This module is not currently running in 2024 to 2025.
The module will study the economic, environmental, social and political crisis of the fourteenth century, which had a long-term impact on the population of the British Isles and beyond. The fourteenth century was a troublesome period in European history. After some two centuries of economic growth, demographic expansion and relative social stability, Europe entered the era of harsh socio-economic crises, bio-ecological shocks, climatic deterioration and political turmoil. The ubiquitous 'Four Riders of the Apocalypse', as seen by the contemporaries, brought much hardship upon all strata of European society. The Black Death of 1348-51, whose nature is still debatable, killed about 40 per cent of British population and altered the land-to-labour ratio, leading to far-reaching social and economic changes within the society. Violent and costly wars of England against Scotland and France commanded increased taxation, caused supply shock, high transaction costs and hence high prices and low real wages. Between 1314 and 1322, there was a series of failed harvests, brought about by continuous torrential rain and exceptionally cold winters. This agrarian crisis, or the 'Great Famine', caused starvation and malnourishment, chiefly among the lower echelons of the society. The famine spread chaos and anarchy over the country, with crime rates going up. To these should be added another significant biological crisis: mass cattle mortality of panzootic proportions, which ravaged the whole of Northern Europe and decimated its bovine stocks. This period can be regarded as truly a watershed one in British, and European history, and there is no doubt that it has changed the existing economic and social order forever.
This module will look at each and every of these crises and at the interaction between them. A particular attention will be given to reading primary sources, shedding much light on our understanding of these crises. In addition, each class will involve a reading and discussion of one scholarly work (an article, or a book chapter) related to the subject.
1. An introduction to the Fourteenth-Century Crisis: themes, sources and problems
2. In the wake of the storm: thirteenth-century prosperity and growth
3. The problem of overpopulation in Europe c.1300: Malthusian Crisis?
4. The famine of 1315-21: the worst subsistence crisis in the West ever recorded?
5. The Great Cattle Pestilence of 1319-21 and its consequences (one session is to be held at the Canterbury Cathedral Archives; TBA)
6. England in war: the Scottish War of Independence (1296-1328) and the Initial Stages of the Hundred Years War (1337-56)
7. The Black Death (a): diagnosis, rates and scholarship
8. The Black Death (b): short- and long-term socio-economic impact, c.1350-1400
9. The Black Death (c): birth of a morbid culture
10. Conclusions and wrapping-up
One 1-hour lecture and one 2-hour seminar each week.
The module will be assessed by coursework and exam on a 60% coursework and 40% exam ratio.
The coursework component will be assessed as follows:
1) 2 x 3000 word essays, each worth 40% of the coursework mark
2) An oral mark based on a presentation and general seminar performance, worth 20% of the coursework mark
Exams
The learning outcomes of the module will be tested in the two–hour exam – which will make up 40% of the final mark for the module.
Aberth, J., From the Brink of the Apocalypse (London, 2001)
Baillie, M, New Light on the Black Death: the Cosmic Connection (Stroud, 2006)
Benedictow, O., Black Death: 1346-1353, the Complete History (Woodbridge, 2004)
Campbell, B. M. S., English seigniorial agriculture, 1250–1450 (Cambridge, 2000).
Campbell, B. M. S. and Bartley, K., England on the eve of the Black Death. An atlas of lay lordship, land and wealth, 1300–49 (Manchester, 2006).
Cantor, N., In the Wake of the Plague. The Black Death and the World it Made (New York, 2001)
Dyer, C., Standards of living in the later middle ages: social change in England, c. 1200–1520 (Cambridge, revised edn.1989).
Jordan, W. C., The Great Famine: northern Europe in the early fourteenth century (Princeton, N.J., 1996).
McNamee, C., TheWars of the Bruces: Scotland, England and Ireland, 1306–1328 (East Linton, 1997).
Ó Gráda, C., Famine. A short history (Princeton, N.J., 2009).
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
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