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Barney sloane source

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Black death first hand account St Mary's, Ashwell, Hertfordshire, where an anonymous hand has carved a inscription for the year 1349.
Talks about how plague effected upper/lower class and the scale of the spread
https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/middle_ages/black_01.shtml

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Discover facts about the Black Death and its symptoms. How and why did the plague spread in the middle ages?

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Chronicle of the Black Death written at the Cathedral priory of Rochester 1314-50 which describes workers in a negative light after negotiating for their services. https://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item126557.html

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Intro

The catastrophic plague known as the Black Death hit Europe in 1348 and swept through the continent rapidly. It would eventually kill between a third and half of the population. These huge death tolls sparked off a chain of events that would change the position of the peasant in England forever. Because so many had died, there were far fewer people to work the land: peasants were therefore able to demand better conditions and higher wages from their landlords. Many advanced to higher positions in society.

This chronicle, written at the cathedral priory of Rochester between 1314 and 1350, includes a firsthand account of the Black Death, describing the changes in the everyday lives of people across the social scale: 'there was such a shortage of servants, craftsmen, and workmen, and of agricultural workers and labourers...[that] churchmen, knights and other worthies have been forced to thresh their corn, plough the land and perform every other unskilled task if they are to make their own bread.'

Shelfmark: Cotton MS Faustina B V.

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Transcript

Black Death Chronicle

Extract in present day English:

A great mortality ... destroyed more than a third of the men, women and children. As a result, there was such a shortage of servants, craftsmen, and workmen, and of agricultural workers and labourers, that a great many lords and people, although well-endowed with goods and possessions, were yet without service and attendance. Alas, this mortality devoured such a multitude of both sexes that no one could be found to carry the bodies of the dead to burial, but men and women carried the bodies of their own little ones to church on their shoulders and threw them into mass graves, from which arose such a stink that it was barely possible for anyone to go past a churchyard.

As remarked above, such a shortage of workers ensued that the humble turned up their noses at employment, and could scarcely be persuaded to serve the eminent unless for triple wages. Instead, because of the doles handed out at funerals, those who once had to work now began to have time for idleness, thieving and other outrages, and thus the poor and servile have been enriched and the rich impoverished. As a result, churchmen, knights and other worthies have been forced to thresh their corn, plough the land and perform every other unskilled task if they are to make their own bread.

Find out more about the Chronicle of the Black Death Here

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Share The catastrophic plague known as the Black Death hit Europe in 1348 and swept through the continent rapidly. It would eventually kill between a third and half of the population. These huge death tolls sparked off a chain of events that would change the position of the peasant in England forever.

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Hamo Hethe, Bishop of Rochester 1 July 1349 writes about priests who were forced to leave their parishes due to the drop in income from voluntary contributions of parishioners because they have died. 

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Hamo Hethe, Bishop of Rochester 1 July 1349 writes about priests who were forced to leave their parishes due to the drop in income from voluntary contributions of parishioners because they have died. 

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Simon Islip, Archbishop of canterbury on 28th may 1350 was trying to stop priests leaving their parishes to get a better salary.

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Ralph of Shrewsbury, the Bishop of Bath, wrote a letter about the Black Death to all the priests in his diocese in January 1349.

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Ralph of Shrewsbury, the Bishop of Bath, wrote a letter about the Black Death to all the priests in his diocese in January 1349.