22 pages • 44 minutes read
A Litany in Time of Plague
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Background
Historical Context
During the Middle Ages, Europe was hit by the most devastating disease pandemic in history. In 1347, the bubonic plague, known then as the Black Death, killed roughly a third of Europe’s population. However, while the worst of the plague was over by 1349, the disease lingered, and England intermittently faced outbreaks of the plague for the next few hundred years. The years between 1597 and 1630 experienced frequent outbreaks, but the outbreak in 1592-1593, during which Thomas Nashe wrote “A Litany in Time of Plague,” was particularly devastating. An estimated 10,000 deaths from the plague occurred in London alone, and surrounding towns and cities were similarly afflicted.
The atmosphere of Elizabethan England at this time was one of confusion and paranoia. To prevent the spread of disease, theaters, markets, and courts were closed, and all infected persons were locked up in their own houses, either to recover or, more often, to die. Even writing letters was discontinued for fear that paper could carry the plague. The plague “fractured community” and created a culture of intense paranoia (“Plagues and Publication: Ballads and the Representation of Disease in the English Renaissance,” Sharon Achinstein, Criticism, Vol. 34 No. 1 (1992), pg. 33).
Religious Context
In Nashe’s time, the established Church of England was heavily involved in the nation’s government. The church could censor writing it deemed morally offensive and could monitor the religious meetings of dissident groups like the Puritans. In the case of an incident like a plague outbreak, the church had tremendous sway over the public’s attitudes towards the sickness and could influence the practices used to prevent the illness from spreading. The Elizabethan-era Anglican Church believed plagues were divinely sent as a punishment upon the sinful world and believed the plague was worse in cities like London because of their abundant sinfulness. If the nation was to recover, a nation-wide repentance was in order. Each outbreak of plague was accompanied by a steady stream of sermons and pamphlets urging people to turn from their sins and protect themselves from destruction by the plague.
Because sickness was seen as a punishment from God upon a sinful world, religious citizens often regarded their sick neighbors with suspicion and feared their illness signified some hidden sinfulness. Infected people were boarded up, locked in their houses, and left to die for fear that the disease would spread to anyone else. In a strange adaptation of the Hebrew slaves marking their door for protection in the Book of Exodus, the church painted a red cross and the saying “Lord, have mercy upon us” upon the door of these locked up and condemned houses. This saying, which Nashe includes in “A Litany in Time of Plague,” implied that the diseased person’s life was in God’s hands and that human beings could do nothing to prevent or treat such a divinely-sent plague. If God willed it, he would save the diseased; if not, the sick person would have to face God’s punishment and their eternal fate; their neighbors could only accept God’s judgment and pray for his mercy.
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