The Great Pestilence (A.D. 1348-9)

"But because God is loving and merciful, patient, and above all hatred, we earnestly beg that by your devotion He may ward off from us the scourge we have so justly deserved, if we now turn to Him humbly with our whole heart. We exhort you in the Lord, and in virtue of obedience we strictly enjoin you to come before the face of God, with contrition and confession of all your sins, together with the consequent due satisfaction through the efficacious works of salutary penance. We order further that every Sunday and Wednesday all of you, assembled together in the choir of your monastery, say the seven Penitential psalms, and the fifteen gradual psalms, on your knees, humbly and devoutly. Also on every Friday, together with these Psalms, we direct that you chant the long litany, instituted against pestilences of this kind by the holy Fathers, through the market-place of our city of Winchester, walking in procession, together with the clergy and people of the said city. We desire that all should be summoned to these solemn processions and urged to make use of other devout exercises, and directed to follow these processions in such a way that during their course they walk with heads bent down, with feet bare, and fasting; whilst with pious hearts they repeat their prayers and, putting away vain conversation, say, as often as possible, the Lord's Prayer and Hail Mary. Also that they should remain in earnest prayer to the close of the Mass, which at the end of the procession we desire you to celebrate in your church." The Bishop then concludes by granting indulgences to those who approach the Sacrament of Confession, and shall in these public devotions pray that God "may cause the severity of the plague to be stayed."191

On the same day, October 24th, 1348, Bishop Edyndon issued other mandates to his clergy generally, and to the archdeacon of Surrey in particular. He charges them to see that, in view of the terrible plague which was approaching, all are exhorted to frequent the Sacrament of Penance and to join in the public prayers and processions to be made with bare feet in towns through the market-places, and in villages in the cemeteries round about the churches.

On November 17th, on the nearer approach of the epidemic, the Bishop granted faculties to absolve from all reserved cases, reminding his people of "the approved teaching of the holy Fathers, that sickness and premature death often come from sin; and that by the healing of souls this kind of sickness is known to cease." To guard against any possible danger of cloistered nuns being left by the death of their chaplains without confessors, he at the same time sent to every abbess and superior of religious women in his diocese permission to appoint two or three fit priests, to whom he gave faculties to hear the confessions of the nuns.192

Before Christmas time the sickness was already in the diocese, although it was only beginning. On the 19th of January, 1349, Bishop Edyndon wrote to his official that he had good tidings to announce – tidings which he had received with joy – that "the most holy father in Christ, our lord the Supreme Pontiff, had in response to the petition of himself and his subjects, on account of the imminent great mortality, granted to all the people of the diocese, religious and secular, ecclesiastic and lay, who should confess their sins with sincere repentance to any priest they might choose – a plenary indulgence at the hour of death if they departed in the true faith, in unity with the holy Roman Church, and obedience and devotion to our lord the Supreme Pontiff and his successors the Roman Bishops." The Bishop consequently ordered that this privilege should be made known to all as quickly as possible.193

At Winchester, as at this time in other places, difficulties about the burial of the dead who were carried off by the pestilence soon arose. By January many benefices in the city had been rendered vacant, and without doubt the daily death-roll was becoming alarming. The clergy for many reasons were desirous of restricting burials to the consecrated cemeteries, but a party of the citizens had clearly made up their minds that in such an emergency as the present the ordinary rules and laws should be, and must be, set aside. In order, apparently, the better to enforce their views they set upon and seriously wounded a monk of St. Swithun's, who was conducting a funeral in the usual burial place. The Bishop took a serious view of the offence. On January the 21st, 1349, he addressed an order to the prior of Winchester and the abbot of Hyde ordering sermons to be preached on the Catholic doctrine of the resurrection of the flesh, and excommunication to be denounced against those who had laid violent hands upon brother Ralph de Staunton, monk of Winchester. "The Catholic Church spread over the world," he says, "believes in the resurrection of the bodies of the dead. These have been sanctified by the reception of the Sacraments, and are hence buried, not in profane places, but in specially enclosed and consecrated cemeteries, or churches, where with due reverence they are kept, like the relics of the Saints, till the day of the resurrection." Winchester, he continues, should set an example to the whole diocese, and above other places ought to reflect the brightness of the Catholic Faith. Some people there, however, not, he thanks God, citizens, or even those born in the city (who are wont to be conspicuous in their upright lives and in their devotion to the Faith), but low class strangers and degenerate sons of the Church, lately attacked brother Ralph de Staunton whilst burying in the appointed place, and when by his habit and tonsure they knew him to be a monk, beat him and prevented him from continuing to bury the dead amongst those there waiting for the resurrection. Thinking, therefore, that mischief was likely to ensue in regard to the true Catholic belief in the resurrection of the dead, he orders the doctrine to be preached in the churches of Winchester. From all this it is quite evident that the crisis had brought to the surface, as it had previously done in Italy, a denial of the first principles of the Catholic Faith.

