A New Equilibrium? Economy and Society, 1375 to 1400

Historians have traditionally argued that the social and economic equilibrium of the post-plague period was finally established with the downturn in grain prices from the late 1370s and the softer policies of landlords after the revolt of 1381. Upon closer inspection, however, neither the economic nor the social trends were so straightforward. First, the economy experienced three distinct sub-periods and did not finally stabilize until the late 1390s. Second, the deteriorating economic conditions combined with changing attitudes to labour to fuel social conflict during the 1380s between certain types of landlords and their villein tenants and serfs. Tougher seigniorial attitudes are evident in the targeting of hereditary serfs on a few estates and in draconian revisions to the labour laws in 1388. This mini seigniorial reaction failed, however, and the bark of the new legislation proved worse than its bite. From the early 1390s the great landlords largely abandoned direct exploitation of their demesnes, running down their administrative structures and further releasing their grip upon their peasantry. The implications of all these changes by the 1390s for a possible golden age of the peasantry are discussed.

Conclusion

This chapter pulls together the main arguments of the book, creating a new narrative and assessment of the nature of economic and social change in fourteenth century England. It confirms that pre-plague England was a laggard by European standards, and trapped in a cul de sac of impoverishment and low productivity, but offers a different explanation to conventional ones for that economic sclerosis. It also portrays the third quarter of the fourteenth century as a period of significant volatility and change, when rapid and dramatic adjustments occurred in factor and commodity markets, and when serfdom quickly declined. The framework of contracting institutions was strengthened, which meant that the forces of supply and demand exerted more influence on the allocation of land and labour than seigniorial coercion. Hence the shift in factor ratios caused by successive outbreaks of plague—operating through an institutional framework and emerging legal culture conducive to the progressive growth and commercialization of markets—resulted in increased output per head and accelerated England’s march to modernity.

Reaction and Regulation, 1349 to 1380

The Black Death of 1348–9 killed nearly half the population of England, and triggered a widespread crisis that did not abate until 1353. The crisis was a combination of mass mortality, extreme weather, empty landholdings, acute labour shortages, successive harvest failures, major disruption to markets, heavy taxation, and the poverty of many survivors. During the 1350s escalating prices and the shortage of labour posed an urgent threat to the ordained social order, prompting government intervention and aggressive tactics against serfs by some lords. Yet the effectiveness of the legislation quickly waned and there is no compelling evidence for a widespread and sustained ‘seigniorial reaction’. Concession was more widespread than repression. The third quarter of the fourteenth century represented a watershed in the history of tenure in England, reflected in the major swing to monetarized and commercial rents, and the decisive separation of tenurial unfreedom from personal unfreedom. Traditional villein tenures were diluted to retain and attract tenants. These developments increased the mobility of land, reduced the obstacles to accessing land, and represented an irreversible shift towards simpler and more contractual tenurial forms.

A Mystery within an Enigma. The Economy 1355 to 1375

The economic response to plague outbreaks in 1348–9 and 1361 has long puzzled historians. Despite the collapse in population, landholding size remained small and prices of foodstuffs remained high, causing the real wages of the mass of the populace to fall below their pre-plague level. The traditional explanation for this paradox is that a combination of seigniorial repression, the spare capacity in the pre-plague economy, monetary inflation, and a succession of poor harvests created an ‘Indian Summer’ for landlords, where rents, prices, and profits remained unexpectedly buoyant. But this oversimplifies the complexities of the period, and a careful reconstruction of what actually happened helps to explain its paradoxical elements. This chapter surveys the wide range of responses in different sectors of the economy, principally increases in mean household incomes and shifting patterns of consumption. Supply-side responses were remarkably rapid in some sectors (textiles, brewing), but sluggish in others. Responses were disrupted by a succession of extreme events—recurrent plague outbreaks, climate change, and repeated livestock epidemics—that generated uncertainty and risk for producers. Historians have tended to generalize too broadly about the third quarter of the fourteenth century, which is a pivotal period of change deserving much closer and more careful scrutiny.

