Interesting Links for 23-11-2020

[andrewducker]

Germany agrees 'historic' mandatory boardroom quota for women

(tags:women Germany business )

Covid-19: Christmas get-together plan backed by all the UK nations

(tags:UK pandemic Christmas )

COVID-19: Oxford vaccine is up to 90% effective in preventing coronavirus

(tags:Pandemic vaccine Oxford GoodNews )

Channel 4 presenters/talent read real complaints

(tags:tv complaints channel4 video funny )

The terrible truth about Manatees

(tags:comics funny pirates )

So, how rational *are* you?

(tags:rationality comic funny )

How the tiny town of Eyam saved thousands of people from the plaque and helped conquer AIDS

(tags:aids history disease )

The real reason why many people still support Donald Trump

(tags:politics USA )

The Battle of Britain - filmed in stop motion at 1:72

(tags:history stopmotion animation wwii video )

Comments

[cmcmck]

Unfortunately, the story of Eyam and the plague is a legend.

[andrewducker]

Got any details on that? Seems pretty well cited, and I'm not seeing anything disagreeing with it.

[cmcmck]

The plague certainly hit Eyam but the story that it wiped the village out is clearly untrue.

'The plague ran its course over 14 months and one account states that it killed at least 260 villagers, with only 83 surviving out of a population of 350. That figure has been challenged on a number of occasions, with alternative figures of 430 survivors from a population of around 800 being given.The church in Eyam has a record of 273 individuals who were victims of the plague.'

There are ghost villages that the black death did wipe out- Westwell in Kent is one that I know but having visited Eyam I'm well aware that it's still very much there.

[andrewducker]

My link doesn't say it was wiped out. It says "Over the 14 months that Eyam was in quarantine 260 out of the 800 residents died of plague.". I'm very confused now!

[cmcmck]

The old story (one that gets repeated by all too many historians) goes that the village died to a person but it is no more than a legend.

The church records state 273 deaths and 17th century church records tend to be fairly accurate. The population at the time was around 800 so the figure your link gave is probably about right.

[andrewducker]

Ah, I'd never heard of the place before this morning, so the only information I have is from the link and Wikipedia!

[cmcmck]

It's a nice wee place and well worth a visit.

[andrewducker]

I shall remember if I'm ever in the area!

[woodpijn.livejournal.com]

Which part are you disagreeing with? Are you saying they did get almost wiped out by the plague but that the bit where they chose to quarantine was a legend? I think there are contemporary gravestones with whole families in the same year that make the plague part hard to deny.

[woodpijn.livejournal.com]

Sorry, crossed with most of the thread! I mistook you as saying the whole thing was made up.

[cmcmck]

Oh no! Eyam certainly imported the plague.

The legend is that the village got wiped out.

As an academic historian I get tired of legends being repeated as truth but you see it so often!

And they don't always know that it's pronounced 'eem' either but that's another story! :o)