The Black Death and the Rise of the English Almshouse

The Black Death and the Rise of the English Almshouse

In the wake of the Black Death, a new kind of charitable institution emerged across England: the almshouse. This episode explores how the plague's demographic catastrophe and labor shortages reshaped religious charity, focusing on the founding of St. John's Hospital in Lutterworth by William de Notte in 1348. We discuss the shift from monastic hospitals to secular chantry-based almshouses, the architectural legacy of these buildings, and how the Statute of Labourers inadvertently boosted their construction. Featuring the stories of early founders like Henry of Lancaster and the role of the Church in providing for the aged poor, this episode reveals how the Black Death transformed English social welfare. #BlackDeath #MedievalEngland #Almshouse #StJohnsHospitalLutterworth #WilliamdeNotte #StatuteOfLabourers #Chantry #HenryOfLancaster #SocialWelfare #Charity #MedievalArchitecture #PandemicHistory #EconomicHistory #ReligiousHistory #14thCentury #Leicestershire #England #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

The Black Death and the Burning of the Jews

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the violent persecution of Jewish communities during the Black Death. Focusing on the Strasbourg massacre of February 1349, where over 900 Jews were burned alive on a giant pyre, they examine the role of the flagellants, civic politics, and the papal bull 'Sicut Judaeis'. They also touch on the broader wave of pogroms across Europe, from the Rintfleisch massacres to the Armleder persecutions, and discuss how the plague became a pretext for settling debts and seizing property. The conversation sheds light on how medieval people processed catastrophe through scapegoating, and how the Church's traditional protection of Jews crumbled under social panic. #BlackDeath #JewishHistory #StrasbourgMassacre #Flagellants #Pogroms #MedievalEurope #SicutJudaeis #ClementVI #Rintfleisch #Armleder #Scapegoating #Antisemitism #1349 #Avignon #PapalBull #History #FexingoHistory #MedievalPersecution Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

The Black Death and the Rise of the English Cottage

Episode 173 explores how the Black Death transformed the humble homes of English peasants. Before the plague, most rural families lived in cramped, smoky, one-room houses shared with livestock. After a third of Europe died, labour shortages forced landlords to offer better housing to attract workers. The result was the birth of the English cottage: separate rooms, private hearths, and the first chimneys for commoners. Hosts Lucas and Luna trace this architectural revolution using manorial court rolls and surviving medieval examples. They examine the shift from the longhouse to the cross-passage plan, the introduction of the chimney stack, and the social implications of privacy. Specific sites discussed include the Wealden hall houses of Kent and the cruck-framed cottages of the Midlands. This episode also touches on the Statute of Labourers' unintended consequences for housing and the rise of the yeoman class. #BlackDeath #EnglishCottage #MedievalHousing #Yeoman #StatuteOfLabourers #WealdenHallHouse #CruckFrame #Chimney #Longhouse #CrossPassage #ManorialCourtRolls #HousingHistory #MedievalEngland #SocialHistory #ArchitecturalHistory #Plague #FexingoHistory #History Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

The Black Death and the Rise of the English Yeoman Farmer

In the decades after the Black Death, labour shortages and falling grain prices forced English landowners to shift from demesne farming to land leasing. This episode follows the rise of the yeoman farmer — men like John Rickinghall of Suffolk, who parlayed their skills and savings into independent holdings. We explore how the commutation of labour services accelerated, how the Statute of Labourers backfired, and how former villeins climbed the social ladder, buying land and even serving as manorial officials. The Peasants' Revolt of 1381, often seen as a desperate uprising, is reframed here as a symptom of a system already in collapse. The yeoman class that emerged would dominate English rural life for centuries, laying the groundwork for capitalist agriculture and the Tudor commonwealth. #BlackDeath #EnglishYeoman #MedievalEngland #JohnRickinghall #StatuteOfLabourers #PeasantsRevolt #Villein #ManorialCourtRolls #Commutation #CustomaryTenure #FeudalismDecline #LandLeasing #EconomicHistory #SocialMobility #14thCentury #Suffolk #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

The Black Death and the Rise of the English Peasant Landowner

After the Black Death wiped out a third of Europe's population, English peasants found themselves in unprecedented bargaining power. With labour scarce and land abundant, many villeins abandoned their manorial obligations, negotiated cash rents, and began accumulating property. This episode traces how figures like John Rickinghall, a Suffolk villein, leveraged the crisis to transform from serf to freeholder. We explore the mechanisms of commutation, the rise of customary land transfers recorded in manorial court rolls, and the legal battles over villein status that followed. The episode examines the long-term consequences: the emergence of a yeoman class, the erosion of feudalism, and the roots of English agrarian capitalism. It also touches on the Great Revolt of 1381 as a direct response to attempts to roll back these gains. A story of resilience and economic shift that reshaped rural England. #BlackDeath #MedievalEngland #PeasantLandowner #Feudalism #Villein #JohnRickinghall #ManorialCourts #CustomaryTenure #Yeoman #GreatRevolt #AgrarianCapitalism #StatuteOfLabourers #PollTax #Computation #Suffolk #History #FexingoHistory #EconomicHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]