Its Customs, 95 



a very heavy time : ill seasons for fruits of the earth ; losses 

 also by pestilence and storm among cattle. In 1044 there was 

 a very great famine, sending the sester^ of wheat higher still 

 (to 60 pence and over). In 1046 was the severest winter 

 within man's memory, causing mortality among men, murrain 

 of cattle, and great losses of birds and fish. In 1047 there was 

 great mortality over all England, In 1053 came the strong 

 wind on Thomas-mass night, which did much harm ; and in 

 1053 it recurred on December 21st, the very same night as 

 in the 3''ear before. 



When we add to this long list of bad seasons, panics from 

 hairy stars, solar circles, and lunar eclipses, — the constant 

 ravages of fierce warfare between Saxon and Briton, Saxon 

 and Saxon, Saxon and Dane, and Saxon and Norman ; the 

 calls upon the husbandman's money- and time that such a 

 state of affairs involved, and lastly Teutonic ignorance of 

 husbandry ; we fear our history must record a retrograde 

 movement towards the old savage times of the aborigines. 

 We can only speculate as to the nature of these destructive 

 visitations which (as when the rain and milk became blood) 

 remind us of the ten plagues of Egypt. We wonder if the 

 constantly recurring murrain was due to rinderpest, pleuro- 

 pneumonia, foot and mouth disease, or other modern epizootic 

 complaints. What were the fiery dragons and other portents 

 which preceded the great famine ? What caused the de- 

 structive tidal wave of 1014 ? Was it the extreme drought of 

 1030 that set all the rough grasses and wooded wastes in a 

 blaze like a modern prairie fire ? Was 1041 as bad a season as 

 1879? and was the agricultural depression as severe then as 

 now ? Was the winter of 1046 more severe than that of 1890, 



^ The sester was the same as the quarter. A quarter of wheat rose to 

 GO pennies, or about 15 shillings. This far exceeded its price during the 

 great famine of Queen Elizabeth's time, when the quarter was sold for 

 4 pounds. Hume, Hist, of Enql., Append. I. 



^ " And in the same year (1052) King Edward abolished the heregeld . . . 

 That geld distressed all the English nation during so long a time, as it 

 is here above written ; that was ever before other gelds, which were 

 variously paid and wherewith the people were manifoldly distressed." 

 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Tlie heregeld was a tax for the army. 



