A HISTORY OF LEICESTERSHIRE 



confessions and give absolution, even in cases usually reserved for himself. 

 Other troubles followed. The sheep and oxen wandered through the fields 

 untended, and died in great numbers for want of care ; then a murrain broke 

 out among them also. The crops perished ungathered ; and in the next year 

 there was famine. 68 Thomas Walsingham, of St. Albans, writes in the same 

 strain : ' Such misery came of all these sorrows, that the world has never 

 since returned to its former state.' 69 



Some doubt has recently been thrown upon Knighton's statistics ; and 

 indeed the records of the borough of Leicester a few years later show a 

 degree of prosperity which is hard to understand if nearly a third of the 

 population had been swept away in the plague. 60 But whatever may have 

 been the actual truth with regard to the people generally, there is no question 

 at all about the effects of the pestilence amongst the clergy and religious. 

 The registers of Bishop Gynwell in 1349 61 show a steady rise in the number 

 of deaths from May onwards ; by the end of November as many as seventy- 

 two of the parish clergy had perished. The large abbey of Croxton Kerrial 

 was almost emptied of its inhabitants ; 63 six of the chantry priests in the 

 college of Kirby Bellars died within the same year ; 63 other religious houses 

 which have left no record no doubt suffered in similar ways." In 1361 the 

 registers show a fresh outbreak. Forty-three parish priests died in this year, 

 seven of the canons as well as the dean of Newark, 65 and nearly all the 

 brethren of St. John's Hospital in Leicester. 66 This evidence, which is quite 

 independent of Knighton, tends to prove that though his figures may not be 

 entirely accurate, his picture is not on the whole seriously overdrawn. 



The effects of these troubles upon character differed, as might be ex- 

 pected, very widely. To some the visitation brought a deeper sense of sin 

 and fear of judgement ; this led to the multiplication of chantries and gild 

 services. The reckless grew more wild and reckless than ever : the year 

 following the pestilence is specially marked by daring thefts and acts of 

 sacrilege. Thieves entered the monastery of Leicester and others in the 

 neighbourhood, carrying off relics, images, and sacred vessels wherever they 

 could lay hands upon them. 67 The rights of sanctuary were so often invaded 

 that the bishop had to issue a special condemnation of this form of outrage. 68 

 Two notable cases occurred in connexion with the chapel of St. Sepulchre 

 outside Leicester about this time. One Walter Wynkbourn was hanged at 

 Leicester under sentence of the preceptor of Dalby : on his way to burial in 

 the cemetery of St. Sepulchre he revived, and was carried into the chapel for 

 safety. Here he was guarded by the priest in charge until a special pardon 

 could be obtained for him from the king, without which he would certainly 

 have been dragged out and hanged again. The pardon in this case was easily 



48 Chrm. Henrici Knigbton (Rolls Ser.), ii, 61. " Walsingham, Hist. An$. i, 273. 



60 Miss Bateson suggests that the totals in Knighton may be made up by adding several years together. 

 Rec. of Bon. of Leic. ii, p. Ixiv. It is necessary to refer to these facts, which belong properly to the 

 economic and social history of the county, in order to show the importance of the evidence as to deaths among 

 the clergy. 



61 Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Gynwell, 294 d. 302 d. Anyone who has studied the episcopal registers knows 

 that they are never quite complete ; so that the number given above is certainly below the truth. 



Rymer, FoeJera, v, 729. ei Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Gynwell. 



4 A chartulary of Garendon Abbey notes five plague years 1348, 1361, 1369, 1374, 1389. 

 * Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Gynwell, 333-5. M Ibid. 334</. 



" Chron. H. Kr.lghton (Rolls Ser.), ii, 120-1. M Line. Epis. Reg. Memo. Buckingham, 123. 



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