Black Assize of Exeter 1586

The Black Assizes is an epithet given to several outbreaks of "gaol fever" which struck various prisons and court-houses in England in the late 16th century and which caused the deaths of not only many prisoners awaiting trial but also the magistrates in the court buildings holding assizes. == Causes == The basic cause was fever spreading from insanitary jails via prisoners into dirty and overcrowded courtrooms.

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