Bishop Edyndon further adds that seeing that "at this time" the multitude of the faithful who are dying is greater than ever before, provision should be made "that the people of the various parishes may have prompt opportunity for speedy burial," and that the old cemeteries should be enlarged and new ones dedicated.194

This, however, did not end the difficulties. On the 13th of February, 1349, letters were directed by the King to the abbot of Hyde, John de Hampton, Robert de Popham, and William de Fyfhide,195 ordering them to hear and determine a complaint made by the Venerable Father, William de Edyndon, Bishop of Winchester, concerning the breaking down of walls and other boundaries of the enclosure, whereon the abbey of Hyde formerly stood, adjoining the cemetery of the Cathedral church of St. Swithun's, Winchester, which had been granted to the priory by the King, Henry I., on the removal of the abbey. It appears from the document that "the Mayor, bailiffs, and citizens had entered upon the usurped portions of the said land, and employed the site thereof to hold a market twice in the week and a fair twice in the year." By this "the bodies of the dead had been iniquitously disturbed because, owing to the great mortality and pestilence of late, and the smallness of the parochial burial grounds, the Bishop in the exercise of his office had consecrated the said ground, and many interments had taken place in it." The Commissioners, or two or three of them, are directed to view the said area, cemeteries, and closes, "to empanel a jury, and to examine evidence and generally to try the case."196

Taking the dates of the institutions to livings in the county of Hampshire197 as some indication of the period when the deaths were most frequent, it would appear that the height of the plague was reached in the months of February, March, and April, 1349. In one month, May, indeed, the number of benefices filled was more than double the average of the whole twelve months of any of the three previous years.

In the county of Surrey, March, April, and May were apparently the worst months; and in the last named the number of clergy instituted to vacant livings was double that of the previous yearly average.198

Some districts were affected more than others. Thus in the deanery of Basingstoke, in the north of Hampshire, at one time or other, and chiefly in the month of March, by far the greater proportion of benefices fell vacant. On the western side of the county several institutions are made in February, and a considerable number in March. Ivychurch priory, in Wiltshire, where the prior died on February 2nd, and all the rest of the community but one quickly followed him to the grave, is situated close to the boundaries of Hampshire, and an institution was made to a living not far distant on February the 7th. One of the earliest vacancies was Fordingbridge vicarage, also not far from Wiltshire, which appointment was made on the 21st of December, 1348. Only two days later there was apparently the first beginning of the plague at Southampton. The southern coast of the county generally round about Portsmouth and Hayling island suffered chiefly in April and March, and in the later month are recorded numerous institutions to livings in the Isle of Wight and in the country between the southdowns and the sea. On January the 14th, 1349, a new vicar was appointed to Wandsworth by Bishop Edyndon, "because to our pastoral office it belongs," he says, "to have charge of the churches, and to provide for the needs and wants, especially whilst the present mortality among men continues to rage."199

Mr. F. J. Baigent, who for many years has made the episcopal registers and other muniments of the diocese of Winchester his special study, writing of the effects of this great epidemic, says: "We have no means of ascertaining the actual havoc occasioned among the religious houses of this diocese.. but in the hospital of Sandown, in Surrey, there existed not a single survivor, and of other religious houses in the diocese (which comprises only two counties) there perished no fewer than 28 superiors, abbots, abbesses, and priors."

