We once bought a property that had every manner of pest known to man in it. We didn't see any of that when we bought it because the old lady who lived there had so much furniture and knickknacks and pictures on the walls that when we toured it, it looked clean, just overdecorated. After cans and cans of roach spray and 2 rounds of bug bombs, the bugs were still there so my husband put pans of sulfur in every room and lit them. We went back after 3 days and every insect and rodent was dead! It only took 2 days of leaving the windows open and a few gallons of paint to get rid of the sulfur smell and it never had pests again. If you are ever flipping houses and get a buggy one, you can literally go medieval on it LOL!
The plague searchers were often elderly widows that were paid by the parish and restricted from life within the heart of the city except to do their jobs. They didn't make much, and could be easily bribed and bought off not to report "plague". Once the plague was reported, the entire family was padlocked in the home, the healthy left to contract the illness and die alongside the sick. Only after 40 days (hence the word quarantine) since the last report of illness were the inhabitants allowed freedom.Most never made it that long. During that time, ironically, those still clinging to life would be at the mercy of the kindness of others, often other older women who served as doctor, midwife, and apothecary. All of these women often had contracted the plague earlier at sometime which gave them immunity. At various times all of these women were paid by the parish to collect the valuables of the deceased where they were to be sold to pay for the salaries of the searchers, nurses, and gravediggers. No surprise that these women kept most of what they found, only reporting a portion to "make it look good". Because "Plague" was a death sentence for entire households, and gave stigma to the entire community, it's another reason it was often under reported. It gave the "healthy" time to flee, and often the healthy were anything but, instead they were incubating the infection, and just ended up spreading it to more people in formerly plague free areas. Also these elderly searchers hadn't any medical training, even for the time, and often confused and reported plague as other common illnesses of the time that had similar hemorrhagic elements and visa versa. It was thought that this ignorance coupled with the ability to be bribed to not report plague, allowed the initial outbreak to grow so dramatically. Instead of the handful of cases often seen in non plague years and amongst those with risky jobs like cloth merchants or dock workers, it struck others in the crowded lanes and alleys and literally exploded in a fortnight to tens of thousands of cases. Most people had poor quality of life to begin with and might have had concurrent diseases like "the Pox", Syphilis, gut illnesses like Typhoid, Cholera, or common intestinal parasites (hookwork, whipworm, tapeworm) and "fever" from common bacteria in a time before antibiotics. All of these weakened them further to infection from Y. Pestis. Had the "widdowe Goody " understood how turning a blind eye was tantamount to the murder of tens of thousands, perhaps she would have reported the deaths properly. But alas, it was still thought to be spread by miasma-bad smells/fogs. This was also likely a newly evolved strain from China. Plague had been endemic in marmots on the Mongolian steppe, but the mongols knew the signs of a sick marmoset and never ate the fat under the arms of the Animal. With a new interest in marmot fur in China and beyond, the Chinese not only hunted the marmot without regard for the traditional signs of illness, but considered the fat under the arms and loaded with lymphatic tissue a delicacy. They fell ill, the furs were contaminated to begin with, the rats got involved, and the whole lot from the furs, the rats, the Chinese, and other goods that could harbor plague fleas went from port to port infecting others along the way. Today it seems absurd the way foreign foods (and even people), especially fresh fruits and meats, are scrutinized and sometimes blasted with gamma rays and pesticides before entry into the US (or EU/UK), or in the case of people denied entry, but it's to prevent something like this, even on a minor scale, from happening.
It didn't help that many of them sewed themselves into their underwear and wouldn't bathe because they had the stupid notion that god didn't want to see them naked. That complete lack of hygiene made their bodies breeding grounds for all manner of illness.
Oh my goodness! How fun to run into you here! I have learned so much from you in the past 5 minutes and enjoyed reading your whole expert explanation! How do you know so much about the plague!
Emptying sheeps intestines from poo reminds me A LOT of helping a python get well from constipation. True story. A very young python needed help, and we were there. The python lived a long and healthy life after that as far as I know. :)
True, but there would also be a few more guys shooting those muskets, not just 4. I think they gave a good impression of the odds of making it to the gate; they were pretty bad ;)
Don't forget that in war times they would have been hundreds of soldiers each with a musket firing at the petard. Numbers would probably weigh up for the fire rate of the paintball guns.
