FOOTNOTES:

FOOTNOTES:[46]Labbe,Nova Bibliotheca Manuscriptorum, i, p. 343.[47]C. Anglada,Étude sur les Maladies Éteintes, p. 432.[48]Matthias Nuewenburgensis in Boehmer,Fontes rerum Germanicarum, iv, p. 261.[49]Henricus Rebdorfensis,Ibid., p. 560. Another account speaks of Marseilles remaining afterwards almost "depopulated," and of "thousands dying in the adjoining towns" (Chronicon Pragense, inFontes rerum Austriacarum,Scriptores, i, p. 395).[50]J. Astruc,Histoire de la Faculté de Médecine de Montpellier(Montpellier, 1862), p. 184.[51]Anglada,ut supra, p. 432.[52]Opuscule relatif à la peste de 1348, composé par un contemporaininBibliothèque de l'École des Chartes, 1e Sér., ii, pp. 201–243.[53]Martin,Histoire de France(4th ed.), v, p. 109.[54]Phillippe,Histoire de la Peste Noire, p. 103.[55]Anglada,Maladies Éteintes, p. 431.[56]Higden,Polychronicon(ed. Rolls Series), viii, p. 344.[57]L. Michon,Documents inédits sur la grande peste de 1348(Paris, 1860), p. 22.[58]Baluze,Vitæ Paparum Avenionensium, i, p. 254. In a second life of Clement VII. (p. 274) it is said that vast pits were dug in the public cemetery, where the dead were buried "ut pecora gregatim."[59]The writer was sending his letter on April 27th, 1348, so that the period would have been about six weeks.[60]Breve Chronicon clerici anonymi, in De Smet,Recueil des Chroniques de Flandre, iii, pp. 14–18.[61]Henricus Rebdorfensis, in Boehmer,Fontes, iv, p. 560.[62]Anglada,Maladies Éteintes, pp. 413–14.[63]Barnes,History of Edward III., p. 435.[64]Thiener,Monumenta Historica Hungariæ, i, p. 767.[65]Wadding,Annales Minorum, viii, p. 25 (ed. 1723).[66]Olivier de la Haye,Poëme sur la grande peste de 1348. Introduction par G. Guigue, p. xviii,note.[67]Breve Chroniconin De Smet,Recueil des Chroniques de Flandre, iii, p. 19.[68]Delisle,Cabinet des Manuscrits, i, p. 532.[69]Ibid.Here the note abruptly finishes.[70]H. Martin,Histoire de France, v, p. 111.[71]Marlot,Histoire de Ville de Reims, iv, p. 63.[72]All copies of this chronicle give "quingente," and it has usually been stated that the number so buried each day was 500. M. Géraud, who edited the work for the Société de l'Histoire de France, suggests that it is a mistake for 50, and quotes two MSS., in which in the margin the following note is found: "L corps par jour a l'Hostel-Dieu de Paris." As this reading is more probable it has been adopted above.[73]Continuatio Chronici Guillelmi di Nangiaco, éd.pour la Société de l'Histoire de France par H. Géraud, ii, pp. 211–217.[74]They speak in the document of "the 17th of the ensuing month of July."[75]Michon,Documents inédits sur la Peste Noire, p. 22.[76]Thierry,Recueil des Monuments inédits de l'Histoire du Tiers Etat, i, p. 544.[77]Ibid., p. 546.[78]"Certe dicere timeoQuæ vidi et quæ videoDe ista pestilentia."[79]Gams,Series Episcoporum, gives 13th June, 1349, as the day of his death.[80]"Quia de sacerdotibusInfirmos visitantibusQuamplurimi defecerunt."[81]Chronicon majus Ægidii Li Muisis, abbatis Sti. Martini Tornacensis, in De Smet,Receuil des Chroniques de Flandre, ii, pp. 279–281 and 361–382.[82]S. Luce,Bertrand du Guesclin, i, ch. 3.[83]Piot,Cartulaire de l'abbaye de Saint-Trond, i, 507.[84]Lechner,Das grosse Sterben in Deutschland, p. 93.

[46]Labbe,Nova Bibliotheca Manuscriptorum, i, p. 343.

