WI: Edward III of England took measures to prevent the spread of the Black Death?

Poland under Casimir III, as well as several Italian city-states, took very effective preventative measures that reduced their losses to the Black Death.

What if Edward III took similar measures, requiring that all incoming ships, and people crossing into England from Scotland, had to be quarantined for a week?

With a much higher English population compared to mainland Europe (particularly France), how would this affect the coming decades?
 
I doubt this would have stopped the disease. All it would have needed is one ship - and there would have been plenty of merchents and smugglers willing to circumvent anti plague measures for profit. I doubt the Black Death could have been stopped whe allit took in OTL was one ship.
 
I don't think that the author is trying to stop the spread but to minimize the damage caused by the disease. Yes, if there were certain measures put into place in regard to ships coming from mainland Europe then there would certainly be a market in getting around the quarantines.

However, with the current sanitation practices and lack of knowledge of certain aspects of medicine I believe that England would still be hit hard.
 
I don't think that the author is trying to stop the spread but to minimize the damage caused by the disease. Yes, if there were certain measures put into place in regard to ships coming from mainland Europe then there would certainly be a market in getting around the quarantines.

The plague would still get there (in Milan only 15% died, compared with 30-50% in other countries; in Poland, numbers are unknown but a very effective quarantine led to only small losses) but it could be mitigated greatly, giving England a manpower advantage against France.

However, with the current sanitation practices and lack of knowledge of certain aspects of medicine I believe that England would still be hit hard.

Milan and Venice independently invented the idea of quarantining people infected by Black Death. I don't think it's that implausible that England could attempt it as well.

Also England had a lower population density than a lot of Western Europe before the plague, like Poland, which would be an advantage for their survival.
 
Poland under Casimir III, as well as several Italian city-states, took very effective preventative measures that reduced their losses to the Black Death.

What if Edward III took similar measures, requiring that all incoming ships, and people crossing into England from Scotland, had to be quarantined for a week?

With a much higher English population compared to mainland Europe (particularly France), how would this affect the coming decades?

Places like Venice and Florence, were able to quarantine due to their remote locations and "city state"-like.
Funnily enough the word "quarantine" originates from the Venetian dialect form of the Italian quaranta giorni, meaning 'forty days'. This is due to the 40 day isolation of ships and people before entering the city of Dubrovnik in Croatia.

As LucasWillen05 stated, all it needs is for one ship to dock for the disease to spread, with England, being too wide spread to say that it won't spread.

The shorelines of England are hard enough to patrol in this day and age, with all the technology, let alone asking a 14th century King to do this, especially, when he is more worried about winning the Hundred Years' War and claiming the French throne after the death of Charles IV of France.

 
The plague would still get there (in Milan only 15% died, compared with 30-50% in other countries; in Poland, numbers are unknown but a very effective quarantine led to only small losses) but it could be mitigated greatly, giving England a manpower advantage against France.



Milan and Venice independently invented the idea of quarantining people infected by Black Death. I don't think it's that implausible that England could attempt it as well.

Also England had a lower population density than a lot of Western Europe before the plague, like Poland, which would be an advantage for their survival.

I never stated that it wouldn't get there. As a matter of fact I was agreeing with a previous post about it being difficult to catch all the ships from mainland Europe and elsewhere. There is a lot of coastline on the British Isles and if a person wanted to get there then there are certainly places outside of a populated area to go to.
 
I never stated that it wouldn't get there. As a matter of fact I was agreeing with a previous post about it being difficult to catch all the ships from mainland Europe and elsewhere. There is a lot of coastline on the British Isles and if a person wanted to get there then there are certainly places outside of a populated area to go to.
I know, I was agreeing with that. But even if a ship or two gets there, the damage could still be mitigated by the quarantine policy, as it was in Milan and Poland.
 
Yeah, England's on an island after all, couldn't the port cities enforce measures for this? If mostly-landlocked Poland could reduce losses from plague, I think England could do much better in terms of minimising death. It'll get there regardless, but a lot fewer people could have died.
 
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