Of Sussex, the adjoining county to Hampshire, which is conterminous with the diocese of Chichester, the loss of the episcopal registers makes it difficult to speak with certainty as to the number of clergy swept off by the pestilence or as to its effect upon the religious houses. It is certain, however, that the disease was not less virulent here than in other places about which definite information is obtainable.

At Winchelsea the King, in the year of the plague, 1349, granted to John de Scarle, the parson, a messuage to the east of the cemetery of the church, which formerly belonged to Matilda Lycotin, who had died without leaving any heirs. "Out of devotion to St. Thomas," the King gives this house to the church for a rectory house for ever.200 That the town suffered considerably seems clear from the fact that in this year, 1349, "ninety-four places in the said town lie altogether deserted and uninhabited."201 And both here and at Rye the bailiffs claim that in 1354 they have not received £8 1s. out of £11. 17s. 5d., supposed to be due from them, for taxes on these towns, because so many houses are destroyed and lie desolate there."202

Incidentally it is known that John de Waring, abbot of Boxgrove, died some time before May 20th, on which day the monks had leave to elect another superior. Also from a chance entry in the Ely registers it appears that on July the 25th, 1349, a new vicar was instituted to Whaddon, in Cambridgeshire, on the presentation of the fourth prior of the Monastery of Lewes, to which the living was appropriated. It is explained that the reason why the fourth superior in the house had presented was because "the prior, sub-prior, and third prior were all dead."203 Lastly, a year or two after the epidemic had passed, even Battle abbey is said to be in great straits, and "in many ways dilapidated" (multipliciter dilapidatur), about which the King orders an inquiry.204

CHAPTER VII.

THE EPIDEMIC IN GLOUCESTER, WORCESTER, WARWICK, AND OXFORD

In the last two chapters an account has been given of the great plague of 1349 in the southern portion of England. In somewhat less detail the story of its ravages in Gloucester, Oxfordshire, and the Midlands must be here told. First, however, the general account given in the chronicle of Galfrid le Baker, who appears to have been a native of this district, may here find a place.

In all these narratives there is, of course much repetition. But it is just this absolute coincidence, even to the use of the same terms, in writers of different countries, or even of the same country, who could not have had any communication with one another, that brings home to the mind the literal reality of statements which, when read each one by itself, inevitably appear as gross and incredible exaggeration. It so raged at Bristol, writes Le Baker, that the people of Gloucester refused those of Bristol access to their town, all considering that the breath of those so dying was infectious to the living. But in the end Gloucester, and Oxford, and London, and finally all England, were so violently attacked that hardly a tenth part of both sexes survived. The cemeteries not being sufficient, fields were chosen as burial-places for the dead. The Bishop of London bought a croft, called 'No man's land,' in London, and Sir Walter de Manny one called 'The new church-hawe' (where he has founded a house of religious) to bury the dead. Cases in the King's Bench and in the Common Pleas necessarily ceased. A few nobles died, amongst whom was Sir John Montgomery, Captain of Calais and the Lord of Clistel (?) in Calais,205 and they were buried at the Friars of the Blessed Mary of Carmel, in London. An innumerable number of the common people and a multitude of religious and other clerics passed away. The mortality attacked the young and strong especially, and commonly spared the old and weak. Scarce anyone dared to have contact with a sick person; the healthy fled, leaving the goods of the dead as if infected. Swellings suddenly breaking out in various parts of the body, racked the sick. So hard and dry were they that, when cut, scarcely any fluid matter came from them. From this form of the plague many, through the cutting, after much suffering, recovered. Others had small black pustules distributed over the whole skin of the body, from which very few, and indeed hardly anyone, regained life and strength.

