Scotland's Black Death: The Foul Death of the English

by Karen Jillings

During the early months of 1349, Scottish soldiers engaged in border warfare praised God that many of their English opponents were being felled by a new and terrifying affliction. Within months, however, Scots themselves began to fall victim to what they had described as “the foul death of the English.” No aspect of life went untouched by this virulent disease. Beyond the physical devastation caused, Karen Jillings also describes the social impact of the plague—cynicism towards the Church and the abandonment of serfdom—that was integral to the development of the country.

Genres: History, Scotland

192 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2003

Reviews

[Bill38silver · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book that I obtained but did not read as part of my final year as a very mature student gorging on the Black Death for a history degree (in case you wonder, I somehow achieved a 2:1 grade). This book has only 3 chapters and will be of interest to those readers seeking information on the general subject of the Black Death, but of less appeal to those wishing to drill down to the detail of its impact in a localised setting (in this case of Scotland).

The author admits there is a paucity of records to pin her treatise upon and, for want of detailed records, relies heavily on assumptions that what went on in England or wider Europe must also have been so for Scotland. For example, there are several pages on topics such as the persecution of the Jews and flagellation but no or insufficient examples directly related to Scotland. Instead there are pages and pages of general medical stuff (the 4 humours, miasma, buboes etc) and the religious dimension that cover familiar territory. Tenuous connections are made between events 50, or 100 years before and after the Black Death in 1348-1350 or in locations such as Italy or Germany or even England. These strain the credibility of what did actually happen in Scotland. Had the book stuck rigidly to its central subject-the Black Death specifically or solely restricted to Scotland- this would have been a very thin book.

It is also a pity that, possibly as a marketing aid, the book has a strapline "the Foul Death of the English" and postulates that the Black Death in Scotland was caused by English soldiers fighting on the Borders who "exported" the plague into Scotland (rather than, say, the other way round). There is precious little supporting evidence of this and is dubious conjecture at best.

[Hettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice little book about an area of Scottish history which often ignored

[Mary Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes I think about certain books that they have a lot of potential. This is not one of those cases. The author acknowledges that there are so few sources about the black death in Scotland, and yet continues to write 170 pages about it. Why? I've no idea. It was also an incredibly dry read with a lot of statistics and formal analysis and could have benefited from an anecdote or two (or seven) to break up the monotony. I think an interesting perspective could have been given, but a lot of the chapters started with the black death in Europe in general and just drawing the conclusion that Scotland was probably much the same for the last page or two. But that's not necessarily true. So, iffy potential, iffy result. I need to read some fiction next.