severe epidemics of
bubonic plague that occurred in
England and other parts of Europe. These epidemics
spread over Europe between 1347 and 1350, followed by successive outbursts every few years thereafter for three centuries. By the end of 1350, two-thirds of all Europeans had been attacked, of whom about one-half died. Another
epidemic occurred in 1665 in
England that killed about 15 percent of the population of the city of
London.
—3rd South African published appr gls (14.4.92)