[47]C. Anglada,Étude sur les Maladies Éteintes, p. 432.

[48]Matthias Nuewenburgensis in Boehmer,Fontes rerum Germanicarum, iv, p. 261.

[49]Henricus Rebdorfensis,Ibid., p. 560. Another account speaks of Marseilles remaining afterwards almost "depopulated," and of "thousands dying in the adjoining towns" (Chronicon Pragense, inFontes rerum Austriacarum,Scriptores, i, p. 395).

[50]J. Astruc,Histoire de la Faculté de Médecine de Montpellier(Montpellier, 1862), p. 184.

[51]Anglada,ut supra, p. 432.

[52]Opuscule relatif à la peste de 1348, composé par un contemporaininBibliothèque de l'École des Chartes, 1e Sér., ii, pp. 201–243.

[53]Martin,Histoire de France(4th ed.), v, p. 109.

[54]Phillippe,Histoire de la Peste Noire, p. 103.

[55]Anglada,Maladies Éteintes, p. 431.

[56]Higden,Polychronicon(ed. Rolls Series), viii, p. 344.

[57]L. Michon,Documents inédits sur la grande peste de 1348(Paris, 1860), p. 22.

[58]Baluze,Vitæ Paparum Avenionensium, i, p. 254. In a second life of Clement VII. (p. 274) it is said that vast pits were dug in the public cemetery, where the dead were buried "ut pecora gregatim."

[59]The writer was sending his letter on April 27th, 1348, so that the period would have been about six weeks.

[60]Breve Chronicon clerici anonymi, in De Smet,Recueil des Chroniques de Flandre, iii, pp. 14–18.

[61]Henricus Rebdorfensis, in Boehmer,Fontes, iv, p. 560.

[62]Anglada,Maladies Éteintes, pp. 413–14.

[63]Barnes,History of Edward III., p. 435.

[64]Thiener,Monumenta Historica Hungariæ, i, p. 767.

[65]Wadding,Annales Minorum, viii, p. 25 (ed. 1723).

[66]Olivier de la Haye,Poëme sur la grande peste de 1348. Introduction par G. Guigue, p. xviii,note.

[67]Breve Chroniconin De Smet,Recueil des Chroniques de Flandre, iii, p. 19.

[68]Delisle,Cabinet des Manuscrits, i, p. 532.

[69]Ibid.Here the note abruptly finishes.

[70]H. Martin,Histoire de France, v, p. 111.

[71]Marlot,Histoire de Ville de Reims, iv, p. 63.

[72]All copies of this chronicle give "quingente," and it has usually been stated that the number so buried each day was 500. M. Géraud, who edited the work for the Société de l'Histoire de France, suggests that it is a mistake for 50, and quotes two MSS., in which in the margin the following note is found: "L corps par jour a l'Hostel-Dieu de Paris." As this reading is more probable it has been adopted above.

[73]Continuatio Chronici Guillelmi di Nangiaco, éd.pour la Société de l'Histoire de France par H. Géraud, ii, pp. 211–217.

[74]They speak in the document of "the 17th of the ensuing month of July."

[75]Michon,Documents inédits sur la Peste Noire, p. 22.

[76]Thierry,Recueil des Monuments inédits de l'Histoire du Tiers Etat, i, p. 544.

[77]Ibid., p. 546.

[78]"Certe dicere timeoQuæ vidi et quæ videoDe ista pestilentia."

[78]

"Certe dicere timeoQuæ vidi et quæ videoDe ista pestilentia."

"Certe dicere timeo

Quæ vidi et quæ video

De ista pestilentia."

[79]Gams,Series Episcoporum, gives 13th June, 1349, as the day of his death.

[80]"Quia de sacerdotibusInfirmos visitantibusQuamplurimi defecerunt."

[80]

"Quia de sacerdotibusInfirmos visitantibusQuamplurimi defecerunt."

"Quia de sacerdotibus

Infirmos visitantibus

Quamplurimi defecerunt."

[81]Chronicon majus Ægidii Li Muisis, abbatis Sti. Martini Tornacensis, in De Smet,Receuil des Chroniques de Flandre, ii, pp. 279–281 and 361–382.

