantity
14:41of marigold flowers.
14:44An egg
14:45that is newly laid
14:47and make a hole
14:49in one end
14:49and blow out
14:50all that is within
14:51and lay it
14:52to the fire
14:53and roast it
14:54till ground
14:55to powder
14:56but do not burn it
14:57and brew
14:59all these herbs
15:00with good ale
15:01but do not strain them
15:03and make the sick
15:05drink it
15:05for three evenings
15:07and mornings.
15:09If they hold it
15:10in their stomach,
15:12they shall have life.
15:14So what kind of remedies
15:18or cures
15:19or ways to help themselves
15:20did people try?
15:22Pretty much everything.
15:24This is a new disease.
15:26Nothing that people
15:27have been using
15:28for centuries beforehand
15:29worked on this particular disease.
15:31What probably wouldn't
15:31have helped very much
15:32is that people also
15:33went on pilgrimages
15:33as a way of trying
15:35to absolve their own sin
15:38but yes,
15:39at the same time
15:39definitely spreading
15:40the disease.
15:41But there are also
15:42more practical cures
15:43as well.
15:44So spitting
15:45or urinating
15:47on a piece of bread
15:49or a biscuit
15:49or something like that.
15:50If a sick person
15:51does that
15:52and then you feed
15:52the biscuit to a dog
15:53then the dog dies
15:54and the person's cured.
15:56Yeah.
15:57Right.
15:57Yeah.
15:58Transference.
16:01While such remedies
16:02were probably
16:03less harmful
16:04than, say,
16:05injecting oneself
16:06with disinfectant,
16:08it was hardly surprising
16:09that they proved
16:10less than potent
16:11against bubonic plague.
16:12At a time
16:16when writing
16:16was still scarce
16:17and much
16:18has been lost,
16:19any surviving documents
16:20give a valuable insight.
16:22Michael Wood
16:23based this entire series
16:24on the history
16:25of a single village,
16:26Kibworth,
16:27in Leicestershire.
16:28When the time
16:29of the Black Death
16:30arrived,
16:31Wood discovered
16:32the kind of quiet heroism
16:33that can be read
16:34in administrative documents
16:36in the villages
16:39continuing to keep
16:40their local records
16:41up to date
16:42as the death toll
16:43kept on rising.
16:4722, 1348.
16:54So the college,
16:55even in the catastrophe
16:56of the Black Death,
16:58they tried to keep
16:59the administration running
17:00and, um...
17:03The rhythm of life
17:04just continues
17:05and it's a way
17:05of coping, I suppose.
17:07It's an incredibly
17:08human response
17:09in catastrophe,
17:10isn't it,
17:11to...
17:12keep things
17:13ordered, I suppose.
17:14Yeah.
17:14Yeah.
17:16Right.
17:17So 1349.
17:181348, yeah.
17:19The year of the Black Death.
17:21And we know
17:21what time of year
17:22this was, do we?
17:2314th of May.
17:24Cool.
17:27These brief,
17:28impersonal records
17:29tell a powerful story.
17:31The village of Kibworth
17:32lost nearly half
17:33of its population
17:34to the plague.
17:35But then,
17:36there was nothing
17:37unusual in that.
17:43It was a story
17:44repeated all across
17:4514th century Europe
17:46where the highest
17:47estimates suggest
17:48that as many
17:49as 50 million died,
17:51or 60%
17:52of the entire population.
17:54The global figure
17:56may be as high
17:57as 200 million.
17:58modern equivalent
18:01is like the
18:01First World War
18:02with a whole generation
18:04signing up
18:04and going off together
18:06and not coming back.
18:07What I'm discovering
18:10is that in the face
18:11of such utter devastation,
18:14people wanted,
18:15needed to know why.
18:17With religion,
18:19not science,
18:20the dominant force,
18:21I asked Tabitha
18:22how people tried
18:23to answer this.
18:25People at the time
18:25were comparing it
18:26to biblical plagues
18:27of the past,
18:28trying to find
18:29some sort of rationale
18:30or origin for it.
18:31And a lot of the symptoms
18:33were quite similar
18:33to, or people were finding,
18:34comparisons with passages
18:36in Deuteronomy.
18:37about how God
18:39sent down punishments
18:40of great burnings,
18:42great sufferings
18:45and inflammations,
18:46for example.
18:47And they were able
18:47to tie that directly
18:48to the buboes
18:49that people were having
18:49and the fevers
18:50that people were experiencing.
18:51So did they assume
18:52then that sufferers
18:53had been sinful
18:54or because everyone
18:56was affected,
18:57did that just mean
18:58all of humanity
18:58has been sinful?
19:00What do we do about that?
19:02Pretty much, yeah.
19:03There was a big
19:04sort of soul-searching
19:05across Europe
19:06about what was causing
19:07this and what Europeans
19:08could have possibly done
19:10to bring this sort
19:11of punishment
19:11on themselves.
19:13I can think of some things.
19:15Well, people did try
19:17to repent
19:19in various different ways.
19:20So they were trying
19:21to repent
19:21on an individual level
19:22by praying
19:22and there was
19:23a brief spike
19:25in flagellation.
19:25So people progressing
19:28through towns
19:29and villages
19:30across, especially
19:32Central and Eastern Europe,
19:33just beating themselves
19:34with whips
19:35or beating each other
19:35with whips
19:36to try to remove
19:38some of the sins
19:38from their bodies.
