I found a blog with a bunch of the definitions
https://www.neatorama.com/2022/03/09/Leading-Causes-of-Deaths-in-London-1632/
Thanks. I have so many questions about some of these. Cut of the stone, king's evil, Planet, rising of the lights, teeth... I'm mostly curious what king's evil is in this context. Gonna go look Edit: per the link it's scrofula.
Cancer, and Wolf.
“People called cancer the wolf, because it 'ate up' the person.” But this wasn't just a linguistic quirk. The idea was actually translated into practice. “Some doctors would even apply raw meat to a cancerous ulcer, so that the wolf could feast on that for a while instead of 'eating' the patient.
I could see how people 400 years ago could think that makes sense.
"There are two wolves inside of you. I'm afraid it's terminal."
Classic comedy duo, well until cancer went through the divorce...
Made away themselves.
Ah British dancing around the point terms.
We’d still say “done away with themself”.
"Unalive" is the current dance. Euphemism isn't new.
Just trying to avoid the YouTube censors
Kill'd by several accidents
When the universe is out to get you, but you survive the first accident
Rasputin syndrome
"My teeth are killing me" meant something pretty different back then.
"Teeth" actually meant "a child who's still teething." As with "chrisomes and infants," so many little ones died that often they were categorized by age rather than a specific cause. Probably the only reason to specify "overlaid, and starved at nurse" would be to blame and punish the wet-nurse.
So aggravating to not be able to sort by columns
Planet ?!?
Scary:
"Dying of planet" was a term used in the 17th and 18th centuries to describe a sudden and severe illness or paralysis that was attributed to astrology and the influence of malevolent planets. People who died from "planet" exhibited symptoms similar to strokes, heart attacks, and aneurysms. At the time, people who picked up bodies for burial often knew little about the cause of death. Other causes of death listed in The Diseases, and Casualties this year being 1632 included "affrighted" and "made away themselves". -Via Overview.
oh, cool - RFKs suggested DSM just dropped!
Chrisomes : died while under a month old.
Not sure, but I'm guessing part of the reason to specify the difference between "infants" and "Chrisomes" (baptized babies) might be to say where they'd be buried/where their souls would go.
You guys are all laughing about 'planet,' but I'll have you know my uncle died of a cerebral hemorrhage when Neptune hit him on the back of the head. And we all thought it was just a glancing blow, but two days later, he dropped dead right in the middle of the supermarket.
You won't laugh so hard when it happens to someone you care about.
Imagine being proudly offed by Pluto and then they make it not a planet any more.
Spelling "Lunatic" as "Lunatique" now. Shout out to the poor folks that just died in the street and starved. Surprised it's only 6.
I saw this list on hidden killers of the Tudor home (even though this list is post-Tudor era). The specifically spoke about the 'teeth' part.
Basically what that mean was that a variety of tooth decay and oral issues pertaining to the teeth. This was an era that first saw a large consumption of sugar (which as you know LOVES to fuck with teeth) by wealthier people and coupled with a nonexistent oral hygiene practice and dentistry. Basically people's teeth would decay and cause gum disease or simply a shitload of pain that even the painful teeth pulling couldn't fully fix.
One thing that you must remember is that prior to widespread sugar availability most people's teeth were remarkably fine throughout life as people's diets didn't contain enough crap that will mess your teeth up. Of course this isn't to say that it was perfect. Braces would have been a good thing to have for many people and a simple toothbrush with half decent toothpaste would have been a very welcomed thing.
RFK jr will do his damndest to ensure bad teeth becoming a leading cause of death. Right behind measles, flu, polio and other communicable diseases.
Rising of the lights?
...found it
Rising of the lights was an illness or obstructive condition of the larynx, trachea or lungs, possibly croup. It was a common entry on bills of mortality in the 17th century.[1][2] Lights in this case referred to the lungs.[3]
I never thought to combine deaths by cancer and by wolves to save space or because they’re similar enough. I can’t comprehend why they thought it was a good idea either.
It wasn't cancer cancer, it was a big crab that lived in the Thames that hung out with a wolf.
You can read about the modern meanings of the words here:
https://mylittlebird.com/2021/03/public-health-stats-on-disease-in-1600s-london/
Dying of piles sounds awful. Like, it would have been nice to marathon Ye Olde Stranger Things or Squide Game without having your arse falling to pieces on your ~~deathbed~~ deathsofa.