[82]S. Luce,Bertrand du Guesclin, i, ch. 3.

[83]Piot,Cartulaire de l'abbaye de Saint-Trond, i, 507.

[84]Lechner,Das grosse Sterben in Deutschland, p. 93.

TOC[p058]

In following the great pestilence through Europe, according to the historical sequence of events, its course in England should be now described. Inasmuch, however, as the story of the ravages caused by the disease in England will be told in greater detail, it may conveniently be left till the last. Here a brief account may be interposed of the mortality in other European countries, although it will take the reader to the year 1351.

From Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica the plague was carried to the Balearic Islands. The three streams of infection met with destructive force at Majorca. The historian Zurita declares that in less than a month 15,000 persons had perished on the island. Another writer estimates the total loss of life during the epidemic at double that number, and some ancient records have been quoted as stating that in the island eight out of every ten people must have died, a proportion, of course, exaggerated, but sufficient to show local tradition as to the extent of the misfortune. In the monasteries and convents, according to this authority, not one religious was left; and the Dominicans are said to have been obliged to recruit their numbers by enrolling quite young children.[85]

The scourge fell upon Spain in the early part of the year 1348. It is supposed to have first appeared at Almeira, and in Barcelona whole quarters of the city were depopulated and rendered desolate by it. In May, 1348, it was already raging in Valencia, and by midsummer 300 persons a day are reported to have been buried in the city. At[p059]Saragossa, where Pedro IV. then was, the malady was at its height in September. The people here, as elsewhere, became hardened, and charity died out in the presence of the terrors of death. They fled from the sick, leaving them to die alone, and abandoned the corpses of the dead in the streets. Most of the cities and villages of Spain suffered more or less severely, and the sickness appears to have lingered longer here than in most other countries. The new Queen of Aragon had been one of the earliest victims; Alphonsus XI. was one of the last. In March, 1350, he was laying siege to Gibraltar, when the plague broke out suddenly with great violence amongst his troops. He refused to retire, as his officers desired him to do, and fell a victim to the epidemic on Good Friday, March 26th, 1350.[86]

An interesting account of Northern Spain during the plague is given in the chronicle of Li Muisis, Abbot of St. Martin's, Tournay, from which much was cited in the previous chapter. The writer says that he learnt the details from "a pilgrim, who, in going to St. James' (of Compostella), passed by Notre Dame de Roc Amadour[87]and by Toulouse, because by reason of the wars he could not travel the usual way." This pilgrim to Compostella, in the middle of the 14th century, would consequently have crossed the Pyrenees by one of the passes into Navarre, and so travelled along the north of Spain to Santiago. Having performed his pilgrimage, Li Muisis informs us that he returned through Galicia, and "with his companion, reached a town named Salvaterra," probably the place now called Salvatierra, situated below the Pyrenees, and just above the Sierra de la Pena. This town, as the traveller reported, "was so depopulated by the mortality that not one person out of ten had been left alive. The city itself was fairly large. The said pilgrim related," says Li Muisis, "that after supping with the host (who, with two daughters and[p060]one servant, had alone so far survived of his entire family, and who was not then conscious of any sickness upon him), he settled with him for his entertainment, intending to start on his journey at daybreak, and went to bed. Next morning rising and wanting something from those with whom they had supped, the travellers could make no one hear. Then they learnt from an old woman they found in bed that the host, his two daughters, and servant had died in the night. On hearing this the pilgrims made all haste to leave the place."[88]

From North Italy the pestilence soon spread to the country across the Adriatic, if indeed it had not already been infected independently, as seems more than probable, by ships from the East. The port of Ragusa, in Dalmatia, is said to have been attacked as early as January 13th, 1348, and more than 7,000 are reported as having been swept away by it. A letter sent in April to the authorities "condoles with them on the terrible mortality, by which the population had been so greatly diminished."[89]At Spalatro, on March 22nd, 1348, the Archbishop Dominic de Lucaris died of the disease, and it is known to have raged for some months in the city. An anonymous chronicler of Spalatro in the 15th century, who professed to take his account of this period from ancient records, declares that it is impossible to picture "the terrors and miseries of these unhappy days." To add to the horror of the situation, as he declares, wolves and other wild animals came down from the mountains and fell upon the plague-stricken city and boldly attacked the survivors. The same writer notes the rapidity with which the disease carried off those it attacked. According to him, when swellings or carbuncles appeared on any part of the body all hope of saving the life of the patient was abandoned. As a rule, those stricken in this way died in three or at most four days, and so great was the general mortality that bodies were left lying unburied[p061]in the streets because there were none to carry them to the grave.[90]