19:41Many thought
19:42it was a miracle,
19:44God's vengeance
19:44for the sins of the world,
19:46which is why
19:48some then,
19:49out of deep devotion,
19:51began a harsh
19:52and extraordinary
19:52form of penance.
19:55In Germany
19:56and elsewhere,
19:58twice a day
19:58they'd stop
19:59and strip down
20:00to their underclothes
20:01and flog themselves
20:03with all their might,
20:04singing all the while
20:05with spiked scourges
20:07so that blood
20:08poured from their shoulders
20:10and all over them.
20:14I think what's really
20:14striking about
20:15the flagellants
20:16is that they see
20:17themselves obviously
20:18as absolutely orthodox
20:20and part of the church
20:21and, you know,
20:22kind of performing penitence
20:23on behalf of society
20:24as a whole.
20:25They think they're doing
20:25absolutely the right thing
20:27and are slightly stunned
20:27to find the church
20:29a bit less happy
20:29about what they're up to.
20:31And what the church
20:31is afraid of
20:32is just the sheer
20:33kind of intensity
20:34and emotiveness
20:37of what they're doing
20:38that this looks like
20:39something which can
20:39very quickly
20:40get out of control.
20:42Well, if God
20:43wasn't the answer,
20:44then one of my
20:45favourite plague works
20:46suggests another option,
20:48at least if you were wealthy.
20:50Run away.
20:53Giovanni Boccaccio
20:54wrote The Decameron
20:55in the immediate wake
20:56of the epidemic
20:57of 1348.
20:59And in it,
20:59ten young people
21:00escaped plague-ridden Florence
21:01to a country house
21:03where they spent
21:03ten days
21:04telling stories
21:05to one another.
21:10I purpose
21:11for the succor
21:13and solace
21:13of ladies in love
21:15to recount
21:16one hundred stories
21:17related by
21:18an honourable company
21:20of seven ladies
21:21and three young men
21:22made in the days
21:23of the late
21:24deadly pestilence.
21:27In these stories
21:28will be found
21:29love chances,
21:31both gladsome
21:32and grievous,
21:33and other accidents
21:35of fortune
21:35befallen,
21:36as well in times
21:38present as in days
21:39of all.
21:41The Decameron
21:41is wonderful.
21:43It's a huge number
21:44of stories,
21:44most of them
21:45about love,
21:46some are tragic,
21:47some are funny,
21:47some are silly.
21:49And Boccaccio
21:50says that he's writing
21:51for those who need
21:52distraction
21:53and for those who need
21:54to find a way
21:55to deal with
21:56the ravages of fortune.
21:57And actually for us
21:58now there's something
21:59quite direct there
22:00because he says
22:00he's particularly
22:01writing for ladies
22:02because ladies
22:03spend all their time
22:04in the small space
22:05of their chambers,
22:06sitting there with
22:07next to nothing to do,
22:08wanting and not wanting
22:09at the same time,
22:10with all sorts of thoughts
22:12going through their minds,
22:13which can't possibly
22:14always be cheerful ones.
22:15and I think
22:17that speaks to us now.
22:22The murderous intensity
22:23of the plague
22:24in 1348
22:25couldn't last.
22:26By 1350
22:27people were beginning
22:28to hope that
22:28some kind of normal life
22:30might be restored.
22:31The plague never went away.
22:33It recurred
22:34and reappeared
22:35many times
22:35over the next
22:36three centuries or more.
22:38But in the aftermath
22:39of that initial
22:40huge devastation
22:41society was profoundly changed.
22:45For one thing
22:48there were no more serfs.
22:50For centuries
22:51being a serf
22:53meant being tied
22:54by custom
22:55and by birth
22:56to your local lord.
22:58He gave you
22:59a tiny spot of land
23:00on which you could farm
23:01and in return
23:03you put in hours
23:04of grinding toil
23:06unpaid
23:07on his very big farm.
23:10There were other ways too
23:11in which you were
23:12not at all free.
23:13You had to ask
23:14his permission to marry.
23:16And you were not
23:16repeat not
23:17ever to leave.
23:19Until that is
23:20the Black Death.
23:22Now there was
23:22a desperate
23:23labour shortage
23:24and the simple
23:25operation of the laws
23:27of supply and demand
23:28meant that
23:29for the first time
23:30you could actually
23:31set the terms
23:32of the deal.
23:33He wanted some
23:34labour out of you.
23:35Well then you could say
23:36why not start
23:37by paying me something.
23:39He wants you
23:40to move into
23:41a piece of land
23:43which otherwise
23:43would go to
23:44rack and ruin.
23:44you respond
23:46by saying
23:46okay cut the rent.
23:48And if the law
23:49then says
23:50not a chance
23:51you impertinent
23:52so and so
23:52well then you just
23:53up sticks
23:54and find someone else
23:55who's got a
23:56more secure grip
23:57on the new
23:58economic facts
23:59of life.
24:00Well hundreds
24:01of thousands
24:02of peasants
24:02must have done
24:03just that
24:04and there was
24:05nothing anybody
24:06could do about it.
24:07I wanted to find
24:12out more
24:12about how people
24:13from both ends
24:14of the social
24:14spectrum
24:15responded to
24:16this social
24:17upheaval.
24:18How much
24:19of a threat
24:19do you think
24:20this represented
24:21to existing
24:22social structures?
24:25So I think
24:25there's two ways
24:26of thinking
24:26about the threat.
