What new laws are introduced during the Plague
During the spread of the Black Plague, new laws and ordinances had been placed by officials to try to prevent the spread the plague, either from inside or outside of a city. While the people at the time didn't know that the plague was spread via an infected rat that was carrying the disease, they did know that anyone showing signs of the plague can spread by “bad air” or otherwise known as miasma theory. These new ordinances had been made to prevent the spread and contact of anything producing “bad air”, such as the sick, dead bodies or rotten animal meat. Not only were they placed but also set out punishments if any of those ordinances were to be broken by anyone such as issuing a fine for a certain amount of money. While the introduction of the new preventative laws tried to gain some form of control over the situation, one can question if it was really enough to stop the damage that had already been done.
#1 “Bad Air”
*One of the ways to prevent the spread of plague was to prevent the thing they believed was causing it: “bad air” coming from the sick or dead bodies that showed signs of the plague. To achieve this, they essentially had to isolate “the sick and their families in their own homes” (BD) in order to protect the larger population.
*Another way to stop the spread of “bad air” was how to deal with a corpse that showed signs of the plague while they were alive. If someone that had just died from the plague, their body cannot be moved until it is secured in wooden box, nailed down and covered in cloth and buried. The depth at which the body is to be burial must be two and half arm lengths deep to stop the smell. If the body is being moved, it cannot be transferred into a city, whether it’s in a wooden box or not, still a risk of spreading to a large population.
#2 Travel
* The second attempt to prevent the spread of the plague is to limit travel among the common people, so that the plague’s spread wouldn't reach other towns. One new ordinance states that any citizens are forbidden from traveling to other towns, this includes anyone in any social standing whether they were poor or rich. Not only does this includes travel from within the city but also travel from outside the city, it was stated that guards at the city gates must denie travelers from entering the city.
#3 Animal Meat
* Not only did they believed that “bad air” came from the sick and dead bodies, but also on how butchers handle their meat and where they acquire it. To prevent people from eating rotten meat, butchers were ordered to stop from hanging their meat up for sale and over the counter. An official can be sent out to see if the butchers are following these guidelines and give punishment if any are broken. In order to kill a cow for its meat, a butcher must receive permission from city officials and have the animal to be slaughtered be examined to see if it’s healthy enough to be killed and eaten. They are not allowed to keep animals such as horse anywhere near the meat being sold or where the animal is to be killed for the meat, most likely that the “bad air” from horse waste can introduce sickness to the meat.
If any of the ordinances were to be broken, a pence must be paid for a certain amount of money depending on which of the ordinances were broken.
Sources: Daily Life of the BD, pg 7
Horrox-The Black Death, 64: ordinances against the spread of the plague