Black Death in Box, 1347-49 Alan Payne February 2024
Michael Wohlgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff, Dance of Death, Nuremberg Chronicle
The Black Death of 1347-48 was just one of many outbreaks of plague but deadlier and of international proportions. It was a catastrophe which killed perhaps 40% of Europe’s population and left an impact so momentous that we still recall it today in the nursery rhyme: Ring, a-ring of rosies, a pocketful of posies, atishoo, atishoo, we all fall down. This is a reference to the contemporary belief that the plague was caused by corrupt vapours (poisoned air).
The plague probably arrived in Box from Bristol. The chronicler Henry Knighton (a Leicestershire monk writing shortly after 1348) recorded: Then the dreadful pestilence made its way along the coast by Southampton and reached Bristol, where almost the whole strength of the town perished, as it was surprised by sudden death; for few kept their beds more than two or three days, or even half a day. The plague ravaged populations, recorded at Broughton Gifford as: Only 1 free man was left alive on the moiety of the manor of Broughton Gifford in August 1349, all the others both free and bond had perished.[1] The Malmesbury monk estimated the effect locally was 20% mortality rates: Over England as a whole a fifth of men, women and children were carried to the grave.[2]
Harvest Failures
By the 1300s the climate in Box was changing. There had been good harvests between 1260 and 1290 but this warm, productive period was followed by decades of wet summers and cold winters, sometimes referred to as the Little Ice Age.
There were European-wide corn failures starting in 1315, leading to a period of famine.
The seriousness of the famine can be seen from contemporary accounts in Winchester.[3] Conditions were wet in the winter of 1314; the hay did not dry, rivers and ponds overflowed. The grain harvest in 1315 was very poor with insufficient seed for planting in the autumn. Rain fell again that winter and the next summer; grain prices tripled; peasants sold their precious oxen; and starvation increased. The period of wet years continued for a decade and wet ground brought outbreaks of foot rot in animals, pests and plant disease.[4]
Wiltshire Tax List, 1332
The list of taxpayers in Wiltshire in 1332 is a marvellous record of people at this time.[5] The list recorded the tax due on an assessed value of the movable goods (livestock and food for sale) in the tithing of Box, a subdivision of the Chippenham Hundred. We cannot be certain of the boundaries of Box at this time but it appears to include Shockerwick and the clerical parish of Ditteridge. Based on the listed values, men were to pay a fifteenth (6.6% of the listed value) to 20-year-old King Edward III presumably to support him in his plan to invade Scotland, having recently taken over control of government from his mother Isabella. The men listed excluded smaller cottagers, those employed in households and the church and the tax shown as liable for payment excluded movables valued at under 10s (ie no-one liable to pay less than 8d tax).
The tax list is remarkable because it gives details just before the Black Death and is the only list of individuals from this time. There are 17 men listed for Box, a small number compared to Corsham 77 and Lacock 41, but more than Hartham and Slaughterford both 8. The assessed value of individual holdings goes from 9s.7¾d down to 8d. We can get some idea of where these people lived from their surnames: William de Crokesmulle presumably lived in the location of Drewetts Mill, John atte Pleistede at Chapel Plaister area, Walter de Alecombe, Bevis de Knoville from Ditteridge and William atte Boxe in a central location.[6] More speculative are the suggestion that John Godarde might have been an ancestor of the Goddard family of Rudloe, and that some of names refer to the land outside of Box which was part of the Croke family estates, namely Clement de Wyke (Wick at Lacock) and John atte Naysshe (Nash Hill also at Lacock).[7]
It would be speculative to make too many conclusions about Box before the Black Death from the tax list but some aspects are evident. Most of the village hamlets were attributed to a single individual who controlled the area and its smaller sub-tenants. The obvious omission appears to be the Croke family at Hazelbury but it could be that the Wyke and Nash Hill names refer to the Croke family. It is possible that some of those listed owed fealty to the Crokes because the witnesses to the 1346 will of Reginald Croke III included John Cnoubill (Knoville) and John atte More (Mere).