24:27Firstly
24:27you can think
24:28about panic
24:29about social
24:30disorder
24:31and whether
24:32people are going
24:33to make the most
24:33of this situation
24:34to go out
24:34and loot
24:35and rob
24:35and kill people
24:37and do all kinds
24:38of dissolute
24:38things as well.
24:39And we said
24:40there's a lot
24:40of that paranoia
24:41cropping up
24:42in Chronicle material
24:43but I think
24:44that's a paranoia
24:45on the part
24:45of those in power.
24:46But the other way
24:47of thinking
24:47about disorder
24:48and social
24:49structures
24:49is to think
24:52about the
24:53socio-economic
24:53impact of
24:54mass demographic
24:56decline.
24:58And of course
24:58there disproportionately
24:59it affects the
25:00poor.
25:00So you have
25:01fewer labourers
25:02around.
25:02So those who
25:03are left
25:03are in a position
25:04to start
25:05demanding
25:06slightly more
25:07humane
25:07working conditions
25:09and higher wages
25:10to demand
25:12the possibility
25:13of moving
25:13between
25:14manors
25:16in order to
25:17seek better
25:17conditions
25:18and so on.
25:19And that
25:19certainly
25:19engenders
25:20a degree
25:22of anxiety
25:23panic even.
25:24This is where
25:24the government
25:25starts trying
25:26to cap wages
25:26and just stop
25:27this happening.
25:27Exactly.
25:30The response
25:31was unremissingly
25:32harsh and punitive.
25:35A series of
25:36ultimately
25:36ineffectual laws
25:38sought to keep
25:39the peasants
25:39in their place
25:40by capping wages
25:42and outlawing
25:43free movement.
25:44Records show
25:45vast numbers
25:46were arbitrarily
25:47fined or punished,
25:48demonised for being
25:49idle,
25:50for refusing to
25:51labour in their
25:52lord's fields
25:52as they sought
25:53work elsewhere
25:54for better pay.
25:55It's kind of
25:56an unprecedented
25:57moment really
25:57that the
25:58English government
25:59at this stage
26:00thinks they can
26:00step in
26:01and say
26:02you are not
26:03allowed to pay
26:04your labourers
26:05above a certain
26:05amount
26:06and you're not
26:07allowed to take
26:07labourers who've
26:08come from
26:09a nearby
26:09manor.
26:11You start seeing
26:11literary rhetoric
26:12about this as well,
26:13talking about
26:13idlers and
26:14wasters.
26:15And this is
26:15clearly ridiculous
26:16that this is
26:17people who are
26:17just asking for
26:18enough pay
26:19to do the job
26:20that they're
26:20being asked to do.
26:21Exactly.
26:21In 1381,
26:25thousands of
26:26England's people
26:27rose in protest
26:28against ever-increasing
26:29taxation and
26:30legal mistreatment,
26:32the so-called
26:33Peasants' Revolt.
26:37And after the
26:38levelling horrors
26:39of the plague,
26:40we can see why
26:41one of its leaders,
26:43the chaplain
26:43John Ball,
26:44preached.
26:45That from the
26:46beginning,
26:47all men were
26:48made alike by
26:49nature,
26:50and that bondage
26:51and servitude
26:52was brought in
26:53by oppression
26:53of naughty men
26:54against the
26:55will of God.
26:57For if it had
26:57pleased God
26:58to have made
26:58bondsmen,
26:59he would have
27:00appointed them
27:01from the
27:01beginning of
27:02the world
27:02who should
27:03be slave
27:03and who
27:04lord.
27:07No one yet
27:08knows how
27:10or when
27:11we'll emerge
27:12from this
27:12coronavirus crisis,
27:13but it seems
27:14certain that
27:15whatever happens
27:16next,
27:17the world is
27:17going to look
27:17very different
27:18from how it
27:19looked before.
27:19And we've
27:21seen that in
27:21the 14th century
27:22after the Black
27:23Death,
27:23society was
27:24profoundly changed.
27:26And so one
27:27question is,
27:28what can we see
27:29of that in
27:29literature,
27:30in art?
27:35Heavily influenced
27:36by Boccaccio's
27:38Decameron,
27:39Geoffrey Chaucer's
27:40most famous work,
27:41The Canterbury Tales,
27:42became a medieval
27:43bestseller,
27:44and it was one of
27:45the first major
27:46English publications
27:47to emerge from
27:47the printing
27:48presses of
27:49Thomas Caxton.
27:552011's
27:56Beauty of Books
27:57series treated
27:58us to a
27:59remarkably rare
28:00illustrated copy
28:01of Caxton's
28:02second edition
28:03held at
28:04St John's
28:04College,
28:05Oxford.
28:08It was printed
28:09in either
28:091482 or
28:101483,
28:12and this one's
28:12particularly special
28:13because it's
28:14the most
28:14complete text
28:15of the
28:15Canterbury Tales,
28:16it's the only
28:16one which
28:16actually has
28:17the whole
28:17lot.
28:20Canterbury Tales
28:21is Chaucer's
28:22unfinished
28:22masterpiece.
28:23This is my
28:24student edition
28:25that I've had
28:25since then,
28:26and it's the
28:26most astonishing
28:27work.
28:28It's a riot of
28:28different voices,
28:30different people,
28:31and the way that
28:31they leap into
28:32shot, and you
28:33hear about their
28:34dreams and their
28:35hopes and their
28:35failures and their
28:36hypocrisies and
28:37their idiocies,
28:38and all the things
28:39that they want from
28:40the world around
28:40them.