Injustice and Revolt

If a seigniorial reaction did not materialize in the generation after the arrival of Black Death, and if villeinage really was dissolving rapidly during that period, how then do we explain the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381? The arguments and evidence for the centrality of serfdom to the revolt are discussed, and the latest research into the targets and participants considered. This chapter takes its lead from new approaches to medieval revolts, which move away from modern preoccupations with class and revolution to reconstruct how common grievances united disparate groups of people. It explores the experience of royal justice—principally the labour laws and the leasing of hundreds—from ‘below’, based upon a fresh dissection of the legislation and original research into petitions, the sessions of JPs and King’s Bench, and other court records. The nature of the legislation, the mechanics of its enforcement, the powers and discretion vested in local officials well below the level of the JPs, and the wide range of jurisdictions for handling and sanctioning the same offence resulted in wide inconsistencies in its enforcement. This created divisions within communities, not just along class lines between lord and peasant, and generated common cause and forged temporary alliances among diverse groups. The unifying aim of the rebels was the removal of all forms of lordship other than the king and the removal of all intermediary private and royal courts: opposition to serfdom was one element within this greater aim.

Introduction

This chapter briefly summarizes the historiography of the Black Death of 1348–9. For most of the twentieth century, historians relentlessly downplayed its importance and effects, concentrating instead upon the nature and the causes of the ‘crisis of feudalism’ that pre-dated it. In this interpretation, the Black Death was a mere accelerator of a crisis in motion, and as an inconsequential blip in England’s long-term historical development. Since the 1990s, however, econometricians have increasingly depicted the age of plague as a turning point in history because it triggered institutional changes that caused the rise of the North Sea economies and their ‘divergence’ from central and southern Europe. The nature, identity, and mortality of the disease are discussed. The orthodox narrative for economic and social change in fourteenth-century England is recreated on its own terms, and critiqued.

The Decline of Serfdom and the Origins of the ‘Little Divergence’

This chapter explores the main social and economic consequences of plague between the 1340s and the 1390s. In 1400 England was still not at the forefront of European economic development, but it was beginning to close the gap on the leaders. GDP per head, the proportion of people in non-agricultural employment, and the livestock share of agriculture had all increased irreversibly. Dependence upon the market for basic commodities and manufactures had increased, and population and taxable wealth were spread more equitably across the country, reducing the economic divide between the south-east and the rest of the country. Recent arguments that the European Marriage Pattern (EMP)—one of the main institutional characteristics of the Little Divergence—was established in England soon after the Black Death are assessed on the basis of the economic and demographic evidence. Serfdom had declined quickly and significantly, and the implications of the English experience for our understanding of the decline of European serfdom are explored. The main institutional changes in factor markets in general, and the spread of contractual arrangements in particular, are considered. By 1400 the main changes had worked their way through the economy, and further significant developments did not occur until population began to rise again in the sixteenth century.

Old Problems, New Approaches

There is no dispute that on the eve of the Black Death England was gripped by a severe crisis, characterized by high population pressure, extreme poverty, and a petering out of economic growth. Its economic performance meant it was a laggard by European standards. The reasons for this crisis and modest performance, however, are subjects of dispute. Conventional interpretations stress the power of manorial (i.e. ‘feudal’) lordship in England, which extracted most peasant surpluses, inhibited the development of markets, and exercised control over what markets did exist. This chapter draws together the wealth of recent research to reconstruct the size and institutional structure of the main factor and commodity markets on the eve of plague. It shows that markets in land, labour, basic commodities, and capital were larger than conventionally depicted, and lords had largely lost control over their operation. Custom and the nascent legal system discouraged arbitrary seigniorial behaviour, and the growth of the common law resulted in a framework of private courts throughout England providing accessible and cheap remedies for dispute resolution and contract enforcement. This encouraged participation in factor markets at all levels of society and promoted a pervasive legal culture based upon respect for standardized processes and precedents. However, this peculiar institutional mosaic proved to be deleterious to the welfare of the vast majority of the populace under the pressure of high population, because it resulted in the fragmentation of landholdings, low real wages, and a high proportion of landless. Climate change, taxation, and disease heightened their vulnerability, and exacerbated the pre-plague crisis.