Medieval merchants brought some lovely goods
into Hull, not least wine from southern France, along with some less delightful
items, like those pungent relatives garlic and onions. They also brought news, which in 1348
consisted of unwelcome tidings of a terrible new disease. Victims apparently grew disgusting, foul
smelling black boils or buboes in their armpits and groin before falling into a
fever from which few recovered.
As the months passed this plague came
ever closer, moving through Italy, then France, then Flanders. Finally in June the Black Death arrived in
England. It came ashore in Dorset before
spreading north leaving a trail of destroyed lives in its wake. Everybody lost someone, be it parent, child,
spouse or friend. At least a third of the
population died and densely populated towns like Hull lost up to half their inhabitants. Daily life was affected for years after. For Hull this meant work on completing and
improving its city wall slowed dramatically and it wasn’t finished until 1356.
Those yet to fall ill eagerly attended
Mass to offer prayers begging that they and their families be spared, as well
as to acquire holy bread which was said to have preventative properties. Those already sick were plied with concoctions
of herbs but usually to no avail. Most died
within a few days of falling ill, giving people little chance to prepare for a
good Christian death.
Most crucial was making your final
confession, but priests were hard to find as they too were dying. At Barrow, on the south bank of the river
Humber, three new priests had to be appointed just in one year. Things were so bad that that one bishop
decreed that if necessary men may confess to each other or even, if absolutely
desperate, to a woman.
After death your soul went to purgatory,
a staging post from where it might go to heaven or to hell. How long it lingered there and its final
destination depended on how many people prayed for you. The prayers of your family, while undoubtedly
heartfelt, could only go so far. Plus
the Black Death showed that they could all too easily die along with you.
It became increasingly popular to leave money
in your will to religious institutions to pay for priests to say prayers specifically
for your soul. Well off families established
their own dedicated chapels and Holy Trinity church had twelve such chantry chapels,
including one belonging to the de la Poles.
Being especially wealthy, the de la Poles also established a Cathusian
monastery and hospital, known as the Charterhouse, whose inhabitants said even
more prayers for departed family members.
Photo: St Mary’s Church, Hull.
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