![]() ![]() Court cases were also moved from Westminster to Oxford. Parliament was postponed and had to sit in October at Oxford, the increase of the plague being so dreadful. ![]() Charles II and his courtiers left in July for Hampton Court and then Oxford. Those who could, including most doctors, lawyers and merchants, fled the city. They were attracted by city streets filled with rubbish and waste, especially in the poorest areas. Rats carried the fleas that caused the plague. The death rate began to rise during the hot summer months and peaked in September when 7,165 Londoners died in one week. The earliest cases of disease occurred in the spring of 1665 in a parish outside the city walls called St Giles-in-the-Fields. ![]() Other parts of the country also suffered. While 68,596 deaths were recorded in the city, the true number was probably over 100,000. London lost roughly 15% of its population. This was the worst outbreak of plague in England since the black death of 1348. ![]()
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