Originally Posted by WarChild

Compare it to LIFE EXPECTANCY IN MEDIEVAL DARTFORD

All of Dartford?s residents, whether rich or poor, faced the same general environmental conditions and threats, including the constant fear of sickness and life-threatening diseases. Average life expectancy for all groups was low. Archaeological evidence shows an average adult life expectancy of thirty-five for males and thirty-one for females. England?s infant mortality rate was extremely high.

The plague was to visit England at least thirty times between 1348, the year of the Black Death, and 1485. Other common urban diseases included tuberculosis, dysentry and smallpox. Dartford?s residents faced famine in 1391 due to an acute shortage of corn. Townspeople were forced to make bread from fern roots; their survival depended on an emergency diet of nuts and apples. All sections of Dartford?s community were economically inter-dependent. If trade slumped or crops failed everybody was affected.