THE 14TH CENTURY

The Black Death

In August 1348 the bubonic plague, or Black Death, suddenly appeared in England.
Its germs were carried by the fleas on black rats that came into the country on ships
from abroad. The first outbreak of the plague was of intense ferocity, for the people
had no immunity, and persons living close to the margin of subsistence fell victims
to the disease. Returning in 1361, the plague caused high mortality among children
born since 1348 and there were other visitations in 1368 and 1375. Thereafter the
plague subsided in the rural areas but remained endemic in London and other
towns, where it could become active at any time and could spread along lines of
communication into the country. It remained in England for more than 300 years.
The plague caused a sharp and sudden drop in population. The best
estimates place the population of England (exclusive of Wales, Scotland, and
Ireland) at about 1.1 million in 1086, about 3.7 million in 1346, about 2.2 million in
1377, and not much more than that by 1450. The startling fact about these figures is
the amazing drop between 1348 and 1377. Although there were also other causes
of the drop of population like floods and famine, certainly the plague caused a high
mortality. In some of the monasteries the monks almost disappeared (It is thought
that half the clergy in England fell victims to the pestilence), and there were
deserted villages and many unoccupied peasant holdings.

Agriculture

The Black Death had its most striking effect on the rural economy. The balance
between the number of laborers and the amount of land under cultivation and the
relations between lord and peasant were quickly altered. The type of farming typical
of the 13th century based on the scarcity of land, a large population, and a great
demand for food - conditions that had forced the peasants to remain on their
holdings and to accept the burdens of serfdom. But in an age of declining
population, when the demand for food was less, the profits of agriculture shrank.
The immediate result of the Black Death was a scarcity of labor. The work of the
manor could not be performed by the villeins who had survived the plague, so the
lord had to employ casual labor. In the past, when the work on the soil increased at
harvest time for example, the lord used to offer temporary work to people outside
the manor. The problem was that now wages doubled within a decade, as there
were fewer people looking for causal employment. Moreover, a villein, once tied to
his holding by economic necessity, could easily run away to another manor where
employment would be offered to him with no questions asked. No longer did
landowners help each other to capture runaway peasants such as they had done in
the past.
Landowners complained bitterly of the labor shortage and of the wages they
had to pay. In 1351 they obtained the Statute of Laborers, which fixed wages at the
rates before the plague, declared that all landless men must accept work when it
was offered to them, and prohibited peasants from moving from one manor to
another. For a time the statute had some effect, but in the long run it was useless,
for wages continued to rise and employers had to pay them if they wanted the work
to be done in due time.
 Faced with these difficulties, the lord of a manor might take one of several
courses of action. He might treat his villeins with severity, holding them to their old
obligations, denying them concessions, even forcing them to take up land they did
not want. But the villeins were very restless under such treatment and were keenly
aware of their value in a labor shortage. They saw opportunities to enrich
themselves in the new conditions of rural life, especially if there were people from
outside the manor that did the same kind of work in return for wages. Rejecting the
restraints of serfdom, they conspired to refuse their former services. The tempo of
resistance quickened until it explode in the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381.
A second course open to the lord was to abandon cultivation of the demesne
and to lease it to peasant farmers. This process went on rapidly during the second
half of the 14th century. The new leaseholders might be freemen or adventurers
from outside the manor or even villeins on the manor. They were the most efficient
and energetic peasants who saw their opportunity to prosper and to rise in the
world. Some of them became big farmers with large estates as time went by. Within
a few generations they sometimes were inheriting the position of the manorial lord
and were pushing their way into the gentry. Great differences in wealth soon
developed between the prosperous peasant who acquired land and the landless
agricultural laborer who worked for a daily wage or even no wages at all.
A third course open to the lord was to turn the demesne into a sheep pasture
and sell the wool, which fetched a good price. (Remember that raw wool was the
most important English export in those days). This was done extensively in the 15 th
and 16th centuries since it required much fewer laborers than the harder work on the
soil. Or the demesne could be made into a deer park, which added to the dignity of
the lord (hunting was a popular pastime among the members of the higher classes)
and provided his table with venison at the same time.
In any case, the lord’s income from his lands declined. He became a landlord
living on rents rather than a country gentleman cultivating his own estates.

Adapted from A History of England by D. H. Willson.