The Day Queen Elizabeth Arrived in Norwich
In August 1578, Norwich, England, was preparing for one of the biggest events the city had seen in years.
Queen Elizabeth I was visiting the city.
People filled the streets, hoping to catch a glimpse of the queen and her enormous royal entourage. Around 2,000 people were believed to have accompanied her during the visit.
Among the crowds was a young woman named Alice Good. She stood outside her family’s home with her parents, waiting for the royal procession to pass.
The city had spent months preparing for Elizabeth’s arrival. Buildings had been renovated, receptions had been planned, and entertainment had been organized for the royal guests.
For Alice, the arrival of the queen was an unforgettable sight.
She watched Elizabeth ride through the city on horseback, dressed in expensive fabrics and jewelry. Behind the queen came a long procession of people traveling by carriage and on horseback.
Alice could hardly believe what she was seeing.
She had no idea that the royal visit would soon be connected to one of the darkest periods of her life.
The Plague Strikes Norwich
After Queen Elizabeth and her entourage left Norwich, the city faced a serious outbreak of bubonic plague.
The disease spread quickly, and thousands of people died within a few months.
For families like Alice’s, daily life changed completely.
People who had once gathered in the streets were now trying to avoid contact with others. Homes became places of fear, especially when someone inside developed symptoms.
Bubonic plague could cause fever, weakness and painful swollen areas on the body. Severe cases could become fatal very quickly.
The number of deaths became so high that Norwich struggled to deal with the bodies.
Burials could not keep pace with the number of people dying.
Bodies were transported in carts and placed in mass graves. As the outbreak continued, even these arrangements became difficult to maintain.
Houses Were Sealed to Stop the Plague
Authorities began taking strict measures to contain the disease.
Homes where plague victims had died could be sealed off. Officials used isolation as a way to prevent other people from entering infected buildings and spreading the disease.
According to the story of Alice Good, her family managed to remain healthy for some time while the plague spread through Norwich.
Then everything changed.
One by one, Alice and her parents became sick.
Alice was the last to develop symptoms. Although she was already becoming seriously ill, she tried to care for her parents and bring them food.
Eventually, her parents died.
Alice was left alone in the house.
But she was too weak to escape or find help.
Alice Good Was Sealed Inside Her Home
While Alice was lying on the floor beside her parents’ bodies, she heard people outside.
There were voices near the front door.
Then came the sound of hammering.
Alice slowly realized what was happening.
Officials were boarding up her home.
Someone had apparently reported the deaths in the house. Because nobody had entered or left for several days, officials may have assumed that everyone inside was dead.
Alice tried to make a sound.
She wanted to tell them that she was still alive.
But the plague had left her extremely weak. Her throat was badly affected, and she could barely speak.
She could not reach the door.
The people outside continued boarding up the house.
A red cross was then marked on the door to identify the building as infected.
The house was effectively isolated from the outside world.
Alice was trapped inside.
Forty Days of Isolation
The house was supposed to remain sealed for 40 days.
For Alice, this created a terrifying situation.
She was already suffering from a deadly illness. Her parents were dead. There was no one left to bring her food or water.
Even if she survived the plague, starvation was another threat.
Alice had no way of knowing whether she would still be alive when the quarantine ended.
She could only wait.
What Officials Found After 40 Days
After the 40-day period ended, city officials returned to the house.
Their task was to enter sealed homes, remove bodies and clean the buildings.
When they entered Alice’s home, they found three bodies in the bedroom.
Alice was lying on the floor.
Her parents were still on the bed.
All three appeared to have died during the plague outbreak.
But as the officials examined the bodies, they noticed something unusual.
There were pieces of flesh missing from Alice’s parents’ legs.
The discovery raised a disturbing question.
What had happened inside the house?
The Disturbing Evidence
According to the account presented in the story, officials also found pieces of flesh in Alice’s mouth.
This led to the conclusion that Alice had apparently eaten parts of her parents’ bodies.
The explanation was desperation.
With the house sealed and no food available, Alice may have reached a point where she was willing to do almost anything to stay alive.
Her parents’ bodies were the only potential source of food available to her.
The story therefore suggests that Alice resorted to cannibalism in an attempt to survive the 40-day isolation.
But there was another tragic discovery.
Alice Did Not Die From the Plague
The officials initially assumed that Alice had died from the same disease that had killed her parents.
A closer examination reportedly changed that conclusion.
According to the story, Alice had choked on a piece of her parents’ flesh.
In other words, the plague itself was not determined to be the direct cause of her death.
She had apparently survived long enough to resort to eating her parents, only to die while doing so.
That makes the story of Alice Good particularly tragic.
She had gone from watching a royal procession filled with celebration and excitement to being trapped inside her home during a deadly epidemic.
The Dark Side of the 1578 Norwich Plague
Alice Good’s story shows how quickly an epidemic could change everyday life in the 16th century.
There were no modern hospitals, antibiotics or advanced methods for treating infectious diseases. Once plague entered a community, authorities had very limited options.
Isolation was one of the main tools available.
But isolation could also create terrible consequences.
For someone who was already sick, being locked inside a home could mean losing access to food, water and medical care.
Alice’s story represents the extreme end of that problem.
Her home became both a place of shelter and a prison.
A Tragic Story From Norwich’s History
The story of Alice Good is remembered as one of the grim tales associated with the Norwich plague.
Whether every detail of the account can be independently verified is difficult to establish from the surviving historical record. Some versions of the story have also been repeated and retold over time.
But the broader historical setting is clear: plague outbreaks could devastate English communities, and authorities used harsh isolation measures to slow the spread of disease.
Alice’s story puts a human face on that history.
She was a young woman who once stood outside her home watching Queen Elizabeth pass through Norwich.
Only months later, she was reportedly trapped inside that same home with her dead parents, desperately trying to survive.
Her story is a reminder of how quickly ordinary life could disappear during a major epidemic.
Conclusion
The story of Alice Good begins with celebration and ends in tragedy.
She watched Queen Elizabeth I enter Norwich surrounded by a magnificent royal procession. Months later, the plague had transformed the city.
Alice and her parents became victims of the outbreak. After her parents died, Alice was reportedly sealed inside the house while still alive.
When officials returned 40 days later, they discovered evidence that she had apparently tried to survive by eating parts of her parents’ bodies.
The most disturbing part of the story was the reported cause of her death: she had apparently choked on the flesh.
Whether every detail of the account is accurate or has been altered through retelling, the story captures the fear, desperation and harsh realities of plague-era life in England.