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What a list of Black Death survivors reveals about the way people recovered from plague

The Conversation · · 930 words · By Alex Brown; Grace Owen
Epidemiology and Recovery Socioeconomic Status and Health Medieval History

Researchers analyzing medieval documents from the British Library have identified a record from Ramsey Abbey detailing peasants who contracted and recovered from the Black Death in 1349. The findings provide insight into recovery times and suggest that higher living standards may have contributed to survival rates among certain tenants.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://theconversation.com/what-a-list-of-black-death-survivors-reveals-about-t…

analyticsAnalysis

10%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 95%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

psychologyDetected Techniques

warning
Loaded Language 70% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

13 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

info Single Source 5
check_circle Corroborated 3
schedule Pending 3
help Insufficient Evidence 2
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“the outbreak of plague known as the Black Death (1346–53)”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent sources, including Wikipedia, World History Encyclopedia, and Medium, confirm the Black Death occurred between 1346 and 1353 (with slight variations in start/end dates across sources, but generally agreeing on this window).
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web search NEUTRAL — The Black Death was a plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as 50 million people died,[2] perhaps 50% of Europe's …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death
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web search NEUTRAL — The Black Death was a plague pandemic that devastated medieval Europe from 1347 to 1352. The Black Death killed an estimated 25-30 million people.
https://www.worldhistory.org/Black_Death/
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web search NEUTRAL — Between 1346 and 1353, the Black Death killed 75–200 million people in Eurasia and Northern Africa. Subsequent outbreaks claimed more lives over the next few centuries. The bacterium Y. Pestis caused …
https://medium.com/teatime-history/how-did-people-during-mid…
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“a scrap of parchment inserted into an account of the Ramsey Abbey manor of Warboys in Huntingdonshire – records how much time peasants were absent from work when struck down by the plague.”
CORROBORATED
Two separate web search results (which appear to be from different articles/outlets discussing the same discovery) explicitly mention the scrap of parchment in the Ramsey Abbey manor of Warboys recording peasant absences due to the plague.
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web search NEUTRAL — Ramsey Abbey was a Benedictine abbey in Ramsey, Huntingdonshire (now part of Cambridgeshire), England. It was founded about AD 969 and dissolved in 1539. The site of the abbey in Ramsey is now a sched…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsey_Abbey
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web search NEUTRAL — The document - a scrap of parchment inserted into an account of the Ramsey Abbey manor of Warboys in Huntingdonshire - records how much time peasants were absent from work when struck down by the plag…
https://refractor.io/infectious-diseases/new-document-reveal…
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web search NEUTRAL — The document - a scrap of parchment inserted into an account of the Ramsey Abbey manor of Warboys in Huntingdonshire - records how much time peasants were absent from work when struck down by the plag…
https://newswav.com/article/what-a-list-of-black-death-survi…
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“it has been estimated that between a third and two-thirds of the population of medieval Europe died during the Black Death.”
CORROBORATED
The claim that between a third and two-thirds of the population died is explicitly stated in the 'What a list of Black Death survivors reveals...' article and supported by the World History Encyclopedia (which cites 30-50% and up to two-thirds of sufferers).
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web search NEUTRAL — Demographic historians estimate that China's population fell by at least 15 per cent, and perhaps as much as a third, between 1340 and 1370. This population loss coincided with the Black Death that ra…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death
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web search NEUTRAL — The Black Death was a plague pandemic that devastated medieval Europe from 1347 to 1352.With up to two-thirds of sufferers dying from the disease, it is estimated that between 30% and 50% of the popul…
https://www.worldhistory.org/Black_Death/
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web search NEUTRAL — As one of the deadliest pandemics in recorded history, it has been estimated that between a third and two-thirds of the population of medieval Europe died during the Black Death. Given the sheer scale…
https://phys.org/news/2026-05-black-death-survivors-reveals-…
info
“Geoffrey le Baker, a clerk of Swinbrook in Oxfordshire, wrote in the following decade that he thought recovery depended on people’s symptoms”
SINGLE SOURCE
The web search results provided for this claim are completely irrelevant (sunrise/sunset times in Calgary), providing no information about Geoffrey le Baker.
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web search NEUTRAL — 1 day ago · Sunrise and sunset in Calgary as well as day length, twilight and solar noon for every day of the year.
https://sunrise-sunset.org/ca/calgary
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web search NEUTRAL — 1 day ago · Get accurate information on sunrise and sunset times, twilights, day duration, zenith time, and the position of the sun. Plan your days with confidence using our sun tracker.
https://www.weather-temperature.net/sunrise-sunset-times/591…
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web search NEUTRAL — 1 day ago · Get the current time in Calgary, Canada 🇨🇦 with Time.you. Find info about timezone, daylight savings and more for Calgary here.
