中世紀黑死病在三四百年間反覆肆虐歐洲等地,倫敦的疫情在 1665 - 1666 年間到達高峰。一般認為,來自荷蘭的棉花商船將感染源帶入倫敦。當時的倫敦,屋狹巷隘,生活條件很差,人跟老鼠共枕而眠,也因此鼠疫一發不可收拾。雖然仍有爭議,但 1666 年的倫敦大火或多或少對阻隔病源有所幫助,特別是火燒掉了非常多病菌的溫床。這次瘟疫突顯健康衛生議題的重要,而黑死病所帶來大規模的死亡、對未知的恐懼,帶給後世不少省思與想像。


 

London Plague, by Rita Greer

Rita Greer 在 2009 年的畫作即以 London Plague 為題。

 

倫敦大瘟疫雖然耳熟能詳,但當真的身處於現今或者繁榮或者幽靜的大街小巷,想到四百年前其實屍橫遍野,忍不住啞口駭然。比如 St Bartholomew's Hospital,這家醫院自 1123 年成立至今看盡近九百年的興衰消長,依然矗立於原址。這裡是全英國最古老的醫院,暱稱為 St Bart's,是福爾摩斯小說裡,夏洛克和華生醫生第一次碰面的地方,而 BBC 最近的影集版,第二季的最後一幕夏洛克一躍而下的地方,也是這裡。走到現場,附近的巷弄古色古香,公園裡綠意盎然,除了古老且滿足英倫想像外,似乎沒啥特奇之處。如果說這裡鬼魂長駐,一般人或者會想說,畢竟已是八百多年的建築,有一些好兄弟進駐也不足為奇。但如果告訴你,四百年前,悠閒的公園其實全是墓地呢 ? 喔不,其實不是墓地。連亂葬岡也算不上。整個公園就是一個大屍坑啊。

 

St Bartholomew's Hospital

Charterhouse Square

如今的 St Bart's 和 Charterhouse Square

St Bartholomew's Hospital

十九世紀左右的 St. Bart's

Charterhouse Square

十八世紀的 Charterhouse square


上面的 Charterhouse Square,在四百年前可是塞滿了屍體。當時人死亡的速度太快,從正當的挖墓立碑,演變成墓上有墓,最後來墓坑也不用了,整車整車的屍體直接往坑裡倒。當時負責運送屍體的運屍人和馬匹,多少都已染上瘟疫,傳說有許多人馬在倒完一車屍體後,自己也都半死不活地倒了進去。

 

London Plague

"Bring out your Dead!"

London Plague

 

魯濱遜的作者 Daniel Defoe ,後來根據 Samuel Pepys (英國政治家及日記作家) 出版了一本 A Journal of the Plague  Year,記述了當時的情況 : 「There was a strict order to prevent people coming to those pits, and that was only to prevent infection. But after some time that order was more necessary, for people that were infected and near their end, and delirious also, would run to those pits, wrapt in blankets or rugs, and throw themselves in, and, as they said, bury themselves. I cannot say that the officers suffered any willingly to lie there; but I have heard that in a great pit in Finsbury, in the parish of Cripplegate, it lying open then to the fields, for it was not then walled about, [many] came and threw themselves in, and expired there, before they threw any earth upon them; and that when they came to bury others and found them there, they were quite dead, though not cold.

This may serve a little to describe the dreadful condition of that day, though it is impossible to say anything that is able to give a true idea of it to those who did not see it, other than this, that it was indeed very, very, very dreadful, and such as no tongue can express.
不只是運屍人,還有很多病入膏肓的人,在狂亂中自己就跳入屍坑裡葬送自己。連土也來不及蓋上去,新的死人不斷增加。

 

瘟疫並不是突然來到。在 1625 與 1636 年都有瘟疫肆虐,分別帶走了數萬條人命。不過在 1665 - 66 年間的這場爆發,一口氣帶走十萬條人命,死了五分之一的倫敦人口。後來陸地上到處都是死人,卻又不確定原因,有些人就躲到泰晤士河上、住在船裡,才倖免於難。

 

Pieter Bruegel's The Triumph of Death (c. 1562).

Pieter Bruegel's The Triumph of Death (c. 1562) reflects the social upheaval and terror that followed the plague which devastated Europe a century before the Great London epidemic.

 

上面這些版畫記載了當時的情景,後來的倫敦大火像是一場火宴洗淨了倫敦的鼠疫,整整燒了三天三夜。雖然燒掉很多建築,但由於有錢人因為鼠疫已逃出倫敦、城內人口病死的病死,因此死亡人數反而不多。這場鼠疫與大火改變了倫敦的歷史。倫敦市區由舊城區西移,現今的西區多為高級住宅區。舊城區 (現今 City of London ) 也重新規劃,St Paul 也重蓋了。倫敦城開始了新的一頁。 以後走到 City 區,想像一下四百年前的場景吧 !

 

大火前的北泰晤士河岸與聖保羅教堂

大火襲捲聖保羅的情景

 

London Great Fire

 

arrow
arrow
    全站熱搜

    Summer 夏天 發表在 痞客邦 留言(2) 人氣()