The Great Pestilence (A.D. 1348-9), Now Commonly Known as the Black Death

by Francis Aidan Gasquet

The Great Pestilence (A.D. 1348–9), NOW COMMONLY KNOWN AS The Black Death.

BY FRANCIS AIDAN GASQUET, D.D., O.S.B.

London: SIMPKIN MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO., Limited. 1893.

Lewes: SOUTH COUNTIES PRESS LIMITED.

CONTENTS.

• [To The Reader] xi
• [Introduction] xiii
• [CHAPTER I]. The Commencement of the Epidemic. First reports as to the sickness — General account of the epidemic in eastern countries — The great trade routes between Asia and Europe — The plague in the Crimea — Tartar siege of Caffa — Origin of the name "Black Death" — Symptoms of the disease — Constantinople is attacked; account of the epidemic by the Emperor Cantacuzene — Genoese traders carry the infection to Sicily — Effect in Messina and Catania 1–15
• [CHAPTER II]. The Epidemic in Italy. Date of the arrival of the infected ships at Genoa — Striking sameness in all accounts — De Mussi's account of the beginning of the plague in Italy, specially in Genoa and Piacenza — Boccaccio's description of it in Florence — This confirmed by the historian Villani — Progress of the disease in Italy — Pisa — Padua, Siena, etc. — Petrarch's letter on the epidemic at Parma — Venice and its doctors — Description of the desolation by Bohemian students 16–33
• [CHAPTER III]. Progress of the Plague in France. Its arrival at Marseilles — A Parisian doctor's account of the epidemic at Montpellier — Avignon is attacked and suffers terribly — Contemporary account of its ravages by a Canon of the Low Countries — Gui de Chauliac, the Pope's physician — Spread of the infection in every direction — William of Nargis' description of the mortality in Paris — Philip VI. consults the medical faculty — Normandy — Amiens — Account of Gilles Le Muisis, Abbot of Tournay — M. Siméon Luce on the conditions of popular life in France in the Fourteenth century — Agrarian troubles follow the epidemic 34–57
• [CHAPTER IV]. The Plague in Other European Countries. From Sicily the pestilence is carried to the Balearic islands — Majorca — The scourge in Spain — The shores of the Adriatic are visited — From Venice the wave passes into Austria and Hungary — It passes over the Alps into the Tyrol and Switzerland — Account of a Notary of Novara — From Avignon the epidemic is carried up the Rhone Valley to the Lake of Geneva — It visits Lucerne and Engelberg — Account of its ravages at Vienna — It goes from Basle up the valley of the Rhine — Frankfort — Bremen — From Flanders it passes into Holland — Denmark, Norway, and Sweden — Account of Wisby on the Island of Gotland — Labour difficulties consequent upon the epidemic 58–70
• [CHAPTER V]. The Plague Reaches England. Jersey and Guernsey are attacked — First Rumours of the epidemic in England — It is brought to Melcombe Regis in Dorsetshire — Discussion as to the date — Difficulty in dealing with figures in Middle Ages — Value of episcopal registers in giving institutions of beneficed clergy — Evidence of Patent Rolls — Institutions in Dorsetshire — Letter of the Bishop of Bath and Wells — Difficulty of obtaining clergy — Institutions in Somerset — Effect of the disease in the religious houses — Bristol — Evidence of the mortality in Devon and Cornwall — Institutions in the diocese of Exeter — Spread of mortality — Religious houses of the diocese 71–91
• [CHAPTER VI]. Progress of the Disease in London and the South. Rapidity of the spread of the epidemic — Date of its reaching London — The opening of new churchyards — Number of the dead in the capital — State of the city streets — Evidence of the wills of the Court of Hustings at this period — Westminster and other religious houses — St. Alban's — Institutions of clergy for Hertfordshire — Evidence as to the counties of Bedford, Buckingham, and Berks — Special value of the Inquisitiones post-mortem — State of various manors after the Plague — Institutions for the county of Bucks — The diocese of Canterbury — William Dene's account of the Rochester Diocese — Difficulty in finding priests — The diocese of Winchester — Bishop Edyndon's letter on the pestilence — Date of the epidemic in Hampshire — Troubles about the burying of the dead — Institutions for Hants — Institutions for the county of Surrey — Little information about Sussex 92–115
