John of Salisbury, called Carnotensis, because he was Bishop of Chartres. The Passage referred to occurs in his Polycraticus, sive De Nugis Curialium, Lib. vii. cap. 20.[76] Si dicas quia ignis per septuaginta annos Babylonicæ captivitatis sub aqua vixerat, demum extinctus est, Antiocho vendente Jasoni sacerdotium; aut quod Beatus Gregorius testatur, quia pestilentia et fames, concussiones gentium, collisiones regnorum, et quamplurima adversa terris proveniunt, ex eo quod honores ecclesiastici ad pretium vel humanam gratiam conferuntur personis non meritis. The other Reference (Line 11) is to Lib. viii. cap. 18.[77] Nam et peccata populi faciunt regnare hypocritam, et sicut Regum testatur historia, defectus sacerdotum, in populo Dei, tyrannos induxit.
[Ibid.] line 10.
beþ ȝeue.
A Mistake probably for ben geve, i. e. been given.
[Ibid.] line 16.
alle children boren siþþen þe first pestylence, &c.
The Year 1348 and two following Years are recorded in all our Chronicles, as remarkable for a most formidable Pestilence which devastated Europe[78], and is said to have been attended with this singular Circumstance, that the Children born after the Pestilence had begun, were found to be deficient in the usual Number of Teeth. It may be enough to quote from our English Annalists, the Chronicle of Caxton. Speaking of the 23rd Year of King Edward the Third, the Historian says[79]: “¶ And in the xxiij Yere of his Regne, in yᵉ East Partyes of the Worlde, there began a Pestylence and Deth of Sarasyns and Paynyms, that so grete a Deth was never herde of afore, and that wasted away the People, so that unneth the tenth Persone was left alive. ¶ And in the same Yere, about yᵉ South Countrees there fell so moche Rayne, and so grete Waters, that from Chrystmasse unto Mydsomer there was unnethes no Daye nor Nyght but that rayned somewhat, through which Waters yᵉ Pestilence was so enfected, and so haboundant in all Countrees, and namely, about yᵉ Court of Rome, and other Places, and See Costes, that unneth there were lefte lyuyng Folke for to bury them honestly yᵗ were deed. But made grete Diches and Pyttes yᵗ were wonders brode and depe, and therin buryed them, and made a Renge of deed Bodyes, and cast a lytell Erth to couer them aboue, and than cast in another Renge of deed Bodyes, and another Renge aboue them. And thus were they buryed, and none other wyse, but yf it were so yᵗ they were Men of grete Estate, so that they were buryed as honestly as they myght.” And again[80], “And in this same Yere,” [24 Edw. III.] “and in the Yere afore, and in the Yere nexte folowynge, was so grete a Pestylence of Men from the Eest in to the West, and namely through Botches, yᵗ they that sekened, as on this Daye, dyed on the thyrde Daye after, to yᵉ whiche Men yᵗ so dyed in this Pestylence had but lytell Respyte of theyr Lyggynge. Than Pope Clement of his Goodnes and Grace, gave them full Remyssyon and Forgyuenes of all theyr Synnes that they were shryuen of, and this Pestylence lasted in London fro Mighelmasse vnto August nexte followynge, almost an hole Yere. And in these Dayes was Deth without Sorowe, Weddynges without Frendshyp, wylful Penaunce, and Derth without Scarsete, and Fleynge wᵗout Refute or Sucour, for many fledde from Place to Place bycause of the Pestylence, but they were infected, and might not escape yᵉ Deth, after yᵗ yᵉ Prophete Isaie sayth, Who that fleeth fro the Face of Drede, he shall fall into the Dyche. And he yᵗ wyndeth him out of yᵉ Dyche, he shall be holden and tyed with a Grenne. But whan this Pestylence was cesed, as God wolde, unnethes yᵉ tenth Parte of the People was left on lyue. ¶ And in yᵉ same Yere began a wonders thynge, that all yᵗ were borne after yᵉ Pestylence had two Cheketethe in ther Heed lesse than they had afore.”