Further north again, Sebenico, through intercourse with which, very possibly, the plague was carried into Hungary, was attacked in the spring of the same year, 1348. By the 8th of May the Count of Sebenico had written a description of the wretched condition and state of the city, by reason of the great mortality in those parts, through which it had been left almost without inhabitants.[91]Istria, on August 27th, 1348, was declared in a Venetian State paper to have suffered greatly. The people left, especially in the city of Pola, were very few, so many having been swept away "by the late pestilence."[92]

From Venice the epidemic spread northwards into Austria and Hungary. Attacking on its way Padua and Verona, it passed up the valley of the Etsch and was already at Trent on June 2nd, 1348. Thence it spread quickly through Botzen up the Brenner Pass, in the Tyrolese Alps, and was at Muhldorf on the Inn, in Bavaria on June 29th, 1348.[93]Here it seems to have lasted for a considerable time. One chronicler, writing of the subsequent year, 1349, says "that from the feast of St. Michael, 1348, there perished in Muhldorf 1,400 of the better class of inhabitants."[94]Another, speaking of the plague generally, says "that it raged so terribly in Carinthia, Austria, and Bavaria that many cities were depopulated, and in some towns which it visited many families were destroyed so completely that not a member was found to have survived."[95]

In November of the same year, 1348, the epidemic is found in Styria, at Neuberg, in the valley of the Mürz.[p062]The Neuberg Chronicle, giving an account of it, says, "Since this deadly pestilence raged everywhere, cities became desolate which up to this had been populous. Their inhabitants were swept off in such numbers that such as were left, with closed gates, strenuously watched that no one should steal the property of those departed." After speaking of Venice, it continues, "The pest in its wanderings came to Carinthia, and then so completely took possession of Styria, that people, rendered desperate, walked about as if mad."

"From so many sick pestilential odours proceeded, infecting those visiting and serving them, and very frequently it happened that when one died in a house all, one after the other, were carried off. So certain was this that no one could be found to stop in the houses of the sick, and relations, as if in the natural course of events, seem to die all together. As a consequence of this overwhelming visitation cattle were left to wander in the fields without guardians, for no one thought of troubling himself about the future; and wolves coming down from the mountains to attack them, against their instincts, and as if frightened by something unseen, quickly fled into the wilds again. Property, too, both moveable and immoveable, which sick people leave by will, is carefully avoided by all, as if it were sure to be infected. The sickness . . . declined about the feast of St. Martin (November 11th), 1348, and at Neuberg it had carried off many monks and inhabitants."[96]

It is necessary to return once again to North Italy, from which another wave of pestilence rolled on to Switzerland. The contemporary—but not very accurate—notary of Novara, Peter Azarius, speaks to the fact of the plague being at Momo, Gallarete, Varese, and Bellinzona, on[97]the great highway over the Alps through the St. Gothard Pass, and all in the immediate neighbourhood of his home.[p063]What Azarius says from personal experience of this terrible time is of interest. He had left his house at Novara for fear of the disease, and resting for a while in the town of Tortona, he occupied himself in philosophising upon the misfortunes which had fallen upon Lombardy, and the strange unchristian neglect of the sick he could hardly help noticing. "I have seen," he says, "a rich man perish, who, even by offering an immense sum of money, could get no one to help him. Through fear of the infection I have seen a father not caring for his son, nor a son for his father, nor a brother for a brother, nor a friend for his friend, nor a neighbour for his neighbour. And what was worse than this, I have seen a family, although one of high position, miserably perish, not being able to get any help or assistance. Medicine being useless, the strong and the young, men and women, were struck down in a moment, and all the infected were so shunned that none dared even to enter their houses."[98]

