Black Assize - Casualties

Casualties

Reports vary as to the total number of deaths that occurred in the "Black Assize". The casualties in Oxford itself are consistently recorded as approximately 300, but some reports say that further deaths occurred outside the city. One report records:

'There died in Oxford 300 persons, and sickened there, but died in other places, 200 and odd, from the 6th of July to the 12th of August, after which day died not one of that sickness, for one of them infected not another, nor any one woman or child died thereof.'

This reported lack of deaths among women and children led to speculation about the causes of the casualties.