6. Everyone Died. It Didn’t Matter What Status You Were.
Although the plague affected the poor more than anyone else, no one was immune to the disease in regards to status. Nobility did not escape pestilence. Noble families became so diminished that incest was a way for the patriarch to survive. With 1/3 of the population gone, it was nearly impossible to find someone who wasn’t related to you. From Naples to England, many noble families were eradicated. The only reigning monarch to die from the plague was King Alfonso XI of Castile and Léon.
Some notable people who died of the plague a little after the massive outbreak were Blanche of Lancaster, Anne of Bohemia, and Thomas Bradwardine. Thomas was a famous English cleric, scholar, mathematician, courtier, and briefly the Archbishop of Canterbury. Thomas died in 1349 during the height of the Black Death. Blanche of Lancaster was the mother of Henry IV and the first wife of John of Gaunt. She was part of one of the wealthiest and powerful families in England. Blanche died in 1368, almost two decades after the Black Death. Anne was the Queen of England and the first wife to Richard II. She does not count like King Alfonso since she died in 1394, but Joan of England, daughter to Edward III, does!