From the pass of St. Gothard the epidemic passed down the Rhine Valley, and before the close of 1348 was in the neighbourhood of Dissentis; whilst by May, 1349, the district round about the monastery of Pfäffers, half way between the pass of St. Gothard and Lake Constance, had been attacked. Shortly afterwards the country near the celebrated Abbey of St. Gall was likewise greatly afflicted.[99]

Meanwhile another wave of pestilence passed into Switzerland from the side of France. Avignon had been attacked, as it has been shown, in the early part of 1348, and thence the infection was carried up the Rhone Valley to the Lake of Geneva. Thence one stream passed in a north-easterly direction over Switzerland, and a second followed the course of the river Rhone. By the 17th of March, 1349, the plague was at Ruswyl, in the neighbourhood of Lucerne, having passed through Berne on its way.[100]At Lucerne alone 3,000 people are said to have died of the[p064]disease. It must have remained about the neighbourhood of this lake for some months, for it was not until September, 1349, that it is known to have manifested its presence in the high and healthy valley of Engelberg. "This year (1349)," says the chronicler of the Abbey of Engelberg, "the pestilence or mortality was great, and, indeed, most great, in this valley, so that more than twenty houses were left empty without an inhabitant. In the same year from the feast of Our Lady's nativity, September 8th, to the feast of the Epiphany 116 of our nuns died in the cloister. One of the first to die was the Superior Catherine; about the middle (of the epidemic) the venerable Mother Beatrix, Countess of Arberg, formerly Superior; and on the morrow of Holy Innocents, Mechtilde of Wolfenschiessen, the new Superior likewise passed away. And of our own numbers (there died) two priests and five scholars."[101]Basle was attacked, and is said to have lost some 14,000 people about the middle of the year; Zurich about September 11th; and Constance some time during the winter.

It is unnecessary to follow the wanderings of the great mortality in detail further through Europe. The annals of almost every country prove incontestably that most places were in turn visited, and more or less depopulated, by the epidemic. By April 4th, 1349, it was reported in Venice that the pestilence was raging in Hungary, and by June 7th the King could declare "that by Divine mercy it had now ceased in our kingdom." It must consequently have commenced in the country in the early part of the year, although there is evidence that it was still to be found in some parts in October of the same year. Poland was attacked about the same time as Hungary. Here it is said many of the nobility died. There seemed no help for the daily misfortunes. The sickness rendered desolate not alone numberless houses, but even towns and villages.[102][p065]

It has been already pointed out that the pestilence had reached Neuberg, in Styria, by the autumn of the year 1348. It was only the following year, about the feast of St. John the Baptist, June 24th, 1349, that such a plague as never before was either heard or seen was raging in Vienna.

It commenced seemingly about Easter time, and lasted till St. Michael's, and a third part of the population was carried off by it.[103]Each day there died 500 or 600, and one day 960.[104]The dead were buried in trenches, each of which, according to one chronicle, contained some 6,000 corpses. The parish of St. Stephen lost 54 ecclesiastics during the course of the epidemic, and when it passed some 70 families were found to be entirely extinct, whilst the property of many more had passed into the hands of very distant relations.

Another account declares that in the city and neighbourhood barely a third of the population survived. "Because of the odour, and horror inspired by the dead bodies, burials in the church cemeteries were not allowed; but as soon as life was extinct the corpses were carried out of the city to a common burial-place (called) 'God's acre.' There the deep and broad pits were quickly filled to the top with the dead. And this plague lasted from Pentecost to St. Michael's; and not alone in Vienna, but in the surrounding country it raged with great fury. It spared not the monks and the nuns, for in (the Cistercian Abbey of) Heiligenkreuz 53 religious at the same time passed out of this life."[105]

In Bohemia the winter cold apparently put a stop to the sickness at its commencement. "The mortality commenced to be severe in Bohemia, but the recent cold and snow stayed it." However, "in the year 1350 the plague again[p066]devastated various countries, and then in Bohemia likewise it was to be found."[106]

