Plague of 664

The plague of 664 was an epidemic that affected Great Britain and Ireland in 664 AD, during the first recorded plague pandemic. It was the first recorded epidemic in English history, and coincided with a solar eclipse. It was considered by later sources as "The Yellow Plague of 664" and said to have lasted for twenty or twenty-five years, causing widespread mortality, social disruption, and abandonment of religious faith. The disease responsible was probably bubonic plague – part of the First Plague Pandemic – or else smallpox. The general absence of rat bones in archeological sites may suggest that the plague was partially pneumonic.