Tudor sisters' plague graffiti found

Blackleaf

Blackleaf

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"Heartbreaking" graffiti uncovered in a Cambridgeshire church has revealed how three sisters from one family died in a plague outbreak in 1515.

The names Cateryn, Jane and Amee Maddyngley and the date were inscribed on stonework in Kingston parish church.

It was found by Norfolk and Suffolk Medieval Graffiti Survey volunteers.

Archaeologist Matt Champion said the project had shown church plague graffiti was "far more common than previously realised".

Cambridgeshire church plague graffiti reveals 'heartbreaking' find

BBC News
21 February 2015


The graffiti image has been "re-worked" to highlight the writing, otherwise it is near-invisible to the eye

"Heartbreaking" graffiti uncovered in a Cambridgeshire church has revealed how three sisters from one family died in a plague outbreak in 1515.

The names Cateryn, Jane and Amee Maddyngley and the date were inscribed on stonework in Kingston parish church.

It was found by Norfolk and Suffolk Medieval Graffiti Survey volunteers.

Archaeologist Matt Champion said the project had shown church plague graffiti was "far more common than previously realised".

"The most heartbreaking inscriptions are those that refer to long-dead children," he said.


Matt Champion said church monuments memorialise the elite while graffiti remembers the "common voice"

The Maddyngley graffiti is hidden under limewash near the door in All Saints' and St Andrew's church.

The family lived in Kingston, seven miles from Cambridge, and were tenant farmers who "rarely turn up in parish records", he said.

Mr Champion believes Cateryn, Jane and Amee must have been children because their names are not found as adults in any of the records.


Records reveal the Maddyngleys had lived in Kingston since at least 1279

In 1515, there was an outbreak of bubonic plague in London which spread across south east England.

Mr Champion said Cambridge University suspended its classes and large gatherings of people were banned, "just as we see today with the Ebola outbreaks in Africa".

Children were particularly hard-hit and usually hastily buried in unmarked graves.

The graffiti survey was set up in 2010 and is the first attempt to survey pre-Reformation graffiti in churches since the late 1960s.

Volunteers use digital cameras and powerful lamps to reveal previously hidden or faded markings.


Plague graffiti in another Cambridgeshire church. The project hopes to survey more of the county's churches

At least 60% of the 650 churches surveyed in Norfolk, Suffolk and north Essex have "significant amounts" of graffiti and volunteers have recorded up to 500 pieces in many of them.

The project has confirmed more graffiti is found to have been created during times of pestilence such as the Black Death of 1349 and subsequent outbreaks of plagues.

"It was a votive offering at a time where prayer counted," Mr Champion said.

http://www.kingstonvillage.org.uk/documents/miscellaneous/Church Guide.pdf


BBC News - Cambridgeshire church plague graffiti reveals 'heartbreaking' find
 
S

Sal

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The Plague

The first outbreak of plague swept across England in 1348-49. It seems to have travelled across the south in bubonic form during the summer months of 1348, before mutating into the even more frightening pneumonic form with the onset of winter. It hit London in September 1348, and spread into East Anglia all along the coast early during the new year. By spring 1349, it was ravaging Wales and the Midlands, and by late summer, it had made the leap across the Irish Sea and had penetrated the north. The Scots were quick to take advantage of their English neighbours' discomfort, raiding Durham in 1349. Whether they caught the plague by this action, or whether it found its way north via other means, it was taking its revenge on Scotland by 1350.
It would be fair to say that the onset of the plague created panic the length and breadth of Britain. One graphic testimony can be found at St Mary's, Ashwell, Hertfordshire, where an anonymous hand has carved a harrowing inscription for the year 1349:
'Wretched, terrible, destructive year, the remnants of the people alone remain.'
​
The plague's journey across the length and breadth of Britain:
'Sometimes it came by road, passing from village to village, sometimes by river, as in the East Midlands, or by ship, from the Low Countries or from other infected areas. On the vills of the bishop of Worcester's estates in the West Midlands, they (the death rates) ranged between 19 per cent of manorial tenants at Hartlebury and Hanbury to no less than 80 per cent at Aston.... It is very difficult for us to imagine the impact of plague on these small rural communities, where a village might have no more than 400 or 500 inhabitants. Few settlements were totally depopulated, but in most others whole families must have been wiped out, and few can have been spared some loss, since the plague killed indiscriminately, striking at rich and poor alike.'
​
'The World Upside Down', Black Death in England by J. Bolton, ed.Ormrod and Lindley 1996
​
The Arrival

