The Black Death lasted for three years
in England. Historians estimate that between 30% and 50% of the English
population died from the disease. This dramatic loss in population
led to great changes taking place. Fields
were left unsown and unreaped. Those who had not died of the plague
were in danger of dying from starvation.
Food shortages also resulted
in much higher prices. The peasants, needing extra money to feed their
families, demanded higher wages. The landowners, desperately short
of labour, often agreed to these wage demands. The landowners were
worried that if they refused, their workers would run away and find
an employer who was willing to pay these higher wages.
In 1348, Ralph, Earl of
Stafford, and John Giffard were paying their farm labourers one pence
a day. By 1350 they were forced to increase it to two pence a day.
Other local landowners were paying three pence a day. John Giffard
warned the Earl of Stafford that there was a danger that the serfs
would leave Yalding in an effort to obtain higher wages.
Landowners like the Earl
of Stafford complained to Edward III
about having to pay these higher wages. The landowners were also worried
about the peasants roaming the country searching for better job opportunities.
In 1351, Parliament decided to pass the Statute of Labourers Act.
This law made it illegal for employers to pay wages above the level
offered in 1346.
Some employers, who were
desperately short of workers tended to ignore the law. This was especially
true of those employers living in towns. Some freemen who had skills
in great demand, such as carpenters and masons, began to leave their
villages. Serfs became angry when they heard of the wages that people
were earning in towns. Some serfs even ran away to towns in an effort
to obtain higher wages. Large numbers of serfs went to London.
Most of these serfs could only find unskilled manual work. By 1360
over 40,000 people were living in London.
If the serfs were caught
they were taken back to their village and punished. It was difficult
for the lords of the manor to punish them too harshly. Execution,
imprisonment and mutilation only made the labour shortage worse, therefore
the courts were more likely to punish the serfs by a fine. Sometimes
runaway serfs were branded on the forehead. The rest of the serfs'
tithing group were also fined for not stopping him or her from running
away.
(A)
The Statute of Labourers Act (1351)
That every man and woman
of our kingdom of England... who is able bodied and
below the age of sixty years,
not living by trade nor carrying on a fixed craft or land of his own...
shall be bound to take only the wages... that were paid in the twentieth
year of our reign of King Edward III (1346).
(B)
John Gower, owned a large farm in Kent (c. 1360)
The shepherd and the cowman
demand more wages now than the bailiff
They work little, dress and feed like their betters, and ruin stares
us in the face.
(C)
Henry Knighton, Chronicle (c. 1355)
The king sent notice into
counties of the realm that labourers should not receive
more than they had in the
past... But the labourers paid no notice to the king's orders... If
anyone wanted to hire them he was obliged to give them whatever they
asked, and so he had a choice, either to lose his crops or satisfy
their greed.
(D)
William Langland, Piers Ploughman (c. 1365)
Working men curse the king
and all his parliament... that makes such laws to keep the labourer
down.
(E)
J. F. C. Harrison, The Common People (1984)
If a serf dwelt unclaimed
for a year and a day in a town, and was received into the community
or guild of that town as a citizen, he was thereby made free.
1. Give as many reasons
as you can why labourers demanded higher wages in 1350.
2. Give as many reasons
as you can why landowners paid higher wages in 1350.
3. Read paragraphs 3 and
4 and source A. (a) What was the Statute of Labourers Act? (b)
Why did Parliament pass the Statute of Labourers Act?
4. Read paragraph 5 and
source E. Why did towns grow in size after 1350?
5. Read sources B, C and
D. Did these men agree or disagree with the Statute of Labourers'
Act?
6. Write a debate between
John Gower and William Langland on the Statute of Labourers'
Act.
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