[2] Migration from rural areas and London's high birth rates[4] helped the population recover from the 1592–1593 plague, with an average of 6000 christenings a year leading up to 1603.

[5] The death of Queen Elizabeth I in March and the ascension of King James immediately triggered large amounts of travel to London.

Mourners and merchants alike flooded the city to both remember the Queen and to sell tobacco, wine, and other merchandise to the throngs of travellers.

Two-thirds of London's population resided in the crowded, unsanitary, and poorly-governed parishes known as "liberties"[6] which surrounded the walls and extended into the countryside.

Local physician Thomas Lodge writes in his Treatise of the Plague that "For where the infestation most rageth, poverty reigns among the Commons..."[10] Orders to shutter theatres were given and remained in place for nearly a year.

[11] The closures disrupted the careers of playwrights like William Shakespeare and Thomas Dekker, the latter of whom felt inspired by the turbulence to write The Wonderfull Yeare.

[18] While plague could and did strike any class, poor populations where dirty conditions prevailed had suffered greater losses than the cleaner areas of the city.