The wave of pestilence which passed up the Rhine Valley and attacked Basle passed on to Colmar, and appeared in Strasburg in July, 1349.[107]At the end of the same year, about December 18th, it had reached Cologne. "In the first year of archbishop William von Gennep (who succeeded to the See of that city on the above date) there was," says the chronicle, "a great pestilence in Cologne and its neighbourhood."[108]

Meanwhile the wave had divided lower down the valley of the Rhine, for in the summer of 1349 the plague was raging at Frankfort. "In that year," writes Caspar Camentz, "from the feast of St. Mary Magdalene (June 22nd) to the feast of the Purification following (February 2nd, 1350) the universal pestilence was at Frankfort. In the space of 72 days more than 2,000 people died. Every second hour they were buried without bell, priest, or candle. On one day 35 were buried at one time."[109]

During 1349 and 1350 the pestilence was rife in the towns and country places of Prussia. In the latter year it attacked Bremen in the far north, and in the following year the authorities of the city took a census of the numbers that had been carried off by it. "In the year of our Lord 1350," the account says, "the plague had gone round the world and had visited Bremen, and the Council determined to take the number of the dead, and it was found that of known and named people there were (entered on the list) in the parish of St. Mary 1,816; in that of St. Martin, 1,415; in St. Anschar's, 1,922; and in St. Stephen's, 1,813; moreover, numberless people had died in the fields beyond[p067]the walls and in cemeteries, the number of whom, as known and described, reached almost 7,000."[110]

From Flanders, where the pestilence was at Tournay in December, 1349, as before reported, the epidemic spread into Holland. Here in the following year its progress was marked by the same great mortality, especially among those who lived together in monasteries and convents. "At this time," writes the chronicler, "the plague raged in Holland as furiously as has ever been seen. People died walking in the streets. In the Monastery of Fleurchamps 80 died, including monks and lay brethren. In the Abbey of Foswert, which was a double monastery for men and women, 207 died, including monks, nuns, lay brethren, and lay sisters."[111]

This brief review of the progress of the plague in Europe will be sufficient to show that the mortality and consequent distress were universal. The northern countries of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden received the infection from England. As will be seen subsequently, the northern parts of England were troubled with the epidemic in the late summer and autumn of 1349, and either from a port on the eastern coast, or from London, the plague was brought over in a ship. Lagerbring, a Swedish historian of repute, says that a ship with a cargo of woollen cloth sailed out of the port of London early in the summer of 1349.[112]The plague had been very great in the English capital, and all the crew died whilst the ship was at sea. Driven about by the winds and currents the fatal bark was cast on the shore at Bergen, in Norway. The epidemic spread quickly over the entire country. The Archbishop of Drontheim and all his Chapter, with one single exception, died, and the survivor was nominated Archbishop. Most of his suffragans were also carried[p068]off.[113]Several families who had fled from Bergen to avoid the infection died in the mountains to which they had retired.

Another Swedish historian states that in the country of West-Gotland alone 466 priests were swept away by the plague. In that district then there were about 479 churches, many of which were served by more than one priest, so that the number given may not be altogether improbable.[114]It is stated that in Norway there long existed what were calledFind-dale—wildernesses—in which were unmistakable traces of cultivation, and after the plague there is evidence of a state of exhaustion and a dearth of inhabitants, which lasted for several generations, so that forests grew where there had once been churches and villages.

Some interesting particulars may be gathered about the town of Wisby, on the Isle of Gotland. The annals of the Franciscan convent note that the plague raged in 1350. In the necrology of the same house are entered the names of a great number of friars and many novices who died in this fatal year, and the comparison of one portion of the necrology with another, in which the names are collected into groups, shows that the worst time at Wisby was in July, August, and September, 1350.[115]In all twenty-four friars, a very large proportion of the convent, appear to have been carried off by the epidemic. In[p069]the Cathedral of Wisby five sepulchral slabs are still preserved with the date 1350, whilst of such memorials as have escaped destruction not more than a single one remains for any other year.