"This terrible pestilence, which began at Bristol on the Feast of the Assumption of the Glorious Virgin, and in London about the Feast of St. Michael, raged in England for a whole year and more so severely that it completely emptied many country villages of every individual of the human species… The following year it devastated Wales as well as England, and then passing over to Ireland it killed the English inhabitants there in great numbers, but the pure-blooded Irish, living in the mountains and high lands, it hardly touched till A.D. 1357, when unexpectedly it destroyed them everywhere."206

The mention by Le Baker of Wales and Ireland suggests a brief statement of what is recorded as to the ravages of the pestilence in these two countries. Of Wales hardly anything is known for certain, although the few items of information that we possess make it tolerably certain that Le Baker's statement that it "devastated" the country is not exaggerated. In April, 1350, Thomas de Clopton, to whom the lands of the late Earl of Pembroke, Laurence de Hastings, had been leased during the minority of the heir, petitioned the King for a reduction of £140 out of the £340 he had engaged to pay. The property was chiefly situated in the county of Pembroke, and the petitioner urges that, "by reason of the mortal pestilence lately so rife in those parts, the ordinary value" of the land could not be maintained. Upon inquiry the statement was found to be true, and £60 arrears were remitted, as well as £40 a year taken off the rent.207 No institutions for any of the four Welsh dioceses are forthcoming; but on the supposition that half the number of the beneficed clergy in the Principality were carried off by the sickness, the number of benefices in Wales being about 788, the total mortality among the beneficed clergy would be nearly 400.

With regard to the religious houses in Wales also, little is known as to the effect of the pestilence. The priory of Abergavenny, an alien priory then in the King's hands, was forgiven the rent due to the King's exchequer, as the prior found it impossible to obtain payment at this time for his lands.208 And seven-and-twenty years later, the small number in some fairly large religious houses raises the suspicion that they, like so many English monasteries at this time, had not regained their normal strength after their losses. Thus the Cistercian abbey of Whitland, in Carmarthen, in 1377 had only a community of the abbot and six monks; the Augustinian priory at Carmarthen had but five beside the prior; the Premonstratensian abbey of Tallagh only an abbot and five canons, whilst the prior of Kidwelly, a cell of Sherborne abbey in Dorset, had not even a socius with him.209

Some account of what happened in Ireland may be gathered from the relation of friar John Clyn, a Minorite of Kilkenny, who himself apparently perished in the epidemic. "Also this year (i. e., 1349),"210 he writes, "and particularly in the months of September and October, bishops, prelates, ecclesiastics, religious, nobles and others, and all of both sexes generally, came from all parts of Ireland in bands and in great numbers to the pilgrimage and the passage of the water of That-Molyngis. So much so, that on many days you could see thousands of people flocking there, some through devotion, others (and indeed most) through fear of the pestilence, which then was very prevalent. It first commenced near Dublin, at Howth211 and at Drogheda. These cities – Dublin and Drogheda – it almost destroyed and emptied of inhabitants, so that, from the beginning of August to the Nativity of our Lord, in Dublin alone, 14,000 people died."

Then after speaking of the commencement of the plague and its ravages at Avignon, the author continues: – "From the beginning of all time it has not been heard that so many have died, in an equal time, from pestilence, famine, or any sickness in the world; for earthquakes, which were felt for long distances, cast down and swallowed up cities, towns, and castles. The plague too almost carried off every inhabitant from towns, cities and castles, so that there was hardly a soul left to dwell there. This pestilence was so contagious that those touching the dead, or those sick of it, were at once infected and died, and both the penitent and the confessor were together borne to the grave. Through fear and horror men hardly dared to perform works of piety and mercy; that is, visiting the sick and burying the dead. For many died from abscesses and from impostumes and pustules, which appeared on the thighs and under the arm-pits; others died from affection of the head, and, as if in frenzy; others through vomiting of blood.

"This year was wonderful and full of prodigies in many ways; still it was fertile and abundant, although sickly and productive of great mortality. In the convent of the Minorites of Drogheda 25, and in that of Dublin 23, friars died before Christmas.