28:40And it's as
28:41though Chaucer
28:42tried to tell
28:42us everything
28:43there is to
28:44know about the
28:44people of his
28:45world.
28:46And of course,
28:46by telling us
28:47that, he also
28:48tells us everything
28:49there is to
28:49know about us
28:50now.
28:56The 24 tales
28:58are told by a
28:58group of pilgrims
28:59en route to
29:00Canterbury Cathedral.
29:04Pilgrimage has
29:04attracted everyone
29:05from all parts
29:06of society.
29:08Chaucer's
29:09pilgrims range
29:10from the noble
29:10knight, hero
29:11of the Crusades,
29:12to the dishonest
29:13miller who
29:14cons his
29:15customers.
29:18But it's the
29:19clerical characters,
29:20members and
29:21officials of the
29:21church, who
29:22receive the
29:23greatest criticism
29:24as he exposes
29:25them for hypocrisy
29:27and corruption.
29:28His satire ranges
29:30from the gentle
29:32satire about the
29:33prioress, who is
29:34very tender-hearted
29:35and weeps if
29:36people beat her
29:37little dogs with
29:38sticks, to the
29:40friar, who is a
29:41pleasant enough
29:42man, though he
29:43does pay for the
29:44marriages of a lot
29:45of young women at
29:46his own cost, which
29:47suggests that he's
29:47probably impregnated
29:48them.
29:49But when he gets to
29:50the lower officials of
29:51the church, particularly
29:52figures like the
29:53pardoner, though he
29:54finds him
29:54psychologically
29:55interesting, the
29:56whole business of
29:57selling pardons is
29:58something which I
29:58think horrifies him.
29:59The pardoner regales
30:03his companions with
30:04a morality tale
30:05intended to show
30:06that the love of
30:07money is the root of
30:08all evil.
30:10This 2003 adaptation
30:12starring Johnny Lee
30:13Miller transplants the
30:14action to modern-day
30:15Rochester.
30:16If there is a god, which
30:23there isn't, would he
30:25want these temples?
30:27Sort of japs and
30:28yanks with their
30:29instamatic jobbies
30:30dangling round their
30:30necks?
30:32What are you, then?
30:33I'm a nothing, mate.
30:35Yeah, you said it.
30:39The language, fashion and
30:41setting may all have
30:42changed, but the core
30:43story elements remain
30:44largely intact.
30:47Spurred on by a local
30:49tragedy, three drunken
30:51wastrels set off to
30:52destroy death himself.
30:55But when they happen
30:56across a stash of gold,
30:58temptation gets the
31:00better of them.
31:03Their actions descend
31:05into treachery, betrayal
31:07and violence.
31:09I hope you're dressed
31:10for dinner, as I am.
31:11Which ultimately leads
31:16to the untimely death
31:17of all three.
31:18And I think to myself,
31:23ah, what a wonderful
31:25world.
31:27It's a pretty
31:27straightforward lesson
31:28on the evils of greed,
31:30until you remember who
31:32is actually telling this
31:34tale.
31:34The Pardner carries
31:38false relics around
31:39with him, pig's bones
31:41that he claims are
31:42those of saints,
31:43pillowcases that he
31:44passes off as fragments
31:46of the Virgin's Veil.
31:49The idea is that
31:51gullible people will
31:52charitably give him
31:53money to see these
31:54relics, and that that
31:56will help to save
31:57their souls.
31:59The Pardner is a
32:00terrifying figure,
32:01because he's completely
32:02open about his
32:03dishonesty.
32:04He looks the pilgrims
32:05in the eye, and he
32:06says to them,
32:07for loch meself be a
32:09full vicious man,
32:10a moral taler yeti
32:11yowtelakhan, which
32:13ye am wont to
32:13preacher for to
32:14winna.
32:15That is, he says,
32:16I am evil, but I
32:18can tell you a moral
32:19tale, and then you'll
32:20give me money, and
32:21that's how it will go,
32:22because you don't
32:23believe either, do you?
32:24We're all going to
32:25hell together.
32:29Despite its themes
32:30of mortality and
32:31damnation, however,
32:33the Pardner's tale is
32:34typical of the fiction
32:35of this period in one
32:37surprising way.
32:39It makes almost no
32:40mention of the plague.
32:43Chaucer actually lived
32:44through the Black Death
32:45as a young boy, yet
32:47somehow, the
32:48Canterbury Tales
32:48barely touches on it.
32:51In some ways, there's a
32:52kind of cultural amnesia
32:54about plague.
32:55You know, in the
32:56literature, it's not
32:57there.
32:57You know, Chaucer
32:57doesn't mention it.
32:59He must have
32:59remembered it.
33:01Everyone must have
33:02remembered this as a
33:03hugely formative
33:03experience, and people
33:04don't write about it.
33:05They don't appear to
33:06talk.
33:06It's very strange,
33:07isn't it?
33:07So I think all kinds
33:09of interesting things
33:09are happening in terms
33:10of people's reactions
33:12to and responses to
33:14death per se.
33:16The dance of death,
33:17for example, you know,
33:18becomes a really
33:18common motif that in
33:19death we're all reduced
33:20to the same level, you
33:21know, kings, bishops,
33:22peasants, whatever.
33:24But at the same time,
33:25you don't see those
33:26points pinned precisely
33:27on the idea of plague,
33:28and as a concept, it
33:29doesn't crop up in
33:30literature particularly.
33:32It is very, very
33:33striking.