You don't get it. He does that to show the reaction of the pampered modern man working in offices and residing in comfortable, clean houses in the city.
+Alex-Zander Browne Most of the words we consider rude, vulgar of profane are simply old Anglo-Saxon words for every day things and actions. The infamous F* word meant planting a crop seed in a furrow hole made with a pointed stick ( no wonder it was co-opted to mean the act of procreation). The dichotomy arose when the Normans conquered England in 1066. Anglo-Saxon speech was banned and ruled vulgar (Latin for 'common") and illegal . Kinda weird how words change meaning over time.
Before you ask if Tony actually ate the toad, notice the cuts from close to distant. Nevermind that as weak a stomach as he has, plus film and TV regulations against harming animals (gutting the sheep is different), there is no way he would swallow a real toad. Use a little reason.
Modern-manufactured paint ball guns, with relatively low part tolerances... Muskets weren't even close to that kind of specification. Just feel the need to point it out.
Had exactly the same thought. They were rapidfiring at him, there's just no way you could do that with muskets, they could fire maybe twice each minute. Plus the aim was terrible, so it would probably take quite a few attempts to hit your target. If you create a distraction in some other place, I guess the petardier could do his job in relative safety.
manictiger the thing is though that a LOT more people would be firing at him than 3 or 4. if you have a hundred fifty on the gate guard thats about 75 - 100 rounds a minute sustained roughly equivalent to two or three paint ball guns @ about 50 rounds a minute each
+Luke Hawkinson Yes there would have been more muskets firing at him, but there would also have been a battle going on in the background to draw their fire, as well as muskets on the offense shooting at the defenders. Blowing the door open does no good if you don't have an army ready to storm the place. I enjoy this series, but a lot of accuracy is thrown out the window for entertainment. Most notably this being an out of shape older man doing physically demanding work that much more fit men would be doing.
I think it more likely that castle defenders would use bows even in an age of matchlock firearms, because they're quicker, more reliable, less expensive, and less likely to kill the shooter. Crossbows up there would be more ideal.
Oh yeah, and from what I've heard urinotherapy was quite popular at some era - you were supposed to drink your own urine to a whole serious of magic results!!!
I gotta disagree with the Petard, they were shooting paintball guns which are semi-auto, musket shots once and then you WAIT :D they weren't inaccurate but when you got 2 guards protecting you and 4 guards shooting at you i would be more worried about incoming fire rather than the guy who runs with strange contraption
i really don't think that violin string was the worst job, when you consider that in the Stuart times, people were used to cutting and killing animals. it was just the smell that was real bad.
It was the whole building. The day targeted would have had all members of the lords, commons, royal family and judges in the same space. Remember the House of Parliament at that time was much smaller than the current building and the amount of gunpowder used would have blown the entire building and all occupants to atoms.
Actually, it was a cookie. If you watch, the cameral pulls WAY back when he puts it in his mouth. They wouldn't allow him to actually eat a toad on television.
I know. And it makes me feel that the supertitious fools got what they deserved for killing creatures that would have helped keep the rat population down. In other words protect the idiots from the plaque.
cleaning the shit from the sheep's guts is nothing! come and visit us in greece during easter time and we will feast with kokoretsi kai mageiritsa made...surprise surprise by sheep's guts:)
Lesley Smith wierd I´m leslie Smith the masculine version of the 2000 year old Celtic name.And yes I know what it means and, No I dont stand all day watching the grey pool!
Alex-Zander Browne Yep, sure do. Though most people go to supermarkets for their milk.British supermarkets have a hell of a strangle hold on the dairy farmers.
We still have Milkmen in the US. i live just outside of Boston, MA and have 3 dairies to chose from to get milk delivered. Many deliver other items as well like juice, bread, butter...normal things that just about every house uses, but you pay more than you do at the grocery store. They still use the old fashioned glass bottles as well. The milk has to be pasteurized by law, but they also sell un-homogenized that has the full fat floating on top. Unless you live in some major city like LA, check in your area, you'd be surprised. And if you do live in a big city, Whole Foods often carries local dairy milk ie sold within 100 miles of the farm.