The King of Sweden, Magnus II., in 1350 addressed letters patent to his people, wherein he says that "God for the sins of man has struck the world with this great punishment of sudden death. By it most of the people in the land to the west of our country (i.e., Norway) are dead. It is now ravaging in Norway and Holland, and is approaching our kingdom of Sweden." The king therefore summons them to abstain on every Friday from all food but bread and water, or "at most to take only bread and ale," to walk with bare feet to their parish churches, and to go in procession round about the cemeteries attached to them, carrying with them the holy relics.

In the capital of Sweden, when the plague burst upon the country, it is recorded that "the streets were strewn with corpses," and among the victims are named Hacon and Knut, two brothers of the king.

Denmark and Sleswig Holstein suffered from the pestilence at the same time as Norway and Sweden. In one chronicle it is called "a most grievous plague of buboes;" in another it is recorded that in the year 1350 "a great plague and sudden death raged both in the case of men and in that of cattle."[116]The accounts of the Bishopric of Roskild, on the Isle of Zealand, about the year 1370, or twenty years after this plague had passed, show the state of universal desolation to which the country was reduced. Lands are described as lying idle and uncultivated, villages and houses desolate and uninhabited. Property that formerly used to bring in four marks, or 48 "pund," now produced only 18 "pund." The same story is repeated on almost every page throughout these long accounts.[117]

A few words only need now be said of the desolation[p070]which everywhere throughout Europe was naturally the consequence of the great pestilence. Of North Italy John of Parma writes that "at the time (1348) labourers could not be got, and the harvest remained on the fields, since there was none to gather it in."[118]Twenty years after the pestilence, in 1372, it is said of Mayence that "it is indubitable and notorious that because of the terrible character of the pestilence and mortality which suddenly swept away labourers, copyholders (parciarios) and farmers, even the most robust, labourers are to-day few and rare, for which reason many fields remain uncultivated and deserted."[119]Again, in 1359, Henry, Bishop of Constance, impropriated to the monastery of St. Gall, in Switzerland, the Church of Marbach and others, to enable the abbey "to keep up its hospitality, bestow alms, and fulfil its other duties," and he assigns as a reason why it cannot now do this "that by the epidemic or mortality of people, which by permission of God has existed in these parts, the number of farmers and other retainers of both sexes of this abbey, belonging by law of service to the said monastery, which has passed from this life to the Lord (has been so great) that many of the possessions of this monastery have remained, on account of the said death, uncultivated, and no proper return comes from them."[120]

FOOTNOTES:[85]Phillippe,Histoire de la Peste Noire, p. 54.[86]Ibid., pp. 54–56.[87]This was a place of pilgrimage on the Amadour, not far from Toulouse.[88]Chronicon majus Ægidii Li Muisis, ii, 280.[89]Lechner,Das grosse Sterben in Deutschland, p. 21.[90]Farlati,Illyricum Sacrum, iii, p. 324.[91]Lechner,ut sup., p. 22.[92]Ibid.[93]Ibid., p. 23.[94]Annales MatscensesinMon. Germ., ix, 829.[95]Annales Mellicenses,Ibid., p. 313.[96]Continuatio Novimontensis,Ibid., p. 675.[97]Chronicon, in Muratori, xvi, 361. He places the event under the year 1347.[98]Ibid., 298.[99]Lechner,ut sup., p. 27.[100]Ibid.[101]Annales Engelbergenses, inMon. Germ., xvii, 281.[102]Dlugoss,Historia Polonica, in Philippe,ut sup., p. 94.[103]Kalendarium Zwetlense, inMon. Germ., ix, 692.[104]Annales Matscenses,Ibid., 829.[105]Continuatio Novimontensis,Ibid., 675.[106]Chronicon Pragense, ed. Loserth (inFontes rerum Austriacarum,Scriptores, t. viii) p. 603.[107]Lechner,ut sup., p. 35.[108]Ibid., p. 38.[109]Boehmer,Fontes rerum Germ., iv, 434.[110]Hoeniger (R.),Der schwarze Tod in Deutschland(Berlin, 1882), p. 26.[111]Philippe,ut sup., p. 124.[112]Historia, iii, 406.[113]Finn Jonsson,Hist. eccl. Islandiæ, ii, p. 198, says that most of the Bishops died, and that Ormus, Bishop of Holar, in Iceland, who happened then to be in Norway,solus fere evasit. It appears that the archbishopric of Nidaros, or Drontheim, at that time comprised seven sees. Changes appear in six of these at this time, including Drontheim and Bergen; and of Solomon, Bishop of Oslo, it is said that "he was the only Bishop who survived the plague" (Gams,Series Episcoporum, 336). The same account is given in the monastic chronicles of Iceland (Ftateyjarbok, iii, p. 562).[114]Henric Jacob Sirers,Historisk Beskrifning om then Pesten, p. 23.[115]Langebeck,Scriptores rerum Danicarum, vi, 564. I am indebted for much assistance in all that regards the plague in the north of Europe to Dr. Lindstrom, of the Riksmusei, Stockholm. He kindly examined for me the original MS. of the Franciscan Necrology at Wisby.[116]Langebeck,ut sup., i, 307, 395.[117]Ibid., vii, p. 2,et seqq.[118]Pezzana,Storia di Parma, i, 52.[119]Henricus de Hervordia,Chroniconed. Potthast, 274.[120]Lechner,ut sup., p. 73.

