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

by Francis Aidan Gasquet

Judging from a reply of the Pope to a petition of the Archbishop, it would be necessary to conclude that the plague had reached York as early as February, 1349. It is, however, more probable that the petition was sent in the expectation that the scourge would certainly come sooner or later, and it was best to be prepared. From the dates of the institutions to vacant benefices, moreover, it would seem that the province of York suffered chiefly in the summer and autumn of the year 1349. Pope Clement VI., by letters to Archbishop Zouche, dated from Avignon as early as March 23rd, 1349, bestowed the faculties and indulgences already mentioned as having been granted to other Bishops. This he did, as the letter says, "in response to a petition declaring that the deadly pestilence has commenced to afflict the city, diocese, and province of York."[278]

The county of York contained at this date some 470 benefices; or, counting monastic houses and hospitals, some 550. It has been pointed out that out of 141 livings in the West Riding, in which the incumbent changed in 1349, ninety-six vacancies are registered as being caused by death, and in the East Riding 65 incumbents died against 61 who apparently survived.[279] In the deanery of Doncaster,[280] out of fifty-six lists of incumbents, printed in the [p152] local history, a change is recorded in thirty. It may be concluded with certainty, from an examination of the printed lists of institutions for Yorkshire, that one-half at least of the clergy, generally, were carried off by the sickness. So serious did the mortality among the cathedral officials become that steps were taken to prevent the total cessation of business. In July, 1349, for instance, "it was ordained on account of the existing mortality of the pestilence that one canon, with the auditor and chapter clerk, might, in the absence of his fellows, grant vicarages and transact other matters of business as if the other canons were present, notwithstanding the statutes."[281]

The Archbishop too sought and obtained from Pope Clement VI. faculties to dispense with the usual ecclesiastical laws as to ordinations taking place only in the Ember weeks. "For fear the Divine worship may be diminished through want of ministers, or the cure and ruling of souls be neglected," writes the Pope, we grant leave to hold four extra ordinations during the year, since you say "that on account of the mortal pestilence, which at present rages in your province," you fear that "priests may not be sufficient for the care and guidance of souls."[282] With this the Archbishop gives a specimen of the testimonial letters to be granted to such as were ordained under this faculty, reciting that it was given "because of the want of ecclesiastical ministers carried off by the pestilence lately existing in our Province."

There is little doubt that the religious houses of the diocese suffered in a similar way. The abbots of Jervaux and Rievaulx, Welbeck and Roche, the priors of Thurgarton, and Shelford, of Monkbretton, of Marton, of Haltemprice and Ferriby, are only some few of the superiors of religious houses who died at this time.

For one of the monasteries of the county, Meaux, there exists a special account in the chronicles of the house. [p153] Abbot Hugh, it says, "besides himself had in the convent 42 monks and seven lay brethren; and the said abbot Hugh, after having ruled the monastery nine years, eleven months and eleven days, died in the great plague which was in the year 1349, and 32 monks and lay brethren also died.

"This pestilence so prevailed in our said monastery, as in other places, that in the month of August the abbot himself, 22 monks and six lay brethren died; of these, the abbot and five monks were lying unburied in one day, and the others died, so that when the plague ceased, out of the said 50 monks and lay brethren, only ten monks with no lay brethren were left.

"And from this the rents and possessions of the monastery began to diminish, particularly as a greater part of our tenants in various places died, and the abbot, prior, cellarer, bursar, and other men of years, and officials dying left those, who remained alive after them, unacquainted with the property, possessions, and common goods of the monastery. The abbot died on 12th August, A.D. 1349."[283]

In the Deanery of Holderness, in which Meaux Abbey was situated, there is evidence of great mortality. It is striking to observe how frequently the bailiffs and collectors of royal rents and taxes are changed. It is by no means uncommon to find an account rendered by the executors of executors to the original official.[284] This evidence as to the great extent of the mortality here as in other places of England, and as to the consequent distress, is borne out by the Inquisitiones post mortem for the period. In one case, where the owner of the property had died on 28th July, 1349, it is said that 114 acres of pasture were let at 12d. a year, "and not more this year because of the mortality and dearth of men." At Cliffe, on the [p154] same estate, the rents of customary tenants and tenants at will are stated to have been usually worth £10 5s. a year; but in this special year they had produced only two shillings.[285]

The chronicler of Meaux has described the disastrous consequences of the sickness in his own monastery. That this condition was not soon mended appears certain from the fact that in 1354 it was found necessary to hand over the abbey, "on account of its miserable condition," to a royal commission.[286]

The account of the King's Escheator in Yorkshire for the year, from October, 1349, to October, 1350, states that he could in no way obtain the sum of £4 12s. 2d., "due on certain lands and tenements from which he had levied and could levy nothing during the said time because of the mortality amongst men in those parts, and owing to the dearth of tenants, willing to take up the said land and tenements." Then follows a list of houses standing vacant.[287]