"The pestilence raged in Kilkenny during Lent, for by the 6th of March eight friars Preachers had died since Christmas. Hardly ever did only one die in any house, but commonly husband and wife together, with their children, passed along the same way, namely, the way of death.

"And I, brother John Clyn, of the order of Minorites, and the convent of Kilkenny, have written these noteworthy things, which have happened in my time and which I have learnt as worthy of belief. And lest notable acts should perish with time, and pass out of the memory of future generations, seeing these many ills, and that the world is placed in the midst of evils, I, as if amongst the dead, waiting till death do come, have put into writing truthfully what I have heard and verified. And that the writing may not perish with the scribe, and the work fail with the labourer, I add parchment to continue it, if by chance anyone may be left in the future and any child of Adam may escape this pestilence and continue the work thus commenced."212

This account of friar Clyn is borne out by one or two documents on the Patent Rolls. Thus in July, 1350, the Mayor and Bailiffs of Cork stated in a petition for relief "that, both because of the late pestilence in those parts, and the destruction and wasting of lands, houses, and possessions, by our Irish enemies round about the said city," they were unable to pay the 80 marks' tax upon the place.213 Also the citizens of Dublin, in begging to be allowed to have 1,000 quarters of corn sent for their relief, state in the petition of their Mayor "that the merchants and other inhabitants of the city are gravely impoverished by the pestilence lately existing in the said country, and other many misfortunes which had happened there."214 Lastly, the tenants of the royal manors in Ireland asked the King for special protection. They urged that "both by reason of the pestilence lately existing in the said country, and because of the excessive price of provisions and other goods charged by some of the officers of the land to the tenants, they are absolutely reduced to a state of poverty."215

After this brief digression upon the plague in Wales and Ireland, a return may be made to England. The county of Worcester suffered from the disease chiefly in the summer months of the year 1349. The institutions to livings in the county, show that in 67 parishes out of 138 the incumbent changes at this time. In several instances there are recorded more than one change, so that fully half of the total number of benefices in the county were at one time or other vacant during the progress of the disease. The highest number of appointments to livings in the county in any one month was in July, whilst each month from May to November gives indication of some special cause at work producing the vacancies. In the first four months of the year and in December only six institutions are recorded.216 As examples of benefices which fell vacant more than once during the period there may be adduced Great Malvern, to which priests were presented on the 10th of July and the 21st of August; and Powick, near Worcester, to which institutions are registered on the 15th of May and the 10th of July.

In the city of Worcester, as early as the middle of April, difficulties as to the disposal of the bodies of the dead were foreseen and provided against by the Bishop, Wulstan de Braunsford, who himself, an old and infirm man, died on the 6th of August, 1349. On the 18th of April, this year, the Bishop wrote from Hartlebury to his officials at Worcester, to the following effect: – "Carefully considering and not without anxiety of heart often remembering how dangerously and excessively, alas, the burials have in these days, to our sorrow, increased, in the cemetery of our cathedral church at Worcester (for the great number of the dead in our days has never been equalled); and on this account, both for our brethren in the said church ministering devoutly to God and His most Glorious Mother, for the citizens of the said city and others dwelling therein, and for all others coming to the place, because of the various dangers which may probably await them from the corruption of the bodies, we desire, as far as God shall grant us, to provide the best remedy. Having deliberated over this, we have ordained, and do ordain, that a place fit and proper for the purpose, namely, the cemetery of the hospital of St. Oswald, Worcester, be made to supply the deficiency in the said cemetery of our cathedral church arising from the said cause." He consequently orders that it be made known to the sacrist that all burials may at his discretion, "in the time of this mortality, be made in the said cemetery of St. Oswald."217

Leland mentions this cemetery in his Itinerary, where, speaking of the "long and fayre suburbe by north without the foregate," he says there was a chapel to St. Oswald afterwards a hospital; "but of later times it was turned to a free chapel, and beareth the name of Oswald, and here were wont corses to be buried in time of pestilence as in a publicke cemitory for Worcester."218