The Black Death in English towns

Britnell, Richard

doi:10.1017/s0963926800011020

Cited by 44 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Baker, ‘Evidence’; Taylor, Cambridgeshire landscape , pp. 136–8; Britnell, ‘Black Death’, pp. 194–8.…”

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confidence: 99%

The impact of drought in early fourteenth‐centuryEngland

Stone¹

2013

The Economic History Review

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Climatic change is currently viewed as one of the main causes of the so-called crisis of the early fourteenth century. It is well established that England saw increased storminess and heavy rainfall in this period, but this article suggests that the impact of drought-which became a common feature of the English climate during the 1320s and early 1330s-has been overlooked. Based primarily on a detailed analysis of account rolls for over 60 of the best-documented manors in this period, the article establishes that drought brought devastating harvest failure and caused severe outbreaks of a number of diseases, plausibly including enteric infections, malaria, and winter and spring fevers. As a result, mortality surged and population levels fell in communities in affected regions, which were mainly confined to the southern and eastern counties of England. The article concludes that such regional variation significantly affects our understanding of demographic, agricultural, and even fiscal trends in this period. Although we should not disregard the human factors influencing the impact of environmental shocks, England was plainly struck with indubitable force by extreme weather in this pivotal phase of the medieval economy.M ired by plunging living standards and scarred by 'dire famine and mortality', 2 the early fourteenth century has long been regarded as the pivotal phase of the middle ages, when several centuries of demographic and commercial growth finally gave way to decline. As Postan first sketched out, 'the population [of England] had begun to decline a whole generation before the Black Death, and certainly after the great famines [of 1315-17]'. 3 Few doubt the horrific nature of these famines, which seemingly reduced the English population by 10-15 per cent, 4 yet debate continues about the cause and ultimate influence of the crisis. In particular, the period has attracted competing theories about endogenous constraints on pre-industrial economic development. 5 Postan prioritized the changing balance between population and resources and argued that a progressive shortage of land rendered many increasingly sensitive to harvest failure. 6 Other historians 1 I am grateful to John Hatcher, Mark Bailey, participants at seminars at Cambridge and Oxford, and three anonymous referees for their comments on earlier versions of this article. I am also grateful to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster for permission to work on the account rolls for Westminster Abbey and to the staff of the Muniments Room there and at Cambridge University Library; Merton College, Oxford; Norwich Record Office; Canterbury Cathedral Archives; the National Archives; the British Library; London Metropolitan Archives; and the Hampshire Record Office for their assistance with this research. I also thank Richard Smith for lending me his microfilm of the Hinderclay accounts, which are housed at the University of Chicago Library. As a part-time historian but full-time dad, this research would not have been possible without the generosity and forbear...

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“…Baker, ‘Evidence’; Taylor, Cambridgeshire landscape , pp. 136–8; Britnell, ‘Black Death’, pp. 194–8.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of drought in early fourteenth‐centuryEngland

Stone¹

2013

The Economic History Review

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“…22 Artisans frequently clustered in major urban centers to facilitate trade, and plague mortality is suspected to have been higher in urban areas than in the countryside, the result of inadequate sanitation and overcrowded living and working conditions. 23 By the late Middle Ages, bubonic plague was viewed by contemporaries as primarily an urban disease; large commercial centers such as London, Norwich, York, and Leicester were reported to have been especially hard hit. 24 The death rates of master craftsmen from the many guilds of London bear witness to the severity of the plague for the urban artisan class, whose losses included wardens from the goldsmiths, hatters, shearmen, and cutters.…”

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confidence: 99%