33:33I mean, in a sense,
33:34what strikes one most
33:35reading through the
33:36records and the
33:37chronicles from the
33:39period is the sense
33:40of resilience that
33:41people do manage
33:42somehow to keep going.
33:45The world looked
33:46different after the
33:47first great outbreak
33:48of plague.
33:49Every few years, the
33:51disease would come
33:51back, and every time
33:53it returned again,
33:54they would close the
33:55theatres, close the
33:57colleges, there would
33:58be lockdowns and
33:59quarantine and people
34:00staying away from
34:01each other.
34:04Plague resurfaced
34:05probably between every
34:07decade or every few
34:07decades thereafter.
34:09It didn't really go
34:10away until the 19th
34:11century in some areas.
34:13So it was something
34:14that people ultimately
34:16just almost got used
34:17to.
34:18It was still terrifying,
34:19but it wasn't new
34:20anymore.
34:21In 14th century
34:24Italy, ships arriving
34:26in Venice from
34:27infected ports were
34:28required by law to
34:29sit at anchor for 40
34:30days before landing.
34:34In fact, it was the
34:35Italian word for 40,
34:37quaranta, that gave us
34:39the term quarantine.
34:43It was a very patchy
34:44response, and even when
34:45lockdowns were put in
34:47place, people still
34:48didn't really want to
34:48adhere to their
34:50lockdowns often.
34:52But for the same
34:53reasons that people
34:54don't want to adhere to
34:54it today.
34:55But of course, that does
34:55help the disease to
34:56spread, and it does
34:57make the epidemic
34:58worse.
34:59I do find myself
35:00thinking that this is
35:01what we'll be living
35:03in now, that lockdown
35:05can't be sustained and
35:06people die, and over
35:08time we all know
35:09someone who has had
35:10this disease, and it's
35:11a frightening prospect.
35:13But at the same time,
35:14you think, well, okay,
35:15we have been here
35:16before.
35:16Mm.
35:20London's last major
35:21encounter with the
35:22plague came, famously,
35:24in 1665.
35:27I'm not sure this
35:29studio-based drama
35:30from the mid-'80s,
35:32complete with wobbly
35:33sets and not very
35:34special effects, quite
35:36achieves the realism
35:37needed to convey the
35:38scale of the horror.
35:39Sweat, sweat.
35:43He must sweat.
35:45In the middle of the
35:46Christmas holy days, I
35:47was called to a young
35:48man in a fever.
35:50He had two great
35:51swellings, one on each
35:53thigh.
35:55When I saw them, I
35:57pronounced his sickness
35:58to be plague.
36:03Plague, a fearful and
36:05deadly disease.
36:07No one at that time knew
36:08what caused it.
36:13This was one of the
36:14first cases, and the
36:16beginning of the
36:17great plague.
36:19Yep.
36:20Here we go again.
36:23London, in the winter
36:24of 1665.
36:26More than 100,000 people
36:28are going to die in
36:30the year ahead.
36:32Much of what we know
36:33about this terrible year
36:34comes from the writings
36:35of two men.
36:36The Doctor, Nathaniel
36:39Hodges.
36:40An account of the
36:41plague in London by
36:43Nathaniel Hodges.
36:45And Samuel Pepys, who
36:47lived in London and kept
36:48a diary of what he did
36:50day by day.
36:52It being a very fine,
36:54frosty day, I walked to
36:56Whitehall.
36:58This last winter hath been
36:59as hard a winter as any
37:01there hath been these
37:02many years.
37:05As a fellow professor
37:07of literature at Oxford,
37:09Abigail Williams specialises
37:10in works from the 17th and
37:1218th centuries.
37:13Samuel Pepys is writing
37:14his diary between 1660
37:16and 1670, and it wasn't
37:19published until 100 years
37:20later, and he wrote it in
37:22a kind of shorthand.
37:24So it's not really clear
37:25whether or not he thought
37:27people were going to see
37:28it afterwards, but it's
37:29really extraordinary because
37:31it combines all aspects of
37:33his life.
37:33He hasn't really curated it
37:34in any way.
37:35So he talks about his sex
37:37life, he talks about
37:38shopping, he talks about
37:39politics, his professional
37:40development, he talks about
37:43the plague, the great fire of
37:44London, and they're all
37:45jumbled together in
37:46individual daily diary
37:47entries.
37:48So he talks about the
37:48plague right next to then
37:49saying, oh, and I went
37:51shopping.
37:52Yeah, I did amazing
37:53dancing last night with a
37:54load of people who came
37:55around secretly.
37:57Breaking lockdown.
37:58Yeah.
37:59What does he tell us about
38:00the plague then, in amongst
38:01all his other stuff?
38:02Part of it is a kind of
38:03keeping tally of the
38:04numbers of the dead, and
38:06he talks about visiting
38:07parts of London where he's
38:08really shocked, those
38:09cramped conditions in which
38:11poor people are living.
38:12He tells us about what it
38:14looks and feels like, being
38:15there, seeing bodies
38:16carried out.
38:17He talks about the fear of
38:19contagion.
38:20He worries about sending his
38:22wife to Woolwich and whether
38:24if he goes to Woolwich he can
38:25come back.
38:26So similar kinds of issues
38:27around getting stuck somewhere
38:30when the conditions change.
38:32In 2003, Mr. Pepys's diary took
38:40us deeper inside this
38:41invaluable record of life in
38:4317th century London.
