Charles Creighton’s A History of Epidemics in Britain is a monumental study of disease in the British Isles, and this first volume covers the long span from A.D. 664 to the extinction of plague. Creighton documents the great medieval pestilences, above all the Black Death of the fourteenth century, along with leprosy, the sweating sickness, and recurring waves of plague.
The work remains a classic source on the history of disease, drawing on chronicles and records to reconstruct the impact of medieval and early modern epidemics. Creighton’s account of the Black Death and its aftermath is especially valuable. Readers interested in the history of medicine, the plague, or medieval social conditions will find it indispensable. This free EPUB edition makes the first volume of Creighton’s authoritative history of British epidemics available to modern readers.