The plague probably arrived in Box from Bristol. The chronicler Henry Knighton (a Leicestershire monk writing shortly after 1348) recorded: Then the dreadful pestilence made its way along the coast by Southampton and reached Bristol, where almost the whole strength of the town perished, as it was surprised by sudden death; for few kept their beds more than two or three days, or even half a day. The plague ravaged populations, recorded at Broughton Gifford as: Only 1 free man was left alive on the moiety of the manor of Broughton Gifford in August 1349, all the others both free and bond had perished.[1] The Malmesbury monk estimated the effect locally was 20% mortality rates: Over England as a whole a fifth of men, women and children were carried to the grave.[2]
Harvest Failures
By the 1300s the climate in Box was changing. There had been good harvests between 1260 and 1290 but this warm, productive period was followed by decades of wet summers and cold winters, sometimes referred to as the Little Ice Age.
There were European-wide corn failures starting in 1315, leading to a period of famine.
The seriousness of the famine can be seen from contemporary accounts in Winchester.[3] Conditions were wet in the winter of 1314; the hay did not dry, rivers and ponds overflowed. The grain harvest in 1315 was very poor with insufficient seed for planting in the autumn. Rain fell again that winter and the next summer; grain prices tripled; peasants sold their precious oxen; and starvation increased. The period of wet years continued for a decade and wet ground brought outbreaks of foot rot in animals, pests and plant disease.[4]
Wiltshire Tax List, 1332
The list of taxpayers in Wiltshire in 1332 is a marvellous record of people at this time.[5] The list recorded the tax due on an assessed value of the movable goods (livestock and food for sale) in the tithing of Box, a subdivision of the Chippenham Hundred. We cannot be certain of the boundaries of Box at this time but it appears to include Shockerwick and the clerical parish of Ditteridge. Based on the listed values, men were to pay a fifteenth (6.6% of the listed value) to 20-year-old King Edward III presumably to support him in his plan to invade Scotland, having recently taken over control of government from his mother Isabella. The men listed excluded smaller cottagers, those employed in households and the church and the tax shown as liable for payment excluded movables valued at under 10s (ie no-one liable to pay less than 8d tax).
The tax list is remarkable because it gives details just before the Black Death and is the only list of individuals from this time. There are 17 men listed for Box, a small number compared to Corsham 77 and Lacock 41, but more than Hartham and Slaughterford both 8. The assessed value of individual holdings goes from 9s.7¾d down to 8d. We can get some idea of where these people lived from their surnames: William de Crokesmulle presumably lived in the location of Drewetts Mill, John atte Pleistede at Chapel Plaister area, Walter de Alecombe, Bevis de Knoville from Ditteridge and William atte Boxe in a central location.[6] More speculative are the suggestion that John Godarde might have been an ancestor of the Goddard family of Rudloe, and that some of names refer to the land outside of Box which was part of the Croke family estates, namely Clement de Wyke (Wick at Lacock) and John atte Naysshe (Nash Hill also at Lacock).[7]
It would be speculative to make too many conclusions about Box before the Black Death from the tax list but some aspects are evident. Most of the village hamlets were attributed to a single individual who controlled the area and its smaller sub-tenants. The obvious omission appears to be the Croke family at Hazelbury but it could be that the Wyke and Nash Hill names refer to the Croke family. It is possible that some of those listed owed fealty to the Crokes because the witnesses to the 1346 will of Reginald Croke III included John Cnoubill (Knoville) and John atte More (Mere).