38:49Writer Ian Sinclair picked up
38:51the story of the Great Plague a
38:53few months after the initial
38:54outbreak, when the weather may
38:56have improved, but little else
38:57had.
39:00It's June the 7th, which
39:02Pepys describes as the hottest
39:04day of his life, and he's
39:06having one of those great days
39:07of his in London, wandering
39:08about, comes to Drury Lane,
39:10and then with horror realises
39:12that the red crosses of the
39:14plague are on the doors.
39:15It's kind of at the margin of
39:16things, but he becomes aware for
39:19the first time of his own smell.
39:21You know, everybody stank,
39:23everybody reeked at that time,
39:24but smell is a new concept.
39:27And so what does he do?
39:28He gets a plug of chewing
39:29tobacco, and he starts to chew
39:32this tobacco, as if that
39:33somehow will sort of ward off
39:35the plague, and that deals
39:37with the plague.
39:38Forget about it.
39:41That won't keep the plague
39:42away, Sam.
39:43That won't do you any good
39:44at all.
39:46Tobacco.
39:47Here.
39:49I'll make you up some of
39:50these to suck.
39:54The centuries that had passed
39:56since the Black Death had done
39:57little to improve our medical
39:59expertise.
40:02There.
40:04This is what we call a
40:05cataplasm.
40:06It contains fenugreek and
40:08linseed and some egg.
40:10It'll treat the inflammation
40:11and yet keep the pores open,
40:12you'll see.
40:14Now.
40:15Forced to observe a strict
40:16quarantine policy, members of
40:18infected households were
40:19vulnerable to the most
40:20outlandish conspiracy theories,
40:22and sometimes from those you
40:24should know better.
40:27Doctor.
40:28If we're to be shut in this
40:30house for 40 days, we shall
40:32need a nurse, if only to
40:34fetch the food.
40:35Oh, no, sir.
40:36No, no.
40:37Never a nurse.
40:38Never.
40:39What do you mean?
40:42These so-called nurses are
40:44nothing but wicked witches,
40:45sir.
40:46Their one desire is to spread
40:47the infection.
40:48And then when everyone in the
40:49house is either dead or dying,
40:50then they help themselves to
40:52everything and call it their
40:54fee.
40:56Heaven will punish them for
40:57their crimes against the sick.
40:59So no nurses, sir.
41:02Trust me.
41:05I'll come again soon.
41:11Besides gossip and hearsay,
41:1417th century people had access
41:16to the news in print in the
41:18appropriately named Lord Have
41:19Mercy broadsheets.
41:24These cheap prints included
41:26historical data about previous
41:28epidemics, remedies, prayers and
41:30mortality figures for parishes in
41:32London.
41:35They went out across the city and
41:37people added in the death figures
41:39they knew for their local area.
41:41This is the 17th century's version
41:44of Twitter.
41:46There were several plays during
41:47the 17th century and each new
41:50edition of Lord Have Mercy would
41:52document how many people died in the
41:54last plague so that you could
41:54compare to the current one.
41:56Right.
41:56And we've had the same thing
41:58today.
41:58The death toll is published daily
42:00and especially during the beginning
42:02of the pandemic, the coronavirus
42:03pandemic, I think that people were
42:05checking those death tolls daily.
42:06And that's something that these
42:08Lord Have Mercies did as well.
42:09So the death toll was sort of printed
42:10up to date when you bought it.
42:12But then there were columns left
42:14so that you could fill in the
42:15death toll for the rest of the
42:17season.
42:18Do we have any surviving where
42:20someone has filled them in?
42:21There are a couple.
42:23They're not always completely
42:23filled.
42:25That looks bad, doesn't it?
42:26That looks like something might
42:27have happened.
42:29We have several eyewitness accounts
42:31of the plague in London in 1665.
42:35But in the early 18th century came
42:37the first fictional imaginative
42:39account, Daniel Defoe's Journal of
42:41the Plague Year.
42:43In contrast then with this real
42:46diary, we have Daniel Defoe's
42:48Journal of the Plague Year.
42:49Is that completely made up?
42:52Well, interesting question.
42:54I mean, it's kind of made up.
42:56It's made up in that it's written
42:5750 years after the plague.
42:59And it's got a fictional narrator
43:01describing what's happened.
43:02Defoe's obviously using sources
43:04that he has access to, which are
43:07from the 1660s.
43:09I think what's really interesting
43:10about it is that it feels like what
43:12we think someone ought to have
43:13written during the time of the
43:15plague, whereas Peaks feels like...
43:16But didn't.
43:16Yeah, but didn't.
43:17Whereas Peaks' diary, which is full
43:19of all this other stuff, and he
43:20doesn't really seem to care a lot
43:21of the time, is what someone
43:23actually wrote.
43:23That makes so much sense to me now,
43:25because when I try and think about
43:26what's happening now, I think this
43:28is a huge event.
43:29It should take up my every
43:30waking thought.
43:31But that, of course, is not how
43:32the mind works.
43:33And instead, you're distracted
43:34by small things.
43:35Yeah.
43:36And if you were then trying to
43:37write something in 50 years' time
43:39where you were trying to use it
43:40to persuade people to behave
43:41in a different way, you would
43:42represent your life completely
43:43differently.
43:44This isn't a novel, then.
43:45This isn't something that he
43:46thought would entertain people.
43:48This is something he thought
43:48would instruct them.
43:50Yeah.
43:50So he was working with an idea
43:52of history within which history
43:55works best if it's taught
43:56from the point of view of an
43:57eyewitness.