• [CHAPTER VII]. The Epidemic in Gloucester, Worcester, Warwick, and Oxford. Le Baker's account of the disease — Evidence of it in Wales — Account by Friar Clyn of the plague in Ireland — Institutions for Worcester — New burial ground in the city — State of the county after the plague — Institutions in Warwickshire — The city and county of Oxford — Effect on the university 116–127
• [CHAPTER VIII]. Story of the Disease in the Rest of England. Dr. Jessop's account of Norfolk and Suffolk — Institutions in the diocese of Norwich — Evidence of the court rolls — Norwich and its population — Yarmouth — The diocese of Ely — Preparations by the bishop — Institutions in the diocese — Cambridge — Decay of parishes consequent upon the mortality — Straits of the clergy — Huntingdon — Institutions in the county of Northampton — Effect on religious house of the county — Fall in the value of land — Leicestershire — Knighton upon the plague in the city of Leicester — Fall in prices — Labour difficulties — Staffordshire — Institutions in the diocese of Hereford — Shropshire — Evidence of Inquisitiones post-mortem — Chester — Accounts of the County Palatine — Derbyshire — Derby — Monasteries — Wakebridge and Drakelow — Nottinghamshire — Lincolnshire — Louth Park abbey — Yorkshire — Archbishop Zouche — Vacant livings — Deaths among superiors of religious houses — Meaux abbey — Deanery of Holderness — Doncaster — Hull — Lancashire — Amounderness — Westmoreland — Cumberland — Carlisle — Durham — Northumberland — Alnwick 128–161
• [CHAPTER IX]. The Desolation of the Country. Vacant livings in diocese of Salisbury — In Dorset and Wilts — Ivychurch priory — Manors ruined by plague — Somerset parsonages — Court roll of Gillingham, Dorset — Stockton, Wilts — Chedzoy, Bridgwater — Carthusians of Hinton and Witham — Exeter diocese — Lydford — North Cornwall — The Black Prince and his tenants — Essex benefices — Lands vacant — Rents lowered — Colchester wills — Talkeley priory — Chesthunt nunnery — Anglesey priory — Kent — Sussex — Hants — Isle of Wight — Surrey — Winchester cathedral priory — Hyde abbey — Nuns of St. Mary's abbey — of Romsey — Decrease among the mendicant friars of Winchester diocese — Debts at the cathedral — At Christchurch — Sandown hospital — Shireborne priory — Hayling Island — Taxation — Gloucester — Lantony priory — Horsleigh cell — Warwickshire — Wappenbury — Whitchurch — Bruerne abbey — St. Frideswide's at Oxford — Barlings 162–193
• [CHAPTER X]. Some Consequences of the Great Mortality. Estimate of population of England in 1377, and before the great pestilence — Social revolution — Dearth of labourers and artisans — The tenantry swept off — Rise in prices — State efforts to depress the working classes — A third of the land falls out of cultivation — Leasehold farming — Serfdom declines — Popular rising of 1381 practically emancipates the labourer — Growth of large landowners — English language spreads as French declines — Effects on architecture — Great works left unfinished — Statistics of clerical mortality — Effects on the Church — Old traditions perished — Decline of public liturgical worship — Young and aged, and inexperienced persons ordained priests — Curious examples of this — Great falling off in number of candidates for ordination at Winchester, Ely, Hereford — Decline of the universities — False views about the preponderance of regular clergy — After the Black Death their number relatively greater — Pluralities — Depopulation of monasteries — Instances cited — Wadding's explanation of Franciscan decadence — The Black Death, a calamity sudden, overwhelming, and of widespread effect 194–219

TO THE READER.

In publishing this story of a great and overwhelming calamity, which fell upon England in common with the rest of Europe, in the middle of the fourteenth century, I desire to record my grateful thanks to those who have in any way assisted me in gathering together my material, or in weaving it into a connected narrative. Amongst these many kind friends I may specially name Mr. F. Bickley, of the British Museum, Mr. F.J. Baigent, the Rev. Prebendary Hingeston-Randolph, and, above all, Mr. Edmund Bishop, to whom I am greatly indebted for advice, criticism, and ever-patient assistance in revising the proof-sheets.

INTRODUCTION.

[p-xiii]