What Was Life Like in Plague-Ridden London?

A contemporary depiction of a plague-time funeral (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

The coronavirus pandemic of this year (and late last year) has sparked a renaissance of interest in the Great Plague of London which ravaged the city from 1665–1666. Valid similarities have been drawn between the two events, specifically regarding the suspension of large-scale public events. What many comparisons omit, however, is just how harsh life really was for a Londoner at the time and how a social view of…