The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-09-17
i,s stay in any one district Tho turn Of Ireland

| the worst year there being 1850 Lest any on,
should he tempted 10 think that tho numbers o
those who persisted by the Black Death are ex
aggerated in the fourteenth century chronicles
! Mr. Warner thinks 1t well to point out the ground,
for the belief that from onethir 10 onehaf Of tn,
| population died This is not one OF tho contem
porary estimates They were much less mode
rate Walsingham, for instance who wrote In
The reign Of Richard H., dhe last quarter Of the
| fourteenth century, quotes tho general belief
| that the mortality was nine tenths OF the popua
ton Tho modern estimate is based not upon
gueases but upon the Institution Books, which
registered the appointments Of clergy TO livings;
upon the records Of guilds aud corporate bodies,
and most important Of nll upon the Court Rolls
OF tho manors. which registered oil tho changes
among the lords tenants Thus we learn that
two thirds Of the parish clergy in the diocese Of
Norwich porished; in July. 1910. 200 clergy wcro
Instituted: that ia TO say. for that month the
number was about three times that instituted in
an ordinary year In the House OF Augustnian
canons at Heveringland the Prior and the canons
died to a man, and, In tho House at Hickey, only
one canon survived. OF tho 90 monks al ST.
Adams, ~ fell victims 10 tho disease Eight
months OF tho plague at Hunstanton, a small
parish, saw Ia tenants Of the manor die, "a OF
them without male heirs, and 10 without any heir
at ALL The Court Rolls bear witness to the wide
spread destruction as much by what they omit
as by what they record In some rolls the year
Is a blank. Owing to the death Of the steward or
the general panic. no court was held. and when tho
entries begin again, they are often in sprawllng,
illegiblo hand. and informal in style and language
the former scribe had gone to the grave, and was
succeeded by an unskiliul pcnman, new to the
business We have seen how severely the Black
Death fell on the diocese OF Norwich But 1t
can hardly be said that It's severity was excep-
tional A third Of the burgesses Of Colchester
died. and half Of the population of Bodmin and
Leicester; in the diocese OF Bath and Wells IL was
difficult 10 find priest TO perform the last Offices
for the victims in Bristol the living could scarcely
bury tho dead
Mr. Warner nnds II easy TO distinguish two
main effects Of tho Black Death upon the country
districts Labor became scarce, and, owing TO the
social disorganizaiont the harvcstwas tenn Dor arly
insufficient. oven for tho diminished population.
Hedges wero broken down. and cattle wandered
at will over the grain fields; even where tho crop
had rpcned there often no hands to reap 1t,
and II rottcd where II stood. Ploughing and
sowing were neglected and there was prospect
OF further scarcity. From the short supply OF
labor and Of grain modern ideas would expect
two things a rise in tho wages Of labor and rise
In tho price Of agricultural products Of all kinds
In the fourteenth century however men were not
prepared TO tolerate either OF these things as neces
sary, and. II not Necessary, they were clearly
undesirable Consequently, Parliament set TO
work TO restrain them As Parliament princi-
pnny consisted Of men who were landowners
and as at tho head OF Parliament stood the King.
who was the greatest landowner OF all, Il is i'm
portant to motto how the landowners were affected
by the mortality among his tenants Nothing
could be more lucid than Mr.. Warmers explana-
lilo OH hat l.l
but slightly the average number, the landowner
would not have been injured; rather in some cases
he would have profted, for tho heir OF the dead
tenant would take his fathers land pay his SER
vices or money communication as before, and the
fines received by the lord on land changing hands
would have constituted an additional source OF
revenue The reception Of a fine, however de-
pended on the existence Of an heir: in 1880
whole families swept off and no heir was
left to pay either services. rents or fines In such
case the land eschcatcd to the lord Of the manor.
This again, would not be- necessarily q disad-
vantage II he could hire at the old rate laborers
to cultivate tho escheated land. In short. from
q mortality that was above the average, but not
excessive the lords had little to fear; services
might be lost where men died without heirs but
the increased number of fines and the lands which
came back to the owner would make up for this
1t was the extreme mortality OF tho Black Death
that upset all ordinary calculation On all estates
all over the country there the same difficulty
Laborers died in such numbers that estates were
left impoverished Dcmesnes could no longer he
properly titled by the few who remained; and as
Tor the escheated land, OF what use was that when
no labor could DO hired, Whatever the practice
OF the estate had been. whether services had been
committed on 1t or not the lord was embarrassed
by having too much land and too few laborers.
and since the value Of an estate lay mainly in its
being we'll supplied with labor. the loss was heavy
one 10 certain extent. tho cases might differ
Those lords who had retained payment In services
still had the services of the survivors, and these
services were each worth what they had been
before; but, where services had been committed
for payment, the money would not hire the same
amount OF labor as before unless wages remained
the same; II wages should rise, the lord would be
the sufferer in two ways his money revenues
would be actually less in amount through the loss
oil committing tenants; and what he did receive
would be less in value, for he would have to nav
a larger wage to each hired laborer OF course a
rise in wages occurred in tho towns as II did In the
country, but those who hired labor in the towns
had TO acquiesce in the rise after the government
had failed to check it, no other course was open to
them but to pay at the higher rate In the country
helords OF manors had will be seen, an alterna-
tive, which they took, and which proved harm
full TO tho tenants
III.
The very completeness Of the catastrophe caus
ed by the Black Death held out possible adyan-
tages to the laborer. That any villein fully
appreciated these amid the misery OF 1349, when
his companions were dying around him like flies.
Is Improbable but, when the plague abated, he
must have discerned ground for hope in the in
10 lab II