43:58And so what he does there and
44:00in other works is to make up an
44:01eyewitness who talks about what
44:06it was like being there, what it
44:07felt like.
44:08But yeah, he thought he was
44:10writing a piece of historiography
44:12which had a polemical purpose.
44:17There are surprisingly few
44:19references to Defoe's journal of
44:20the plague year to be found in the
44:22archives.
44:23but in 2004, the BBC showed this
44:26Oscar-nominated gem from Germany
44:28which is based on it.
44:33The periwig maker brilliantly
44:35recreates the streets of London in
44:3717th century lockdown through the
44:40magic of stop-motion animation.
44:42Its eponymous hero, voiced by Kenneth
44:50Branagh, is seen growing increasingly
44:53frustrated at the ineffectiveness of
44:55preventative measures and more than a
44:57little fatigued at having to remain
45:00inside.
45:00Lord's Day.
45:06It pleases God that I am still spared
45:08and very hearty and sound in health
45:10but a bit impatient of being pent up
45:12within doors as I have been for four
45:14weeks now.
45:15The air remains my greatest worry.
45:18Although I'm burning great quantities
45:20of coals whose sulphurous and nitrous
45:22particles are assisting to clear and
45:24purge the air, the situation does not
45:26improve.
45:27Defoe is using it to frame really crazy
45:31ideas.
45:32Like what?
45:33Like if you write abracadabra many
45:35times over within the space of a small
45:37triangle that will ward off evil spirits
45:39and the plague.
45:40Is he mocking that then?
45:42Yeah, he's mocking conspiracy theories
45:44and drawing attention to hypocritical
45:46behaviour or to rule breaking or to
45:50ways in which people are behaving
45:52dangerously, compromising their safety.
45:57Perhaps I should follow Dr. Berwick's
45:59advice and enter into another measure for
46:01airing and sweetening my room.
46:04As far as I remember, thereof I have to
46:07make a very strong smoke in the room and
46:09then open the door and let the air carry
46:12it all out with a blast of gunpowder.
46:13Ever the man about town, Samuel Pepys refused to
46:22leave his beloved London, even at the very peak
46:25of the epidemic.
46:27But his bravado has to make us think of the
46:29people who had no choice about staying, the poor
46:32with nowhere to go and the workers who kept the
46:35city going.
46:36I stayed till over 6,000 in the city had died of
46:40plague in one week.
46:41A little noise heard day nor night with the
46:43tolling of bells.
46:45Till fewer than 20 persons could be met with in
46:47Lombard Street.
46:48Till my own doctor, who undertook to secure me
46:51against my infection, died himself of the plague.
46:54Till the nights have grown too short to conceal the
46:56burials of those that died the day before.
47:00Lastly, till I find neither meat nor drink safe,
47:03the butchery has been everywhere visited.
47:05My brewer's house shut up and my baker with his
47:08whole family dead of the plague.
47:12But it was outside London, in a small village in
47:16Derbyshire, that one of the plague's most compelling
47:18true stories played out over the winter and spring
47:22of 1665 to 66.
47:26It's a tale of immense courage and self-sacrifice which
47:30I've always found deeply moving.
47:32And I'm obviously not alone, judging by the number of
47:35programmes I've found about it.
47:38Eam in Derbyshire is famous for the story of the plague
47:41outbreak here in 1665.
47:44For the tiny village of Eam in Derbyshire, 1666 is remembered
47:48because of an extraordinary act of sacrifice.
47:51It's an example of Christian witness which this village
47:55should trumpet from the rooftops.
47:59More than three centuries ago, the plague, the Black Death,
48:02came to this place, dwelt and went away.
48:05For that, the people of Eam, Clarice White among them,
48:08give annual thanks.
48:09And this stained glass window in Eam Church commemorates what
48:17happened.
48:25With a mammoth running time of more than two hours, this
48:28television drama from 1973 took us back into the studio and to
48:33the very beginning of the story of Eam.
48:37In the autumn of the year 1665, a large box came to the Derbyshire
48:43village of Eam from London.
48:46It contained second-hand clothes, bought up cheaply by the village
48:51tailor in the hope of a quick profit.
48:53The tailor's name was George Vickers, and it soon became clear that
49:00clothing wasn't the only thing contained in the box.
49:05From London, you say?
49:06That's right.
49:08And he bought them quite recently?
49:09Ah, about a month ago.
49:11Why?
49:12No particular reason.
49:14Rector!
49:15Yes?
49:15He's dead.
49:16Oh!
49:23George Vickers died on September the 7th, 1665.
49:28He's dead.
49:30Fifteen days later, Edward Cooper, the son in the household, also died.
49:37And then the epidemic was really spreading.
49:40The following day, to Edward Cooper, Peter Hawksworth, who lived in
49:43this house, the neighbour on this side, died.
49:46The following day, Thomas Thorpe, the neighbour on the other side,
49:51died.
49:52Two days later, it had spread across, on the opposite side of the road,
49:57to Siddle's house.
49:58And eventually, five people died in that house.
50:07In the grip of the epidemic, and in full awareness of what they were
50:11doing, the villagers agreed to make an astonishing, selfless decision.
50:16From tomorrow, until the plague is over, the village must be enclosed.
50:24We will build a boundary line of stones around us.
50:27And until we are sure that the plague has finished its work here, that line must never
50:32be crossed.
50:32But what about food?
50:34I will write a letter to the Lord, Lieutenant, asking for a supply of food to be left for
50:38us each day.
