Environment, Society and the Black Death

by Desconhecido

  So, an overall strategy seems to have been an increased interaction between town and countryside, parts of the production being specialised and orientated to an urban sphere. Still, this was not the case everywhere. In some regions people acted in a somewhat different way. I will discuss this problem here, taking a point of departure in the regional differences between the east and the west of Sweden.

  At the farmstead in the west a rapid response to the crisis in the later part of the fourteenth century was observed, its economy being changed as its counterparts in the east and the south. However, signs of urban dynamics and expansion were not to be seen in the west. The towns being founded in the late Middle Ages all remained small and rather unimportant. In the western counterpart to Uppsala and Linköping, the episcopal town of Skara, there was only decline and “de-urbanisation” in this period.

  Hence, not much of interaction between town and countryside was to be seen in the west. Presumably, the towns meant little for the surrounding countryside, remaining only as small, fiscal strongholds for the authorities.108 As Christina Rosén has pointed out, an ordinary town in the west was more of a big village than of an urban centre.109

  Then, how shall we characterise the action of people in the west in the time of the crisis? We have seen countryside, less regulated and less controlled than in the east, showing a high degree of flexibility. The latter enabled the moving of settlement in the province of Halland, adjusting it to the change of the agrarian economy in the late Middle Ages, as well as an increased exploitation of the outland in the northern part of Bohuslän. However, the specialised forging of the late fourteenth century, forming a new strategy of the farmstead at Vålle, was of a different kind compared to the corresponding activity at Örja in the south. It seems to have been a small-scale enterprise, being performed within the context of the single farm.

  Thus, we may here discern an important characteristic of the west in the time of the crisis. Acting as independent units, the farmsteads of the west did not develop any large scale, collaborative projects characterising for example the villages of Scania or the villages of the peasant miners north of Lake Mälaren. Nevertheless, the peasants of northern Bohuslän were able to develop a multifaceted economy, starting in the later part of the fourteenth century. Using the natural resources of the region, such as timber, lime and iron, they developed a trade covering a far-reaching network, acting independent of regional urban intermediators. This trade of which there are abundant evidence from Early Modern times, written as well as archaeological, became an essential part of the cultural identity of the coastal regions of western Sweden.

  Having identified some of the differences between the east and the west of Sweden in the time of the crisis, the relation between town and countryside stands out as a decisive element. An example from the recovery phase of the crisis in the late fifteenth century will furthermore highlight a cultural aspect of these regional differences. An absence of vaulting of the churches in extensive parts of western Sweden in the end of the Middle Ages has been commented on. Probably, the cultural incentives of late-medieval vaulting originated from an urban context, a fact that may explain the multitude of vaulted churches of the highly urbanised regions in the east and the south. The towns in the west did not interact with the countryside in the same way as in the east, thus never being able to function as transmitters of cultural influences.

  The western and eastern parts of Sweden appear as two different and well discernible cultural entities in the late Middle Ages. This cultural regionalisation was not a result only of the crisis, but started long before 1350. However, in the late-medieval society of the crisis, the cultural differences became further explicit, appearing in a more clear light than before. Hence, the crisis had a deep impact on the cultural process, contributing strongly to a strengthening of the regional cultural differences.

  Thus the late-medieval crisis has to be considered in the light of the two movements discussed above, the one of cultural regionalisation, the other of social emancipation. Emphasising the complex relation between these two movements will be a primary contribution of archaeology to the study of the crisis.

  Notes

  1 Cf. Gissel et al. 1981; Österberg 1981b

  2 Berglund 1991

  3 Andersson & Anglert 1989

  4 Andrén 1985, 102ff

  5 Myrdal 2012a

  6 Lindkvist 2010, 34

  7 Ericsson 2012, 338f

  8 Andersson 1982

  9 Winberg 2000, 113

  10 Myrdal 2012a, 209

  11 Broberg 1992, 56f

  12 Broberg 1992, 62f

  13 Ersgård 1986, 91

  14 Ljung 1991, 120

  15 Andrén 1985, 102

  16 Christophersen 1978

  17 Tagesson 2002, 157f

  18 Tagesson 2002, 1

  19 Beronius Jörpeland & Bäck 2003, 185f

  20 Connelid & Zedig 2007

  21 Ersgård 1986, 94

  22 Anund et al. 1992, 227

  23 Uppsala. Medeltidsstaden 3. 1976, 15

  24 Tagesson 2002, 159ff

  25 Seppänen in press, 6f

  26 Seppänen in press, 6f

  27 Myrdal 1999, 116f

  28 Vretemark 1997, 13

  29 Carlsson 2007, 163

  30 Andrén 1986; Beronius Jörpeland 1992

  31 Andrén 1985, 101; 1986, 265

  32 Tagesson 2002, 157f, 281f

  33 Malm 1984, 58

  34 Malm 1984, 60f

  35 Pihlman & Kostet 1986, 123

  36 Nyborg 2009, 188–193

  37 A similar loss of knowledge concerning the art of healing, caused by the decrease of population in the late Middle Ages, has recently been discussed by Johanna Bergqvist (Bergqvist 2013, 333–337)

