SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY 



Salfordshire even, where there were ten parishes, including Manchester,^^' the 

 same oath was sworn that there were ' neque burgus nee mercatores seu alii 

 homines qui de quintadecima debeant respondere,' and the jurors of West Derby 

 wapentake swore similarly that excepting the boroughs of Liverpool and 

 Wigan, respectively assessed at £b i6j. yd. and ^5 gj. 4^., there were none 

 living there except by agriculture."* 



The famine of 1 3 1 5 has been mentioned, and this in turn was followed 

 by the great pestilence known as the Black Death, which visited England in 

 the middle of the fourteenth century. It can never be known how many 

 perished in the visitation which raged in Lancashire in 1349—50. Of the 

 population at this period there is no trustworthy record obtainable. An 

 interesting MS. preserved in the Public Record Office "° must be read with 

 caution."' The following table briefly shows the mortality affirmed by the 

 archdeacon of Richmond in his claim for probate dues. 



"' Mamecestre, iii, 438, 439. "* Inq. Nonarum. 



'" Treas. of the Receipt ^, printed in Engl. Hist. Rev. v, 524. Other references to the great 

 pestilence will be found in the accounts of Liverpool, Manchester, and Didsbury. 



"° In the case of Ribchester, Lytham, and St. Michael's there are glaring errors, inasmuch as the dead 

 are more numerous in the claims than in the general estimate given. 



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