50:39As Jesus had surrendered his life on the cross, so they were prepared to do likewise, it's
50:51taken straight from the Bible.
50:53Well, greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for another.
50:57260 died out of a population of 350.
51:03I think that, for me, is one of the most amazing things about the story, that the whole community
51:09decided to sacrifice themselves for the rest of the area and the country.
51:17I vividly remember my school trip to Eam, and not really being able to process it.
51:23The list of names in the Book of the Church, the tiny cottages with their plaques outside,
51:29twelve names, these people died here, in a cottage where you think four people couldn't
51:33have lived.
51:34And you put those names together and you see that there were people who lost everyone,
51:40who lost their parents, their siblings, their children.
51:44But we have to remember those names, because they acted on their shared humanity, and risked
51:51their lives, gave their lives, to save people they would never meet.
51:58Could you do that?
52:00Could I?
52:06When Oldham Theatre Workshop decided to stage a musical about Eam, the director found what
52:12I feel was an immensely powerful way to bring history alive for his young performers.
52:17What I wanted to do was get the cast to have an emotive response.
52:22And I think in order to do that, I needed to be really quite in their face about it.
52:29Now I want you to imagine that what I'm telling you right now is absolutely true.
52:38Everyone in this room has a fatal disease.
52:45This disease is contagious.
52:49You can leave, and you might not have the disease, or you stay.
52:57But one thing's for certain.
52:59If you all stay, then it won't spread outside of this room.
53:05I honestly thought that they'd laugh, and I was very aware, blimey, that they're really
53:09going for it.
53:11I felt quite, erm, quite scared.
53:16You don't know which one to choose.
53:20It really made you think about what you're prepared to give up, and what you're prepared
53:24to leave behind.
53:25Those of you who have decided to leave, leave.
53:39Now life's all about living for yourself.
53:45That's the reason why I would leave, and it is a very selfish thing to say, and a very
53:49selfish thing to do, but that's the way that it is now.
53:56Your first kind of feeling is panic, but you have to stay.
54:00I just wouldn't be able to live with myself, thinking of all those people.
54:02It became very clear that they'd experienced it fully and emotionally.
54:09From that point on, I don't think they'll ever forget the story, ever.
54:15I found watching those young people incredibly moving, because that decision was real to them.
54:25And they're going to have to live with it now, with what they decided when they were
54:28asked.
54:29And of course, that's the situation that so many of us are in for real right now, thinking
54:35of NHS staff with insufficient protective clothing, or the people who are taking a risk every day
54:40to do their jobs that keep us in food and keep us alive.
54:45And we have to recognise the reality of that risk, that courage, and what it means.
54:53Today, we all find ourselves keeping a close eye on daily COVID-19 charts and figures.
54:59There were almost 62,000 more deaths than might have been.
55:03Watching for flattened curves and falling numbers.
55:06Has passed one million.
55:08We eagerly await each new announcement of restrictions being lifted or guidelines being relaxed.
55:16Well, things weren't all that different in 1666.
55:21Especially when given a flashy, breaking news treatment, as this programme from 1984 did.
55:28The news on Tuesday, January the 16th.
55:31Now the London plague.
55:33And once again, it's good news.
55:35Last week's figures show that out of a total of 335 deaths in the city, only 158 were caused by the plague.
55:42January's figures look like being the lowest for seven months.
55:46At the height of the epidemic last autumn, in one week alone, 7,165 people died of the disease.
55:53Well, now that the worst of the epidemic seems to be over, the capital is starting to get back to normal.
55:59Shops are opening again in Cheapside and on London Bridge.
56:11It took more than six centuries to find an effective cure for the plague.
56:15And it still exists all across the globe.
56:17I dearly hope that we can do better with coronavirus.
56:22But whatever does happen, I hope that with luck and with courage,
56:26we can take some lessons from the past and make something good out of this crisis.
56:30Thinking about the literature of the plague, against our experience of COVID-19 now,
56:46has given me a sense of context and perspective that is not all comforting.
56:51Just as in the 14th century, this pandemic has come upon us at a time of political instability,
57:00constant social upheaval and, most worrying of all, a potential climate catastrophe.
57:08We children are doing this for you to put your differences aside and start acting as you would in a crisis.
57:14With wealth inequality soaring, have the excesses of unchecked capitalism become our very own pardoner's tale?
57:27We need to remember how that story ends.
57:32Isn't this a unique opportunity for us to reflect on the kind of society we want and set about achieving it?
57:39There's no escaping the strangeness of this time.
57:45And I've stayed in my house, I've taught my students through a screen,
57:50I've held my breath while running past people on the street,
57:54and I've felt the anxiety that I think we all feel, the fear about what the future might bring.
58:01But I also think about the past and the people who came before us,
58:06and what they lived through and survived, what they thought and felt,
58:11and most of all what they wrote, what they left behind for us to read now.
58:17Something immense has happened to us.
58:22But what we make of that, what we do with it, is up to us.
58:27A library of radical but neglected 18th century tomes, next on BBC Four,
58:37that formed the outline for all fiction to follow.
58:40Witness the birth of the British novel.
58:42We're friends.
58:44Just a few minutes.
58:45Feel the nuance to senses and color.
58:46Cheers.
58:51It's like someone who was born futuro to walk you by.
58:56See the story and excitement to myself.
58:58It's just beautiful around the mirror.
59:02Water and Germ aloe seas.
Comments