The Black Death's First Stroke: England 1348

In 1348, the bubonic plague arrived in England through the port of Melcombe Regis. Within two years, it had killed perhaps half the population. This episode follows the path of the pestilence from its first suspected case in Dorset to the mass graves of London, and asks what it actually did to the people who lived through it. Lucas and Luna examine the accounts of chroniclers like Henry Knighton and Thomas Brinton, the desperate measures of towns and bishops, and the stark numbers recorded in manorial rolls. They discuss how the plague reshaped the countryside, loosened the bonds of serfdom, and opened the door to the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. But they also pause over the human texture of the catastrophe: the flagellants, the scapegoating of Jews, the abandonment of the sick, and the strange resilience that followed. This isn't just a story of death counts — it's about how a society coped when its certainties collapsed, and how the survivors rebuilt a different England. #BlackDeath #BubonicPlague #1348 #MedievalEngland #Plague #HenryKnighton #ThomasBrinton #MelcombeRegis #PeasantsRevolt #Serfdom #Flagellants #Jews #MassGraves #ManorialRolls #Epidemic #FexingoHistory #History #Medieval Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo