“The Price of Pestilence: England’s response to the Black Death in the face of the Hundred Years War” DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Sarah Kathryn Douglas Graduate Program in History The Ohio State University 2015 Dissertation Committee: Dr. John Guilmartin, Professor of History Dr. Geoffrey Parker, Andreas Dorpelan Professor of History Dr. Barbara Hanawalt, King George III Professor of British History, Emerita Copyright by Sarah Kathryn Douglas 2015 Abstract In 1348, the Black Death swept across Europe and killed nearly 50% of the population. Immediately prices for labor, livestock, and consumables skyrocketed and governments everywhere ground to a halt. England was no exception as King Edward III had the additional concern of paying for his military campaigns against France during the opening phase of the Hundred Years War (1337-1453). While the Black Death has received ample attention from historians of everything from economics and culture to disease and environment, none have addressed the effect of the plague upon military affairs. This has generated a significant gap, not only in the study of medieval military history, but in our understanding of the effects of pandemic as a whole. This dissertation compares two expeditions, one before the plague and one after: the 1346-47 Crécy-Calais campaign and the 1359-60 Reims campaign. This comparison reveals that despite the shock caused by the plague to all spheres of life, the English Crown quickly and efficiently adapted to its new political, economic, and demographic limitations. Not only did government offices resume business as usual within three years of the disease’s arrival, but they adopted innovative methods of taxation and customs manipulation with the sole intent of permitting the government to go to war. ii Dedication To my family, who has supported me no matter what. iii Acknowledgments I wish to acknowledge the assistance of my thesis advisors, Dr. John Guilmartin, Dr. Geoffrey Parker, and Dr. Barbara Hanawalt because their guidance throughout this process has been invaluable to my development as a student and as a scholar. I also wish to thank Dr. Clifford J. Rogers for his advice and comments, which have increased my knowledge of medieval warfare. Lastly, fellow students Jon Hendrickson, Rob Clemm, and Will Waddell deserve my sincerest appreciation for serving as sounding boards for my research ideas, providing encouragement and at times, far more valuable opposition. Their friendship has meant a great deal during my graduate studies and I would not be the historian I am without them. iv Vita June 2007 .......................................................B.A. History, The Ohio State University March 2009 ....................................................M.A. History, The Ohio State University September 2008 to present ............................Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of History, The Ohio State University Publications “British Commemoration of the American Revolution,” The Dulles Review (2007). Review, “Knighthood as it was, not as we wish it were: Nigel Saul’s Chivalry in Medieval England,” Ehistory.com (December 2011) Review, James Ross, “John de Vere, Thirteenth Earl of Oxford: ‘The Foremost Man of the Kingdom’,” H-War, H-Net Reviews (January 2013) “The Search for Hitler: Hugh Trevor-Roper, Humphrey Searle, and the Allied Investigation into the Death of Adolph Hitler,” The Journal of Military History 78 (January 2014), 159-210 Fields of Study Major Field: History Sub-Fields: Military History, Medieval European History, East Asian History v Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. iv Vita ...................................................................................................................................... v Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... x List of Abbreviations ........................................................................................................ xii CHAPTER 1: Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 2: A Contest of Dynasties .............................................................................. 18 CHAPTER 3: The Theory of Feeding Mars ..................................................................... 53 CHAPTER 4: The Art of Feeding Mars ........................................................................... 86 CHAPTER 5: Crécy-Calais, 1346-47 ............................................................................. 138 CHAPTER 6: The World Turned Upside Down ............................................................ 174 CHAPTER 7: The Reims Campaign, 1359-60 ............................................................... 212 CHAPTER 8: Conclusion ............................................................................................... 241 vi Appendix A: Glossary of Terms ..................................................................................... 251 Appendix B: Weights & Measures ................................................................................. 257 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 258 vii List of Tables Table 1: Engels and Erdkamp caloric demands of soldiers “on the march” ..................... 78 Table 2: Erdkamp grain requirements from ancient sources ............................................ 78 Table 3: Erdkamp additional ration information .............................................................. 78 Table 4: Foxhall and Forbes Soldier Grain Consumption ................................................ 79 Table 5: Single day caloric requirements for 200 soldiers ............................................... 80 Table 6: Grain demands of soldiers on the march ............................................................ 81 Table 7: Daily caloric requirements of horses on campaign ............................................. 81 Table 8: Daily caloric intake of medieval sailors based upon modern caloric content .... 83 Table 9: Crécy campaign manpower based upon Wrottesley’s estimates ...................... 145 Table 10: Ayton's estimates for 1346 manpower ............................................................ 146 Table 11: Victuals purveyed in England, January to June, 1346 .................................... 148 Table 12: Victuals purveyed in England, January to June, 1346 .................................... 149 Table 13: 1337-38 English mariner provisions ............................................................... 151 Table 14: Horses required to transport estimated victuals .............................................. 152 Table 15: Maximum use of 1346-47 victual stores ........................................................ 155 Table 16: Archer weaponry and supplies collected, 1345-46 ......................................... 157 Table 17: Men-at-arms and archers obtained as reinforcements at Calais ..................... 166 Table 18: Total forces involved in the Siege of Calais ................................................... 167 viii Table 19: Commissions to sheriffs for archers ............................................................... 169 Table 20: Bows and Arrows requisitioned for the Tower of London in January 1359 .. 216 Table 21: Archers Requested from 28 Counties in January 1359 .................................. 216 Table 22: Mounted Archers Requested ........................................................................... 219 Table 23: Victuals and Carts required Per Day for the Reims Army ............................. 223 Table 24: Bows and Sheaves of Arrows Collected, November 1359 ............................. 231 Table 25: Men-at-Arms and Archers raised in March 1360 ........................................... 235 ix List of Figures Figure 1: The farthest extent of Henry II's territory .......................................................... 23 Figure 2: The French line of inheritance........................................................................... 34 Figure 3: The County of Flanders c.1400 ......................................................................... 38 Figure 4: English-controlled territory at the beginning of the war ................................... 43 Figure 5: Structure of the medieval English Crown ......................................................... 88 Figure 6: English administration on the local level .......................................................... 92 Figure 7: Subsidy totals during the reign of Edward I ...................................................... 99 Figure 8: Estimated Population in England,