Plague of 664
The plague of 664 was an epidemic that affected Britain and Ireland in 664 AD, during the first 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 Plague – part of the First Plague Pandemic – or else smallpox.

According to the Irish Annals of Tigernach, the plague was preceded by a solar eclipse on 1 May 664 (the path of the total eclipse on 1 May 664 started in the Pacific, crossed the Gulf of Mexico, swept along the eastern coast of North America crossed Ireland and Scotland and continued on into Central Europe). Bede also mentioned the eclipse but wrongly placed it on 3 May. The Irish sources claimed that there was also an earthquake in Britain and that the plague reached Ireland first at Mag Nitha, among the Fothairt in Leinster. Bede claimed that the plague first was in the south of Britain and then spread to the north.

Bede wrote: 

According to Adomnan of Iona, a contemporary Irish abbot and saint, the plague affected everywhere in the British Isles except for a large area in modern Scotland. Adomnan considered the plague a divine punishment for sins, and he believed that the Picts and Irish who lived in northern Great Britain were spared from the plague due to the intercession of Saint Columba who had founded monasteries among them. Adomnan personally walked among victims of the plague and claimed that neither he nor his companions became sick.

References

See also
 First plague pandemic
 Plague of Mohill, first recorded Irish plague

First plague pandemic
664
7th century in England
7th century in Ireland
Ailments of unknown cause
Plague deaths