[85]Phillippe,Histoire de la Peste Noire, p. 54.

[86]Ibid., pp. 54–56.

[87]This was a place of pilgrimage on the Amadour, not far from Toulouse.

[88]Chronicon majus Ægidii Li Muisis, ii, 280.

[89]Lechner,Das grosse Sterben in Deutschland, p. 21.

[90]Farlati,Illyricum Sacrum, iii, p. 324.

[91]Lechner,ut sup., p. 22.

[92]Ibid.

[93]Ibid., p. 23.

[94]Annales MatscensesinMon. Germ., ix, 829.

[95]Annales Mellicenses,Ibid., p. 313.

[96]Continuatio Novimontensis,Ibid., p. 675.

[97]Chronicon, in Muratori, xvi, 361. He places the event under the year 1347.

[98]Ibid., 298.

[99]Lechner,ut sup., p. 27.

[100]Ibid.

[101]Annales Engelbergenses, inMon. Germ., xvii, 281.

[102]Dlugoss,Historia Polonica, in Philippe,ut sup., p. 94.

[103]Kalendarium Zwetlense, inMon. Germ., ix, 692.

[104]Annales Matscenses,Ibid., 829.

[105]Continuatio Novimontensis,Ibid., 675.

[106]Chronicon Pragense, ed. Loserth (inFontes rerum Austriacarum,Scriptores, t. viii) p. 603.

[107]Lechner,ut sup., p. 35.

[108]Ibid., p. 38.

[109]Boehmer,Fontes rerum Germ., iv, 434.

[110]Hoeniger (R.),Der schwarze Tod in Deutschland(Berlin, 1882), p. 26.

[111]Philippe,ut sup., p. 124.

[112]Historia, iii, 406.

[113]Finn Jonsson,Hist. eccl. Islandiæ, ii, p. 198, says that most of the Bishops died, and that Ormus, Bishop of Holar, in Iceland, who happened then to be in Norway,solus fere evasit. It appears that the archbishopric of Nidaros, or Drontheim, at that time comprised seven sees. Changes appear in six of these at this time, including Drontheim and Bergen; and of Solomon, Bishop of Oslo, it is said that "he was the only Bishop who survived the plague" (Gams,Series Episcoporum, 336). The same account is given in the monastic chronicles of Iceland (Ftateyjarbok, iii, p. 562).

[114]Henric Jacob Sirers,Historisk Beskrifning om then Pesten, p. 23.

[115]Langebeck,Scriptores rerum Danicarum, vi, 564. I am indebted for much assistance in all that regards the plague in the north of Europe to Dr. Lindstrom, of the Riksmusei, Stockholm. He kindly examined for me the original MS. of the Franciscan Necrology at Wisby.

[116]Langebeck,ut sup., i, 307, 395.

[117]Ibid., vii, p. 2,et seqq.

[118]Pezzana,Storia di Parma, i, 52.

[119]Henricus de Hervordia,Chroniconed. Potthast, 274.

[120]Lechner,ut sup., p. 73.

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