The Black Death in Scotland, 1350: The Plague the Scots Called the Foul Death

When the most terrible pandemic in history swept through England in 1348, the Scots saw an opportunity rather than a warning. Within two years they would learn their mistake. The arrival of the Black Death in Scotland in 1349–50 killed a vast share of the population and reshaped the country's society and economy for generations. This is the story of the plague the Scots grimly nicknamed ‘the foul death of the English’.

Key facts: the Black Death in Scotland

• Arrived: 1349–1350, roughly a year after reaching England
• Cause: Plague, spread along trade and military routes
• Scottish nickname: The ‘foul death of the English’
• Death toll: Estimated at perhaps a quarter to a third of the population
• Recurrence: Returned in further waves over the following decades
• Effects: Labour shortages, social change and economic upheaval

Mockery turns to misery

The Black Death reached England in 1348 and cut down its people in horrifying numbers. Across the border, with the two nations at war, some Scots reportedly rejoiced at God's apparent judgement on their enemy. According to the chronicler John of Fordun, a Scottish army even gathered in 1350 to take advantage of England's weakness – only for the plague to break out among the soldiers and carry the contagion home with them. The disease the Scots had mocked as the ‘foul death of the English’ was now their own.

The scale of the disaster

Scotland's smaller, more scattered population may have suffered somewhat less than crowded England, but the toll was still catastrophic. Estimates suggest that something like a quarter to a third of all Scots died in the first outbreak alone, with further waves striking in the decades that followed. Whole families and communities were wiped out. Contemporary records are thin precisely because so many who would have kept them perished.

A changed Scotland

The consequences rippled through every level of society. With so many dead, labour became scarce and therefore valuable; surviving workers could demand better terms, slowly loosening the bonds of feudal service. Land lay empty, rents fell, and the old certainties of medieval life were shaken. The Church, unable to halt the dying despite its prayers, saw its authority quietly questioned – a faint early tremor of the changes that would culminate in the Reformation two centuries later.

The Black Death is a reminder that Scotland's story is not only one of kings and battles. The lives of ordinary families – the farmers, craftsmen and townsfolk whose surnames endure today – were shaped just as powerfully by plague, famine and survival.

Frequently asked questions

When did the Black Death reach Scotland?

It arrived in 1349–50, about a year after devastating England, and returned in later waves over the following decades.

How many people died?

Estimates vary, but perhaps a quarter to a third of Scotland's population died in the first outbreak alone.

Why did the Scots call it the foul death of the English?

The plague struck England first, and some Scots initially saw it as divine punishment on their enemy – before it crossed the border and ravaged Scotland too.