|
Wiltshire Tax List, 1332[8]
Box (Boxe) William Thurstan 3s.4d William de Crokesmulle 9s.4d John atte Naysshe 3s Walter de Bridleghe 4s John Godarde 8d Clement de Wyke 8s William Freman 2s John atte Mere 4s John atte Pleistede 6s.8d |
Bevis de Knoville 9s.7¾d Walter Averei 4s John Fabro 2s.8d Walter de Alecombe 2s John Cope 2s William atte Boxe 8d John Jurdan 2s Nicholas le White 4s Total 67s.11¾d. Proved |
Some of the names can be traced in later Box records, but it is not obvious if the topographical surnames refer to the same families. Hence, John Crokesmill was fined for taking an excessive toll in 1422, possibly when he was still operating Drewetts Mill.[9]
Black Death at Box
The poor harvests left the population of England under-nourished and probably increased mortality rates in the subsequent plagues which affected the area, including the Black Death of 1348. There is no mention of the 1348 plague in the records of Box but there has been speculation that its effects were devastating with the depopulation of areas especially Hazelbury. Richard Hodges asked if medieval quarrying and the reference to Oulde Church in the 1626 Allen maps suggested that Hazelbury was once a substantial settlement a victim of the rural depopulation and economic uncertainty … part of the Black Death.[10]
There is substantial evidence of a church at Hazelbury. About 1220, Hazelbury Church had been granted to the Augustinian Priory of Bradenstoke, Lyneham. The Augustinians were a monastic order famous for its learning. In 1340, the bishop of Sarum (Salisbury) William of Rysindon, granted a licence to the rector of Hazelbury Church to preach in the chapel of Pleistede in the parish of Hazelbury. and it has been suggested that the priory may have built the chapel. In 1346 the Hazelbury rector was instructed to pay to the new prior three shillings a year in respect of his dues.[11] In 1936 George Jardine Kidston uncovered evidence of a building in a field called Old Church to the north of Hazelbury Manor. He asserted that his trial excavation established the location of Hazelbury Church, which he believed had been destroyed in 1476.[12]
New Evidence Discovered
We are indebted to Barney Sloane of Historic England for pointing out a contemporary report of life in Box at the time of the Black Death. He kindly pointed out references to pilgrims in 1349 who recalled stopping in Box (possibly Chapel Plaister) and visiting the church of St Thomas on the Feast of the Assumption (15 August). The reference was recorded in retrospect in 1373 and is a unique example of people visiting the parish at this time, The full reference reads:[13]
WALTER SON AND HEIR OF BEVIS (Bugonis) FITZ WARYN
Writ to the escheator to take proof of the age of the said heir, whose father held of the heir of John Pavely, a minor in the king’s wardship; and to warn Richard Urdele, guardian of the lands of his inheritance by the king’s commitment, to be present and shew cause why the lands should not be restored to him. 8 August, 47 Edward III (1373).
Proof of age made at Malmesbury, 19 September, 47 Edward III
John Brimylham, Richard Perfet, William Kaynesham, Thomas Mourle, Henry Umfray, William Heyr, William Anesse, Walter Ameneye, Adam Hurdle, Peter Davy, Robert Chyverden and Thomas Clyve, all aged 50 years and more, say that the heir was born at Boxe and baptized in the church there on the feast of the Assumption, 23 Edward III (1349). This they know because the church is dedicated in honour of the Assumption, and they were there on that day in one company as pilgrims, and saw how Walter de Pavely, the heir’s godfather, lifted him from the sacred font. Thus they say that he was 24 years of age on the feast of the Assumption last. Richard Urdele was present, but could shew no cause why the heir should not prove his age as above.
The details add greatly to our knowledge of the area, the growth of religious devotion with the advent of the plague and the intriguing story of when St Thomas' church was first dedicated to Thomas Becket.
Conclusion
The Black Death was a turning point in England. It ended the division of feudal society into those who fought (knights), those who prayed (clergy) and those who laboured (peasants) and speeded up social emancipation. In so doing it led to widespread discontent, extreme hardship, and the evolution of new classes of people, new types of agriculture and a complete change in land ownership in Box. None of this was obvious to contemporaries, nothing was recorded in the records of Box but we can see the effects in the two centuries that followed.
Black Death at Box
The poor harvests left the population of England under-nourished and probably increased mortality rates in the subsequent plagues which affected the area, including the Black Death of 1348. There is no mention of the 1348 plague in the records of Box but there has been speculation that its effects were devastating with the depopulation of areas especially Hazelbury. Richard Hodges asked if medieval quarrying and the reference to Oulde Church in the 1626 Allen maps suggested that Hazelbury was once a substantial settlement a victim of the rural depopulation and economic uncertainty … part of the Black Death.[10]
There is substantial evidence of a church at Hazelbury. About 1220, Hazelbury Church had been granted to the Augustinian Priory of Bradenstoke, Lyneham. The Augustinians were a monastic order famous for its learning. In 1340, the bishop of Sarum (Salisbury) William of Rysindon, granted a licence to the rector of Hazelbury Church to preach in the chapel of Pleistede in the parish of Hazelbury. and it has been suggested that the priory may have built the chapel. In 1346 the Hazelbury rector was instructed to pay to the new prior three shillings a year in respect of his dues.[11] In 1936 George Jardine Kidston uncovered evidence of a building in a field called Old Church to the north of Hazelbury Manor. He asserted that his trial excavation established the location of Hazelbury Church, which he believed had been destroyed in 1476.[12]
New Evidence Discovered
We are indebted to Barney Sloane of Historic England for pointing out a contemporary report of life in Box at the time of the Black Death. He kindly pointed out references to pilgrims in 1349 who recalled stopping in Box (possibly Chapel Plaister) and visiting the church of St Thomas on the Feast of the Assumption (15 August). The reference was recorded in retrospect in 1373 and is a unique example of people visiting the parish at this time, The full reference reads:[13]
WALTER SON AND HEIR OF BEVIS (Bugonis) FITZ WARYN
Writ to the escheator to take proof of the age of the said heir, whose father held of the heir of John Pavely, a minor in the king’s wardship; and to warn Richard Urdele, guardian of the lands of his inheritance by the king’s commitment, to be present and shew cause why the lands should not be restored to him. 8 August, 47 Edward III (1373).
