A Litany in Time of Plague

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.