The Black Death entered south-western England in Summer 1348 and by all accounts struck Bristol with shocking force.
'In this year, 1348, in Melcombe in the county of Dorset, a little before the feast of St John the Baptist, two ships, one of them from Bristol, came alongside. One of the sailors had brought with him from Gascony the seeds of the terrible pestilence, and through him the men of that town of Melcombe were the first in England to be infected.' - Grey Friar's Chronicle, Lynn
​
Rumours of a terrible plague sweeping like wildfire across Europe had been rumbling for some time, and it is not surprising that the vibrant trading port of Bristol was the first major town in Britain to be affected, for it had close connections with the continent.
'Then the dreadful pestilence made its way along the coast by Southampton and reached Bristol, where almost the whole strength of the town perished, as it was surprised by sudden death; for few kept their beds more than two or three days, or even half a day.' - Henry Knighton, Chronicon
​
Bristol was the second largest city in Britain and was the principal port of entry for the West Country. Within it lived upwards of 10,000 souls, tightly packed together in conditions that were not altogether sanitary.
'Filth running in open ditches in the streets, fly-blown meat and stinking fish, contaminated and adulterated ale, polluted well water, unspeakable privies, epidemic disease, - were experienced indiscriminately by all social classes.' (Holt and Rosser, The English Medieval Town, (1990))


more here for anyone interested: BBC - History - British History in depth: Black Death

​
An interesting read....thanks BL


I was curious....so
Symptoms

By Mayo Clinic Staff

Plague is divided into three main types — bubonic, septicemic and pneumonic — depending on which part of your body is involved. Signs and symptoms vary depending on the type of plague.
Bubonic plague

Bubonic plague is the most common variety of the disease. It's named after the buboes — swollen lymph nodes — which typically develop within a week after an infected flea bites you. Buboes may be:

  • Situated in the groin, armpit or neck
  • About the size of a chicken egg
  • Tender and warm to the touch
Other signs and symptoms may include:

  • Sudden onset of fever and chills
  • Headache
  • Fatigue or malaise
  • Muscle aches




Septicemic plague

Septicemic plague occurs when plague bacteria multiply in your bloodstream.Signs and symptoms include:

  • Fever and chills
  • Abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting
  • Bleeding from your mouth, nose or rectum, or under your skin
  • Shock
  • Blackening and death of tissue (gangrene) in your extremities, most commonly your fingers, toes and nose


Pneumonic plague

Pneumonic plague affects the lungs. It's the least common variety of plague but the most dangerous, because it can be spread from person to person via cough droplets. Signs and symptoms can begin within a few hours after infection, and may include:

  • Cough, with bloody sputum
  • Difficulty breathing
  • High fever
  • Nausea and vomiting
  • Weakness
Pneumonic plague progresses rapidly and may cause respiratory failure and shock within two days of infection. If antibiotic treatment isn't initiated within a day after signs and symptoms first appear, the infection is likely to be fatal.
When to see a doctor

Seek immediate medical attention if you begin to feel ill and have been in an area where plague has been known to occur. This includes parts of several states in the western portion of the United States — primarily New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado.

Plague Symptoms - Diseases and Conditions - Mayo Clinic
 
gore0bsessed

gore0bsessed

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The plague started with Britishers engaging in sexual activities with farm animals. IT's a sad incident in our history and a reminder that Britishers are inferior pig men.
 
S

Sal

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gore0bsessed said:
The plague started with Britishers engaging in sexual activities with farm animals. IT's a sad incident in our history and a reminder that Britishers are inferior pig men.
Click to expand...
that's your idea of a contribution to an historical thread?

seriously?
 
CDNBear

CDNBear

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Sep 24, 2006
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SLM said:
You need to know where not to go. Wouldn't want to get stuck where they reside, I mean, what a waste of my sparkling personality that would be! Lol.
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Besides the fact that they wouldn't know what to do with a girl.
 
S

Sal

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Sep 29, 2007
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gore0bsessed said:
The plague started with Britishers engaging in sexual activities with farm animals. IT's a sad incident in our history and a reminder that Britishers are inferior pig men.
Click to expand...

gore0bsessed said:
Yea I should give more effort into contributing to this nationalist retard's donkey threads.
Click to expand...
well it's on bubonic plague and how it affected the commoners of the time and how it spread

I found it kinda fascinating for a Saturday morning read
 
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