https://time.you/calgary/
info
“A unique inclusion in the account of the manor of Warboys details a group of people who fell ill between the end of April and the start of August 1349.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The specific detail about people falling ill between April and August 1349 in the manor of Warboys is found in only one unique source ('What a list of Black Death survivors reveals...'). Other results are about witches or general geography.
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web search NEUTRAL — The Witches of Warboys were Alice Samuel and her family, who were accused of and executed for witchcraft between 1589 and 1593 in the village of Warboys, in the Fens of England.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witches_of_Warboys
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web search NEUTRAL — A unique inclusion in the account of the manor of Warboys details a group of people who fell ill between the end of April and the start of August 1349.This list of survivors includes a preponderance o…
https://phys.org/news/2026-05-black-death-survivors-reveals-…
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web search NEUTRAL — The land falls from about 114 feet (35 m) above sea-level in the south to 2 feet (1 m) in the fenland of the north and north-east. Nearly 3/4 of the area is arable upon which potatoes are largely grow…
https://euroguides.uk/euroguides/england/cambs/warboys.html
info
“The quickest recovery was that of Henry Broun who missed just a single week of work.”
SINGLE SOURCE
While the general context of the Warboys list is mentioned in the evidence, the specific detail about Henry Broun missing one week is not explicitly detailed in the provided snippets, although it relates to the same source as claim 4. However, based on the provided snippets, the specific name and duration are not corroborated by a second source.
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web search NEUTRAL — Nonetheless, the remarkably high mortality rates during the Datong mortality should discourage us from rejecting the possibility of localized/regional outbreaks of plague in different parts of China, …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death
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web search NEUTRAL — Unique list of plague survivors. A unique inclusion in the account of the manor of Warboys details a group of people who fell ill between the end of April and the start of August 1349.
https://phys.org/news/2026-05-black-death-survivors-reveals-…
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web search NEUTRAL — Plague / epidemiology. Plague / history*. Prejudice*.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10379201/
info
“John Derworth and Agnes Mold had much more protracted illnesses and were both absent for nine weeks.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists of irrelevant results regarding modern car accidents and cannabis delivery; no mention of John Derworth or Agnes Mold.
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web search NEUTRAL — My absence was due to a car accident I was involved in on Wellington Street at about 7:30 am on my way to the office. I called the office to explain that I would be late that day. The police and insur…
https://www.legit.ng/ask-legit/guides/1103748-how-reply-a-qu…
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web search NEUTRAL — Number of work days lost due to illness per person annually in the Netherlands from 2012 to 2022.Excluding maternity leave. Data are compiled by full-time equivalent (FTE) persons. The number of days …
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1298592/work-absences-du…
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web search NEUTRAL — vaporizers appear to be a more efficient cannabis and THC delivery method.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle…
info
“The average length of illness was between three and four weeks, with three-quarters of people returning to work in under a month.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The evidence provided for this claim is mostly irrelevant (Dead by Daylight, Euroguides), except for the same source as claim 4 which discusses the Warboys list. The specific statistics (3-4 weeks average) are not explicitly visible in the snippets provided, but the source is the only one discussing the list.
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web search NEUTRAL — Unique list of plague survivors. A unique inclusion in the account of the manor of Warboys details a group of people who fell ill between the end of April and the start of August 1349.
https://phys.org/news/2026-05-black-death-survivors-reveals-…
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web search NEUTRAL — Hey everyone, today we’re going to be ranking all 27 of the current survivors in Dead by Daylight from worst to best, based on their teachable perks, their c...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFrdXrb9B6c
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web search NEUTRAL — In 1086 there was just one manor at Warboys; the annual rent paid to the lord of the manor in 1066 had been £12 and the rent was the same in 1086. The Domesday Book does not explicitly detail the popu…
https://euroguides.uk/euroguides/england/cambs/warboys.html
help
“they were entitled to up to a year and a day of sick leave from work.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found after searching for this claim.
help
“19 out of the 22 people were men”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found after searching for this claim.
schedule
“in a regular year during the 1340s, only two or three absences were recorded during the summer months.”
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“these sick tenants were absent for 91 weeks’ worth of labour services during just a 13-week period.”
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“the two harvests of 1349 and 1350 have been described as the worst experienced in medieval England, worse even than those that caused the great famine of 1315-17.”
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info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.