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The Black Death (Sources (1 - Eulogium - 1350s - Malmesbury Abbey,…
The Black Death
Sources
1 - Eulogium - 1350s - Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire
- Started July 1348 in Dorset and travelled north
- Rarely left a house without at least one dead
- 20% of English population dead
- 'just as cruel among pagans as Christians'
- Extreme drop in price because buyers couldn't be found
- 'ceased at the divine command' - God ended the plague
- Shortage of workers - not enough men to work the land, had to use women and children for ploughing etc, most surviving women barren for years
2 - Chronicle of Cistercian abbey of Louth
- In 1349 'the hand of Almighty God struck the human race a terrible blow' - God caused the plague
- 'felled Christians, Jews and infidels alike'
- Killed 80% of English - more than in Noah's flood
Beliefs of Sources
- Who was to blame? - 1+2 agree killed Jews/pagans as well as Christians - more educated didn't believe they were to blame? or just that fewer/no Jews in England after expulsion in 1290 so blamed others? misogyny and criticism of sinners in source 4 etc
- Economy - General agreement on deflation and overpricing of work by labourers due to not enough workers
- Death toll - Varies from 20%-80% - local variation? recording what they saw? wouldn't have access to wider records, would be relying on first/second-hand accounts - eg 3 has 80% because enclosed abbey, plague spread quickly
- God - 1 says God ended it, 2 says he started it - Benedictine vs Cistercian view? Cistercians had more of a focus on austerity and discipline so more of a focus on punishment from God?
3 - Chronicle of Meaux Abbey in E Yorks - 1388-96
- Abbot died of the plague after ruling for a decade - had ruled 42 monks and 7 lay brothers - in August the abbot, 22 monks and 6 lay brothers died; abbot and 5 of the monks in one day - by the end of the plague only 10 monks and no lay brothers left alive out of a total of 50 people
- Aka killed 80%?
- Also killed majority of tenants so income of monastery fell
- Officials eg abbot, prior, bursar etc had died - survivors less well educated, didn't know how to manage the monastery - made 'misguided grants of the goods and possessions of the monastery'
4 - Chronicle of Meaux Abbey in E Yorks - 1388-96
- Years leading up to the plague were sinful
- Nobility of England held tournaments 'to which ladies, matrons and gentlewomen were invited' - but didn't attend with husbands, were 'chosen by some other man, who used her to satisfy sexual urges
- Omens - 'certain human monster' aka conjoined twin of male and female died aged 18 in Hull shortly before the plague began
5 - Chronicle of Henry Knighton - 1390s
- Shortage of priests - many churches lacked priests when before there were too many
- Many widowed men entered the priesthood after the plague - 'many of them were illiterate, no better than laymen - for even if they could read, they did not understand what they read
- Deflation in economy - commands from king that workers shouldn't demand higher wages than they were used to but ignored - 'workers so above themselves and so bloody-minded' - had to give workers what they wanted in order to hire them
- King levied fines on people depending on ability to pay then arrested workers and artisans - could be freed if agreed to take no more than old daily wages
6 - Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker - begun 1340s, covered 1303-56
- Noblemen died eg Sir John Montgomery Captain of Calais - died in Calais and buried in London, left unburied for a long time - contributed to spread?
- Mostly killed young and strong, spared elderly and weak - people wouldn't care for sick or bury them
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Basics
Contemporary Response
- Believed to herald the end of the world - worse than Noah's flood or Pharoah's plagues
--1349 Irish Chronicle - recording events of the plague 'in case anyone should still be alive in the future and ... can escape this pestilence'
-- William Dere - can't walk past churchyards because of the 'stench of death' - wrote in 1349 that the Antichrist had been born in 1339 and that the death of the pope would mark the beginning of the end
- Often exaggerated figures to show horror and disbelief
-- Varies between 80-90% dead to 1/2 or 1/3 dead
-- Modern estimates - 52% of English population died in 18 months
- Believed to be an act of God to frighten people into obedience and to punish sins
-- Needed penance and confession - weekly or twice-weekly processions, prayers for survival and praying for God to lessen his anger, increased pilgrimages and offerings to earn indulgences eg 1350 Rome pilgrimage, penitence via caring for sick and burying the dead
-- Some did public penance eg the flagellants from 1348 onwards - paying for the sin of man via self-flagellation and processions - rejected by church powers and outlawed in 1349 because of torturing and murdering Jews 'for their sins'
- Believed sins they were being punished for included 1347 tournaments (reportedly noblewomen having affairs/orgies at tournaments), general revelry, indecent clothing (men wore tights, short robes, long shoes)
-- Chronicle of St Denis - people dancing in the streets to try and keep the plague away but later punished by God
-- Punishment of society as a whole rather than just the sinners - some sermons argued that innocents were dying because it would let them go to heaven before sinning and that it encouraged sinners to repent when they saw innocents suffering
Events
- Fast spread
-- 1330s - Spread from Central Asia into India and China
-- 1346 - Europeans first heard reports of plague in India and the Middle East
-- 1347 - Mongols besieging cities in Crimea passed it to inhabitants, Genoese traders in the Crimea escaped to Constantinople and Italy
-- Carried along coasts by traders and ship rats - north of Italy in January 1348; France, Spain, Portugal and England by June 1348; up through England, Germany, Scandinavia by 1349; northern Russia in 1351
- Less common in places with less trading - Poland, Basque Country, isolated parts of Belgium and the Netherlands, isolated alpine villages
- Never became endemic - wiped out rodent carriers and therefore wiped out the fleas until a new wave came across from Asia - outbreaks occurred approx. 15 years after warm and wet periods in areas with plague in rodents like gerbils
- Started to lessen in England by the end of 1349 - about 18 months of outbreak - another wave struck in 1361 but not as severe and mainly attacked children and adolescents - adults who had been exposed to the first outbreak built up a resistance?
