Aberdeen's Plague Epidemic of 1647–48

Abstract

This article discusses the plague epidemic that broke out in Scotland in the mid 1640s, particularly its effects on the city of Aberdeen where it remained virulent from April 1647 until the end of the following year. Prevailing medical understandings of disease causation and transmission will be discussed, and it will be shown that governments attempted to restrict outbreaks in accordance with these beliefs. The spread of plague throughout Scotland from 1644 will be summarised, with the focus on the impact of the disease on Aberdeen in 1647–48. The surviving council registers and other primary sources will be used to show how the city's governors responded to the dual threat of miasma and contagion in well-established ways.