Over two thousand Londoners have already died…
1592 CE
Death and infection rates steadily rise during the winter, an unusual behavior exhibited by this plague epidemic
More resourceful, upper-class Londoners continue fleeing during 1593, and public venues, such as theaters, remain shuttered on government orders to halt the spread of infection, but the government countermeasures prove ineffective, primarily due to the filthy, disease-harboring conditions of some areas of London.
London's poorer and more insanitary parishes and neighborhoods are located near the wall and River Thames.
The Fleet Ditch area of London, around the prison, is the most heavily infected part of the city.
A prisoner named William Cecil (not to be confused with Lord Burghley), kept in the Fleet Prison by the command of Queen Elizabeth I herself, later writes that by 6 of April 1593 "The place where [William] lies is a congregation of the unwholesome smells of the town, and the season contagious, so many have died of the plague."
Letters among government officials record that the plague was "very hot" in London by 12 June and that by 3 July the Royal Court was "out in places, and a great part of the household is cut off."
In August Queen Elizabeth's royal court moves to Windsor Castle, most likely encouraged to move by the virulence of plague within the city.
Alarm is prompted by the death of the Queen's chambermaid Lady Scrope from plague on the 21st of August within the castle, almost sending the royal court fleeing a second time
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