After the black death : economy, society, and the law in fourteenth-century England : the Ford Lectures for 2019

The Black Death of 1348-9 is the most catastrophic event and worst pandemic in recorded history. After the Black Death offers a major reinterpretation of its immediate impact and longer-term consequences in England. After the Black Death reassesses the established scholarship on the impact of plague on fourteenth-century England and draws upon original research into primary sources to offer a major re-interpretation of the subject. It studies how the government reacted to the crisis, and how communities adapted in its wake. It places the pandemic within the wider context of extreme weather and epidemiological events, the institutional framework of markets and serfdom, and the role of law in reducing risks and conditioning behaviour. The government's response to the Black Death is reconsidered in order to cast new light on the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. By 1400, the effects of plague had resulted in major changes to the structure of society and the economy, creating the pre-conditions for England's role in the Little Divergence (whereby economic performance in parts of north western Europe began to move decisively ahead of the rest of the continent). After the Black Death explores in detail how a major pandemic transformed society, and, in doing so, elevates the third quarter of the fourteenth century from a little-understood paradox to a critical period of profound and irreversible change in English and global history. Cover 1 After the Black Death: Economy, Society, and the Law in Fourteenth-Century England, The Ford Lectures for 2019 4 Copyright 5 Preface 6 Note 7 Acknowledgements 8 Contents 10 List of Tables 12 List of Figures 14 List of Abbreviations 16 1: Introduction 18 The Black Death 18 Social and Economic Change in Fourteenth-Century England 23 Notes 32 2: Old Problems, New Approaches 41 Introduction 41 The Institutional Framework on the Eve of the Black Death 42 The land market 43 The labour market 49 The capital market 55 The commodities market 56 The Law and Legal Culture 61 Conclusion 67 Notes 69 3: Reaction and Regulation, 1349 to 1380 86 Introduction 86 The Anatomy of a Crisis, 1348 to 1353 87 Government Reaction and Regulation 94 A Seigniorial Reaction? 100 Villein landholdings and tenurial change 102 Personal servility 119 Conclusion 127 Notes 129 4: A Mystery within an Enigma. The Economy 1355 to 1375 152 Introduction 152 Reconstructing Economic Change 156 GDP per head 156 Prices and wages 158 Agricultural output 159 The land market 165 Non-agricultural output 170 Explaining Economic Change 174 Demand-side buoyancy 174 Supply-side shocks 175 Conclusion 185 Notes 187 5: Injustice and Revolt 203 Introduction: the Causes of the Peasants’ Revolt 203 Serfdom and the Law in the Peasants’ Revolt 207 Serfdom and the revolt 207 The law and the revolt 213 Rethinking Injustice, 1349 to 1381 217 The leasing of hundreds 219 Implementing the labour and price-setting legislation 223 Conclusion 235 Notes 237 6: A New Equilibrium? Economy and Society, 1375 to 1400 251 Introduction: a New Equilibrium? 251 Economic Change 253 GDP per head 253 Prices and wages 254 Agricultural output 258 The land market 263 Non-agricultural output 266 A golden age for the peasantry? 268 Social Conflict and Change 271 Rural conflict in the late 1370s 272 Rural conflict after 1381 276 Conclusion 285 Notes 287 7: The Decline of Serfdom and the Origins of the ‘Little Divergence’ 300 Introduction: the Black Death and the ‘Little Divergence’ 300 Institutional Change after the Black Death 303 Output per head 307 Sectoral shifts within the economy 308 Non-agricultural employment 310 Decline of serfdom 314 Contractual tenures 318 Explaining the Decline of Serfdom 325 Conclusion 330 Notes 333 8: Conclusion 343 Notes 355 APPENDIX: Calculations in Table 7.3 356 References 358 Index 386 The Black Death of 1348-9 is the most catastrophic event and worst pandemic in recorded history. After the Black Death offers a major reinterpretation of its immediate impact and longer-term consequences in England. After the Black Death studies how the government reacted to the crisis, and how communities adapted in its wake. It places the pandemic within the wider context of extreme weather and epidemiological events, the institutional framework of markets and serfdom, and the role of law in reducing risks and conditioning behaviour, drawing upon recent research into climate and disease and manorial and government sources. The government's response to the Black Death is reconsidered in order to cast new light on the Little Divergence (whereby economic performance in north western Europe began to move decisively ahead of the rest of the continent) and the Peasant's Revolt of 1381. By 1400, the effect of plague had worked through economy and society, having wide-ranging implications. After the Black Death rescues the end of the fourteenth century from a little-understood paradox between plague and revolt, and elevates it to a critical period of profound and irreversible change in English and global history The Black Death of 1348-1349 was the most catastrophic event and worst pandemic in recorded history. 'After the Black Death' offers a major reinterpretation of its immediate impact and longer-term consequences in England