Hollinshed records[81] in like Manner the Fact of the Pestilence, and the Desolation caused by it throughout Europe. Of London he says that the Death “had bin so great and vehement within that Citie, that over and beside the Bodies buried in other accustomed burieng Places, (which for their infinit Number cannot be reduced into Account), there were buried that Yeare” [viz. 1350] “dailie, from Candlemasse till Easter, in the Charterhouse Yard of London, more than two hundred dead Corpses.” He also notices the Fact of the Children wanting Teeth, but he makes the Defect to be four, not two “cheke Teeth,” as Caxton’s Chronicle stated[82]: “¶ This Yeare in August died Philip de Valois the French King. Here is to be noted, that all those that were borne after the Beginning of that great Mortalitie whereof ye have heard, wanted foure cheke Teeth (when they came to the time of Growth) of those 32 which the People before that Time commonlie vsed to have, so that they had but 28.”
Our Author, it will be observed, differs from Hollinshed in making the Defect “eight grete Teeth,” and in this he has the Authority of the second Continuator of the Chronicle of William de Nangis, published by D’Achery in his Spicilegium[83]; a Narrative which apparently has been the Source from which many of our English Chroniclers have borrowed. It contains a very minute History of this memorable Pestilence, with several curious Particulars not mentioned by other Writers. The Author endeavours to account for the Plague by supposing the Explosion of a Comet, whose sudden Evaporation, he suggests, may have disseminated in the Atmosphere pestilential Vapours. He tells us also that the Jews were suspected of having poisoned the Fountains, and that many of them were in consequence put to Death, and burnt, in various Places. The circumstance of the Children born with a smaller Number of Teeth is thus recorded[84]:—
Cessante autem dictâ epidemiâ, pestilentiâ, et mortalitate, nupserunt viri qui remanserunt et mulieres ad invicem, conceperunt uxores residuæ per mundum ultrà modum, nulla sterilis efficiebatur, sed prægnantes hinc inde videbantur, et plures geminos pariebant, et aliquæ tres infantes insimul vivos emittebant; sed quod ultra modum admirationem facit, est quod dicti pueri nati post tempus illud mortalitatis supradictæ, et deinceps, dum ad ætatem dentium devenerunt, non nisi viginti dentes vel viginti duos in ore communiter habuerunt, cum ante dicta tempora homines de communi cursu triginta duos dentes, sub et supra, simul in mandibulis habuissent. Quid autem numerus iste dentium in post natis significet, multum miror, nisi dicatur, quod per talem et tantam mortalitatem hominum infinitorum et successionem aliorum et reliquorum qui remanserant, mundus est quodammodo renovatus et seculum, ut sic sit quædam nova ætas; sed proh dolor! ex hujus renovatione seculi non est mundus propter hoc in melius commutatus. Nam homines fuerunt postea magis avari et tenaces, cum multo plura bona quam antea possiderent; magis etiam cupidi, et per lites brigas et rixas atque per placita seipsos conturbantes, nec per hujusmodi terribilem mortis pestem a Deo inflictam fuit pax inter Reges et dominos reformata, quinimo inimici Regis Franciæ ac etiam guerræ Ecclesiæ fortiores et pejores quam ante per mare et per terram suscitaverunt, et mala ampliora ubique pullularunt. Et quod iterum mirabile fuit; nam cum omnis abundantia omnium bonorum esset, cuncta tamen cariora in duplo fuerunt, tam de rebus utensilibus, quam de victualibus, ac etiam de mercimoniis et mercenariis et agricolis et servis, exceptis aliquibus hereditatibus et domibus quæ superflue remanserant his diebus. Charitas etiam ab illo tempore refrigescere cœpit valde, et iniquitas abundavit cum ignorantiis et peccatis: nam pauci inveniebantur qui scirent aut vellent in domibus, villis, et castris, informare pueros in grammaticalibus rudimentis.