20. The Plague
In 1349 into this well-regulated, peaceful, God fearing, long standing, socially advanced community – The Plague struck.
This was a traumatic event of enormous proportions for the village. The effects cannot be overestimated. Many helpless souls died – the village died. Across England, especially in the south and the midlands approximately one third to one half of the entire population died, around two million in total. 40% of English priests died, the gap being hastily filled with the poorly trained. This accelerated the decline in church power and influence which culminated in the English Reformation.
Of the four manors, Domas must have taken the brunt of the Plague. It is now described by the Archaeologists as ‘a Deserted Medieval Village’. From this time, it is thought, it was in sharp decline. No doubt the other three suffered the same fate. There are 100 or so Deserted Medieval Villages in Shropshire and 1300 in England.
The Church was concerned that people could not be given the last rites. Pope Clement VI announced that anybody, any survivor, could administer the last rites, even women! Corpses were slow to be buried.
The last Lord to live in Harley was Robert de Harley. He became Lord in 1316 and died in 1349. The Victoria County History does not venture to speculate as to how he died presumably because there is no formal account of his death. Nevertheless it seems likely that he was a victim of the Plague especially as his wife Margaret also died. It is known that she died in Harley on 25 June 1349. A fateful day.
Many families were left headless and without support. No consideration was given to the weak. Tenants of country estates were at the same time, being systematically evicted condemning them to the real prospect of starvation, so that land could be converted from arable to grazing so as to obtain a slightly improved return on investment. Large numbers of people did in fact die of starvation and malnutrition was common. This was a contributory factor to the effects of the Plague.
The Plague resulted in a drastic population decline. Much arable land was left uncultivated; cattle were left unattended. There was an acute labour shortage resulting in a rise in wages for the peasants. This coincided with peasant uprisings in W. Europe in the 14th and 15th Centuries, which forced landlords to agree to more favourable peasant terms. Unfortunately, it is recorded that peasants were not much better off than their forebears. There was, however, following the Plague, more personal freedom.
Theories about the cause of the disease were numerous, ranging from punishment by God, to planetary alignment, to evil stares. Many people believed that the horrors of the Black Death signaled the Apocalypse, or the end of time. Others believed that the disease was a plot by Jews to poison Christians, and many Jews were killed by panicked mobs.
The speed with which the disease could kill was terrifying, The Italian author Boccaccio claimed that victims ‘ate lunch with their friends and dinner with their ancestors in paradise’.
By 1450 the Black Death had subsided, but it never really died out in England for the next several hundred years. It was not until the late 17th C that England became free of the Plague epidemic.
The memory of this devastation persisted long after the event and was passed down from generation to generation in the form of folk horror stories.
These were eventually watered down and de-toothed by the Victorians and finished up as bed time nursery rhymes, like Ring a Ring o’ Roses.
It is, however a mistake to believe that the plague was the only reason for the depopulation. Landowners wished to change arable land to pasture, which gave them a better return on their money. For this many fewer farm workers were required.
Earlier, an epidemic of the bubonic plague swept across Europe during the 540’s reaching Britain about 545 AD. The Saxons ruling eastern England were not badly affected as they did not trade with plague ridden southern Europe and the Romano – British would have nothing to do with them. Therefore few caught the disease.