The Lancashire Plague Petitions

Abstract Historians typically explore the resilience of past societies in terms of large-scale outcomes like population levels. In contrast, this paper explores the process of recovering from outbreaks of plague in smaller communities, households, and even by individuals. In doing so, it examines resilience on a micro-level in terms of the economic, emotional, and practical concerns of individuals following a period of crisis. This paper showcases six early modern petitions, each transcribed here in full, providing insight into the responses of communities to severe outbreaks of epidemic disease. These sources reveal the practical measures required to foster resilience: each petition demonstrates a series of unique needs and essential interventions. The usual systems of relief proved inadequate when faced with the unprecedented demands of plague. This made the bonds between friends and neighbors crucial to the survival of their communities. Only when these bonds were pushed to their breaking point did early modern people turn to authorities. These petitions show us when and why those points were reached.