King's Evil sounds like they were executed to me, but I have no clue what it could actually mean.
| Olde | Modern | Count |
|---|---|---|
| Abortive, and Stillborn | Abortion and Stillbirth | 445 |
| Affrighted | Fear? Possibly a heart issue? | 1 |
| Ague | Malaria, or a disease involving fever and shivering | 43 |
| Apoplex, and Meagrom | Stroke and severe headache, migraine | 17 |
| Bit with a mad dog | Rabies | 1 |
| Bleeding | Blood loss | 3 |
| Bloody flux, scowring and flux | Dysentery and cholera | 348 |
| Bruised, Issues, sores and ulcers | Bruising, open sores, either as a symptom of something else (hemorrhagic fever) or because they got infected | 28 |
| Burnt, and Scalded | Same | 5 |
| Burst, and Rupture | Probably an externally visible rupture | 9 |
| Cancer and Wolf | Cancer and Lupus | 10 |
| Canker | Mouth sores, maybe from herpes? Probably not the underlying cause of death | 1 |
| Childbed | Death following complications from childbirth | 171 |
| Chrisomes, and Infants | Babies less than 1 month old and Infants | 2268 |
| Cold, and Cough | Same (but probably a symptom of something worse) | 55 |
| Colick, Stone, and Strangury | Gallstones, kidney stones, and other intestinal and urinary blockages | 56 |
| Consumption | Tuberculosis | 1797 |
| Convulsion | Seizure, possibly caused by epilepsy | 241 |
| Cut of the Stone | Died during surgery to remove kidney / gallstones | 5 |
| Dead in the street, and starved | Exposure, hypothermia, starvation | 6 |
| Dropsie, and Swelling | Edema, fluid retention, possibly caused by heart failure | 267 |
| Drowned | Same | 34 |
| Executed, and prest to death | Executed is obvious, "prest to death" is accidental death while being tortured (via pressing) to force a confession | 18 |
| Falling sickness | Epilepsy, perhaps "petit mal" seizures vs "grand mal" which went under Convulsion | 7 |
| Fever | Same, interesting that it's distinct from Ague | 1108 |
| Fistula | Same, horrific, distinct from childbed -- I guess the women lived a bit longer? | 13 |
| Flocks, and small Pox | Smallpox and other diseases causing pustules | 531 |
| French pox | Syphilis | 12 |
| Gangrene | Same | 5 |
| Gout | Gout, or inflammatory arthritis, not the underlying cause of death, but a clear symptom | 4 |
| Grief | Modern medicine would be more specific but... | 11 |
| Jaundies | Jaundice, liver disease | 43 |
| Jawfaln | Fallen jaw, lockjaw, tetanus | 8 |
| Impostume | Abcess, a symptom of an infection | 74 |
| Kil'd by several accidents | Trauma, I assume | 46 |
| King's Evil | Scrofula or Mycobacterial cervical lymphadenitis | 38 |
| Lethargie | Chronic fatigue, a symptom of something else | 2 |
| Livergrown | Swollen liver, possibly cirrhosis from drinking | 87 |
| Lunatique | Lunatic, mental illness -- curious about the actual cause of death though | 5 |
| Made away themselves | Suicide | 15 |
| Measles | Same | 80 |
| Murthered | Murdered | 7 |
| Over-laid and starved at nurse | A smothered baby, either accidentally or on purpose, starved from lack of milk | 7 |
| Palsie | Paralysis, Parkinson's, similar things | 25 |
| Piles | Hemorrhoids, not a cause of death, but a source of infections and an obvious symptom | 1 |
| Plague | same | 8 |
| Planet | Sudden death thought to be related to something astrological (planet alignment) | 13 |
| Pleurisie, and Spleen | Pleurisy (chest infection), apparently it can sometimes be caused by damage to the spleen? | 36 |
| Purples and spotted Feaver | Bruising and spotted fever (tick borne disease), distinct from bruising, listed earlier | 38 |
| Quinsie | Quinsy, Peritonsillar abscess, can cause many other things | 7 |
| Rising of the Lights | Fluid in the lungs, possibly caused by croup | 98 |
| Sciatica | Same, possibly caused by spinal disc herniation | 1 |
| Scurvey, and Itch | Ye Scurvy dogs! Ye been sailing with yer limes! | 9 |
| Suddenly | um... | 62 |
| Surfet | Surfeit, overeating, overdrinking, not fatal on its own, but perhaps blamed when it was the underlying reason | 86 |
| Swine Pox | Possibly a euphemism for "French Pox"? | 6 |
| Teeth | Probably children dying at an age when their permanent teeth were coming in. Similar to "Chrisomes" named for the cloth used when christening a child. Either that or serious tooth infections that led to complications. | 470 |
| Thrush, and Sore mouth | Thrush (Candidiasis) could make it hard to eat or drink, or lead to other infections | 40 |
| Tympany | Excess gas in the gastrointestinal tract making the belly like a drum, many potential underlying causes | 13 |
| Tissick | A wasting disease, often associated with a cough | 34 |
| Vomiting | Long term vomiting can cause dehydration, might also have been used for someone choking on vomit and dying from asphyxiation | 1 |
| Worms | Ugh. | 27 |
'Planet' goes hard.
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