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

by Francis Aidan Gasquet

To take one example, the tax on the town of Dunwich had been granted by the King to the monastery of Ely; but in 1351 the inhabitants petitioned for relief as they were quite unable to find the money for the royal collectors. The King gave way to what he calls "the relation of the men of the town of Dunwich," which recited that "the said town, which before this time was completely inhabited by fisher-folk, had been rendered desolate by the deadly plague late raging in those parts, and by our enemies the [p132] French seizing and killing the fishermen at sea, and still remained so."[238]

From Norfolk and Suffolk we pass to the adjoining county of Cambridge, which is conterminous with the diocese of Ely. The Bishop of the diocese, Thomas de Lisle, was abroad at the time when the plague broke out in the county. On the 19th of May he wrote to the clergy of his diocese, forwarding the letter of Stephen, Archbishop of Arles, and Chamberlain of the Pope, already referred to elsewhere. By this anyone was empowered to choose his own confessor, "since in all places now is, or will be, the epidemic or mortality of people which at present rages in most parts of the world."[239] The Bishop had made arrangements for the government of his see during his absence abroad, but on April 9th, 1349, he wrote from Rome, making other dispositions in view of the plague. "By reason of the epidemic, as it is called, wonderfully increasing in the diocese," as he has lately understood by people from thence, he, "for fear his former Vicars General should die," augments their number. And, further, "considering how difficult it is for two people to agree about the same sentence, he appoints John, prior of Barnwell, singly and solely to dispose of all vacant benefices, and in case of his death, or refusal to act, then Master Walter de Peckham, LL.D., to be sole disposer of them," and then six others in order; a provision which itself shows how slight he considered the chance of life for any individual. In other matters any of his Vicars General could act; and "in case of any death putting a stop to business, as was likely in such a mortality," whichever Vicar General was present should act until the arrival of the three specially appointed.[240]

The foresight of the Bishop was not unnecessary. From [p133] the month of April vacancies followed quickly one upon another. For three years previous to 1349 the average number of institutions recorded in the episcopal registers was nine, and in 1348 it was only seven. In this year of the great sickness 97 appointments to livings in the diocese were made by the Bishop's Vicars, and in July alone there were 25.[241] The prior of Barnwell died early in the course of the sickness, probably even before he could have received the Bishop's commission to act for him in the matter of vacant benefices.

In June there are evidences of the mortality in the Cathedral priory of Ely. On the 23rd of the month John de Co, Chancellor of the diocese, acting as the Bishop's representative, according to the commission, appointed a new sub-prior to the monastery, and again on July the 2nd a cellarer and camerarius. A week later, on the 9th of July, 1349, "brother Philip Dallyng, late sacrist of Ely, being dead, and the said brother Paulinus (the camerarius) being likewise dead and both of them buried, he appointed to both offices, namely, brother Adam de Lynsted as sacrist, and brother John of St. Ives as camerarius."[242] At the same time also two chantries in the Cathedral became vacant; one, called "the green chantry," twice in two months.

The number of clergy carried away by the sickness in this diocese may be estimated from the number of vacant benefices. Deducting the average number of yearly [p134] institutions, it is fair to consider that 89 priests holding benefices died at this time.[243] The proportion of non-beneficed clergy to those beneficed was then probably about the same as it was in the second year of King Richard II. The clerical subsidy for that time shows 140 beneficed clergy against 508 non-beneficed, including the various religious.[244] On this basis at least 350 of the clerical order must have perished in the diocese of Ely.

The University town of Cambridge did not escape. On May 24th, 1349, the church of St. Sepulchre's fell vacant, and already in July several of the churches were without incumbents. Towards the end of April the Master of the hospital of St. John died, and one Robert de Spronston was appointed to succeed. Then he died a short time after, and one Roger de Broom was instituted on May 24th; but in his turn Roger died, and another took his place.

Cambridge, too, had probably its common plague pit. "Some years ago," writes the late Professor Thorold Rogers, "being at Cambridge while the foundations of the new Divinity School were being laid, I saw that the ground was full of skeletons, thrown in without any attempt at order, and I divined that this must have been a Cambridge plague pit."[245]

A curious document preserved in the Bishop's archives shows how severely some parishes must have suffered. It is a consent given by the prior and convent of Ely to a proposal of the Bishop to unite two parishes in Cambridge. It mentions the churches of All Saints' and St. Giles', of Cambridge, near the castle, and states that the parishioners of the former are, for the most part, dead in the pestilence, [p135] and those that had been left alive had gone to the parishes of other churches. It also says that the people of St. Giles' have died, and, further, that the nave of All Saints' is in a ruinous state, "and the bones of the dead exposed to beasts." The Bishop consequently proposes to unite these two ancient parishes of Cambridge, and in this consent to the proposal a glimpse is almost accidentally afforded of the desolation wrought in the University town by the terrible scourge.[246]

An example of what was probably very general throughout the county is afforded by a roll of accounts for a Cambridgeshire manor in this year. Considerable decay of rents is noted, and no wonder, for it would seem that 50 tenements and 22 cottages were in hand, and that the services which the holders would otherwise have rendered have to be paid for. At Easter 13 copyholders' tenements are vacant, and by Pentecost another 30 are added to the long list.[247]

The clergy were reduced to the greatest straits in consequence of the deaths among their parishioners, leading to a proportional diminution of their incomes. On September 20th, 1349, the Bishop's Vicar addressed a letter to John Lynot, vicar of All Saints', Jury, Cambridge.[248] "We are informed," he says, "by your frequent complaint that the portion coming to you in the said church is known to consist only of offerings of the parishioners, and that the same parishioners have been so swept away by the plague notoriously raging in this year that the offerings of the said church do not suffice for the necessities of life, and that you cannot elsewhere obtain help to bear the burden laid upon you. On this account you have humbly petitioned [p136] us to be allowed to have for two years an anniversary (mass) for your necessary support. Since your position in God's Church does not make it fitting that you should seek alms, particularly for necessities in food and clothing, we grant you the permission asked on the condition that as soon as the fruit and revenue of the said portion be sufficient to properly furnish you with necessaries you altogether give up the income of this anniversary (mass)."[249] At the same time a similar permission was granted to John Atte Welle, vicar of St. John, "in Melnstreet," Cambridge.