- Contemporaries knew they were dealing with a single disease - recorded symptoms
-- Two forms - flu, tiredness, swellings/buboes of lymphatic nodes in groin and armpit, discoloured/gangrenous skin, disoriented and confused (lasted for several days before dying but sometimes survived); or no swellings but coughing up blood ie body not expelling/attempting to expel the virus (always fatal)
-- Thought it was caused by miasma/corruption of the air so used spices and strong smells to ward off miasma; thought it entered through pores so pores had to stay closed aka no bathing or physical exertion
-- Many chroniclers blamed planetary configurations of Mars, Saturn and Jupiter in 1345
-- The 'golden rules' of surviving the plague for German doctors - 'get out, go quickly, don't come back'
Persecution of Jews
- History of persecution from Roman times, especially under Xtns - massacres, expelled from kingdoms - partially Xtnity and Jesus, partially because moneylenders to royals and nobles who didn't want to pay debts
- Jewish populations less likely to catch the plague - different hygiene rituals reduced chance of fleas, isolated communities
-- More regular handwashing, washed bodies before burial etc
- Accusations against population of poisoning wells eg confession extracted under torture in Geneva
- 1349 - Strasbourg massacre
-- 100s killed unless agreed to be baptised
-- Children forcibly baptised and spared
-- Jewish quarter blockaded and burnt
-- No great criticism from chroniclers or much detail given - Henry of Herford in HRE gives more detail and is more critical
- Papal proclamations that Jews not to blame but had little effect
- Cohn - it was a reaction against Jewish wealth and 'exploitation' of the situation
- Not always a lack of authority and mass hysteria - lots of massacres carried out by/with knowledge of authorities
1381 Peasant's Revolt
Political Interpretation
- Marched on London - to the seat of government, not a localised revolt aka not trying to change local affairs - complaints lay with government
- Up to 10,000 marching suggests common agenda - targeting to kill or disable key members of government and connected individuals eg archbishop, archchancellor, treasurer, chief justice etc
- Clear understanding of the position of a king - wanted RII to rule unhindered by 'evil' councillors - accepted rule of RII and recognised that he wasn't in charge, rejected John of Gaunt
- Demands also demonstrate understanding - purge of corrupt council, end to legal corruption, end to villeinage, clerical disendowment
Economic Interpretation
- Relationship between lords and villeins an economic one - change in relationships post-plague, demanded higher wages
- Protesting legislation to restrict income of peasants - 1351 Statue of Labourers, enforced more 1370s
- Poll tax - introduced to take advantage of post-plague wealth - would use wealth to pay for 100Yr War
-- 1377 - 4d for all over 14
-- 1379 - sliding scale for all over 16
-- 1381 - 12d for all over 15
-- 1,355,000 taxpayers in 1377
-- 900,000 taxpayers in 1381
-- Shows that people across the country refused to pay
Cultural Interpretation
- Revolt would be unthinkable without ideas shaping their worldview
- Pre-capitalist, pre-democracy, no forum for political debate=no political consciousness - can't put modern ideas in their heads
- Use of ideas and imagery as a unifying force - radical popular Xtn ethic had developed C14 - sense of justice and community harking back to utopian ideals
- Use of radical preaching
-- John Ball - Lollard priest, preached for 20 years before being imprisoned, also preached at Mile End and rebels sought to make him Archbishop of Canterbury, hung drawn and quartered after the revolt
-- Wycliffite ideas - didn't intend to inspire revolt but was blamed by Walsingham, venerated royal authority via God but criticised leaders who weren't 'in a state of grace' ie corruption in government
- All calls for reform informed by radical Xtn ideology
- Timing of being at Corpus Christi not a coincidence - ideas of community and procession
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