In the 18th century it is said to have contained 20,000 inhabitants, but it was almost depopulated by plague in 1814.
The plague of 1665, carried hither from London, almost depopulated this village, and the name of the rector, William Mompesson, attracted wide notice on account of his brave attempts to combat the outbreak.
Although Palestine had not been depopulated, and many of the exiled Jews remained in Persia, the standpoint is that of those who returned from Babylon.
Thenceforward its position was dependent, and in the Second Punic War, after several vicissitudes, it was depopulated and plundered by Hannibal.
We may form some idea of the extent and the severity of their incursions from the fact that at the beginning of the reign of Valdemar the whole of the Danish eastern coast lay wasted and depopulated.