Proof of age made at Malmesbury, 19 September, 47 Edward III
John Brimylham, Richard Perfet, William Kaynesham, Thomas Mourle, Henry Umfray, William Heyr, William Anesse, Walter Ameneye, Adam Hurdle, Peter Davy, Robert Chyverden and Thomas Clyve, all aged 50 years and more, say that the heir was born at Boxe and baptized in the church there on the feast of the Assumption, 23 Edward III (1349). This they know because the church is dedicated in honour of the Assumption, and they were there on that day in one company as pilgrims, and saw how Walter de Pavely, the heir’s godfather, lifted him from the sacred font. Thus they say that he was 24 years of age on the feast of the Assumption last. Richard Urdele was present, but could shew no cause why the heir should not prove his age as above.
The details add greatly to our knowledge of the area, the growth of religious devotion with the advent of the plague and the intriguing story of when St Thomas' church was first dedicated to Thomas Becket.
Conclusion
The Black Death was a turning point in England. It ended the division of feudal society into those who fought (knights), those who prayed (clergy) and those who laboured (peasants) and speeded up social emancipation. In so doing it led to widespread discontent, extreme hardship, and the evolution of new classes of people, new types of agriculture and a complete change in land ownership in Box. None of this was obvious to contemporaries, nothing was recorded in the records of Box but we can see the effects in the two centuries that followed.
References
[1] Victoria County History, Vol IV, p.39
[2] BBC - History - British History in depth: Black Death: The lasting impact
[3] Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, Times of Feast, Times of Famine, 1972, George Allen & Unwin, p.46
[4] Christopher Dyer, Making a Living in the Middle Ages,2002, Yale University Press, p.229, 254
[5] Editor DA Crowley, Wiltshire Record Society, Vol XLV, 1989
[6] The Knoville family were identified as from Ditteridge by GJ Kidston, A History of the Manor of Hazelbury, 1936, p.76
[7] GJ Kidston, A History of the Manor of Hazelbury, 1936, p.67 and p.86
[8] Editor DA Crowley, Wiltshire Record Society, Vol XLV, 1989, p.101
[9] GJ Kidston, A History of the Manor of Hazelbury, 1936, p.120
[10] Richard Hodges, Box Parish: A Short History, 1975
[11] Chapel Plaister Brochure, p.2
[12] Wiltshire and Swindon Historic Environment Record ST86NW450
[13] Vol 13 of the Calendars of Inquisitions Post Mortem (see https://www.british-history.ac.uk/inquis-post-mortem/vol13/pp255-272) C. Edw. III. File 235 (5)
[1] Victoria County History, Vol IV, p.39
[2] BBC - History - British History in depth: Black Death: The lasting impact
[3] Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, Times of Feast, Times of Famine, 1972, George Allen & Unwin, p.46
[4] Christopher Dyer, Making a Living in the Middle Ages,2002, Yale University Press, p.229, 254
[5] Editor DA Crowley, Wiltshire Record Society, Vol XLV, 1989
[6] The Knoville family were identified as from Ditteridge by GJ Kidston, A History of the Manor of Hazelbury, 1936, p.76
[7] GJ Kidston, A History of the Manor of Hazelbury, 1936, p.67 and p.86
[8] Editor DA Crowley, Wiltshire Record Society, Vol XLV, 1989, p.101
[9] GJ Kidston, A History of the Manor of Hazelbury, 1936, p.120
[10] Richard Hodges, Box Parish: A Short History, 1975
[11] Chapel Plaister Brochure, p.2
[12] Wiltshire and Swindon Historic Environment Record ST86NW450
[13] Vol 13 of the Calendars of Inquisitions Post Mortem (see https://www.british-history.ac.uk/inquis-post-mortem/vol13/pp255-272) C. Edw. III. File 235 (5)