  38 Cf. Österberg 1981b

  39 Berglund et al. 2009; Svensson et al. 2013

  40 Åstrand 2007

  41 Åstrand 2007, 77

  42 Hansson et al. 2005; Olausson 1989; Gauffin 1989

  43 Hansson et al. 2005, 162

  44 C.f. Karsvall 2011

  45 Schmidt Sabo 2001, 74f

  46 Schmidt Sabo (ed.) 2013

  47 See Chap. 4

  48 Bartholin 1989a

  49 Lindeblad & Tagesson 2005. In this article the terms village and hamlet are used to classify the local contexts of the medieval, agrarian settlement (cf. Jones 2010, 13–16). ‘Village’ is used for a cluster of cooperating farmsteads that have had some central functions in the parish, usually through the presence of the parish church. Thus ‘hamlet’ will be used for clustered settlements with no such functions. The term ‘single farm’ concerns a farmstead that does not cooperate agriculturally with other farms

  50 Connelid & Rosén 1997; Connelid & Mascher 2003

  51 Connelid & Mascher 2003, 105

  52 Beronius Jörpeland 2010

  53 See also Chap. 4 for a discussion on the Småland datings

  54 Bartholin 1989b

  55 Wienberg 1993, 44ff

  56 Bonnier 2008, 164

  57 Regner 2005

  58 Regner 2005, 229

  59 Regner 2005, 238

  60 Myrdal 2012a, 230f

  61 Lovén 1996, 195

  62 Lovén 1996, 348

  63 Lovén 1996, 197

  64 Stibeus 1986

  65 Grundberg 2001

  66 Cf. Magnusson & Isacson 1988

  67 These characteristics are in accordance with Bo Strömberg’s definition of proto industry (Strömberg 2008, 28–31, 53–54)

  68 Cf. papers in Med hammare och fackla 51 (2010)

  69 Strömberg 2008

  70 Strömberg 2008, 28ff

  71 Skyllberg 2003

  72 Skyllberg 2003, 65

  73 Magnusson 1985

  74 Pettersson Jensen 2012, 251

  75 Pettersson Jensen 2012

  76 Pettersson Jensen 2012, 56ff, 213ff

  77 Magnusson 2010, 114ff

  78 Norman 1993, 61, 181

  79 Ersgård 1988, 95 />
  80 Such an approach on the late-medieval crisis has already been paid attention to within recent archaeological research in Sweden. Cf. Svensson et al. 2012

  81 Myrdal 2012a, 225

  82 Rosén 2009; Rosén 2013

  83 Rosén 2009, 54f

  84 Grandin et al. 2008

  85 Framme 1985, 174–175

  86 Lindman et al. 2004, 119

  87 Sandklef 1973

  88 Rosén 2009, 44–46

  89 Carlsson et al. 2001; Lindeblad & Tagesson 2004; Lindeblad & Tagesson 2005

  90 Lindeblad & Tagesson 2005, 250

  91 Feldt & Tagesson 1997, 114

  92 Tagesson 2002, 234ff

  93 Tagesson 2002, 157ff

  94 Tagesson 2002, 159ff

  95 Lindeblad & Tagesson 2004, annex 1

  96 Tagesson 2002, 260f; Lindeblad & Tagesson 2005, 278

  97 Schmidt Sabo (ed.) 2013, 30

  98 Schmidt Sabo (ed.) 2013, 230

  99 Bolander 2014, 192

  100 Bolander 2014, 193

  101 Cf. Myrdal 2012a, 208

  102 Stoklund 2000, 199

  103 Stoklund 2000, 197

  104 Ersgård 2001, 103

  105 Cf. Österberg 1981b; Skansjö 1983

  106 Cf. Andrén 1985, 100ff

  107 Myrdal 2012a, 209; Ericsson 2012, 43–54

  108 Andersson 1985

  109 Rosén in press

  6.

  Living conditions in times of plague

  Caroline Arcini, T. Douglas Price, Maria Cinthio, Leena Drenzel, Mats Andersson, Bodil Persson, Hanna Menander, Maria Vretemark, Anna Kjellström, Rickard Hedvall & Göran Tagesson

  Introduction

  The Black Death shook society in its foundations. Contemporary chroniclers describe the rampage of the plague and the immediate shock for society. But there were also long-lasting effects of the population drop, which may have affected the living conditions not only for the survivors of the plague but also for following generations for centuries. This chapter will use skeletons from medieval churchyards to investigate living conditions before, during and after the crisis. Burial customs and what they tell us about social customs and religious beliefs in the times of plague will be discussed.

  When the Black Death struck in the mid-fourteenth century, Sweden like much of Europe had experienced a marked increase in population size over the centuries. Several different factors had contributed to agricultural expansion and population growth. Technological innovations in agriculture and iron production played an important role, together with changes in the social organisation and household conditions. Decline in household size, freedom of slaves and new opportunities for the poor to marry and found families favoured population growth.1 However, this period of expansion came to a definitive end with the Black Death, which hit Sweden in 1350. It was the first of a long series of plague outbreaks, which lasted all the way up to the early eighteenth century. During the Middle Ages, in particular the outbreaks of 1350 (the Black Death), 1359–60 and 1368–69 appear to have been particularly devastating.2

  The plague obviously caused death and suffering, broken families and abandoned farms. In addition to these direct effects, there were social effects in the wake of the plague that added to the misery. Increased oppression and plundering by the landowning elite resulted in peasant resistance and revolts, and much of the late fourteenth century was characterised by social unrest and conflicts.3 It is easily understood that living conditions must have been hard, at least during the initial phase of the crisis. However, in a longer time perspective the picture gets more complex. Even though plague continued to haunt the population there were social changes during the fifteenth century that appear to have had positive effects on everyday life for many people. The peasant revolts eventually turned successful and together with the urgent shortage of labour they resulted in lower rents and higher wages. As a consequence, living standards of the large number of common people may have improved and consumption increased. Also the average agricultural production per head increased, because the smaller population after the Black Death concentrated to fertile areas, leaving less productive holdings to abandonment.4

  For the above reasons several authors have concluded that living conditions improved distinctly after the Black Death,5 but mortality was still high and it was not until the late fifteenth century or the early sixteenth century that population numbers started to increase again.6 Also the changes in living conditions may have affected social classes differently and there may also have been regional variation. Furthermore, improved living conditions due to population drop may have been confined to regions that suffered from high population density before the crisis. Hence, the picture is complicated and still very little is known about short-term and long-term effects of the crisis on the standard of living for common people.

  Living conditions in general are reflected in stature, and because archaeological excavations of medieval cemeteries all over Europe have resulted in the recovery of thousands of skeletons from different periods of the Middle Ages, there should be great possibilities to study living conditions before and after the Black Death. However, the numbers of Black Death cemeteries, used specifically for plague victims, are still very few and few studies have focused on health and living conditions before and after the Black Death. The most used material for this purpose is from the Black Death cemetery at East Smithfield in London.7 Other examples are the mass graves at Hereford, England, and Heiligen Geist, Germany.8 This study takes a closer look at the medieval skeleton material from Sweden. Medieval burial customs are examined and – based on a combination of cemeteries of different age and a chronological distinction within one specific cemetery – stature estimates from a large number of skeletons are used to investigate possible changes in health and living standards.9

  In addition to improved living conditions in general there may have been specific changes in diet that affected health and stature. Written sources together with pollen records indicate that the population drop was followed by changes in the agricultural system, in particular by an increase in the relative importance of animal husbandry.10 When there were fewer people left to cultivate the land, former fields were turned to meadows and pastures, and the production of meat and milk products in relation to cereals increased. A plausible consequence would be a change not only in production but also in consumption, with a larger intake of meat and dairy products.11 To test this hypothesis, stable-isotope composition of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) in teeth from medieval skeletons was examined. The material used comes from the Trintitatis cemetery in Lund, which spans 990–1536 and enables a comparison of different periods of the Middle Ages.12

  Another question that may be reflected in stable-isotope composition is the migration of people. Strontium-isotope analyses of medieval skeletons from the Trinitatis cemetery have been used in an attempt to trace possible migration into Lund in the wake of the plague. Written documents indicate that trade and craftsmanship flourished during the late-medieval crisis and even though the plague probably hit the town populations hard, newcomers may have filled vacancies.

  The written sources from Sweden concerning the period of the Black Death are few, but from the last plague of 1710–1713 sources are richer. The last section of this chapter leaves the osteological source material and takes a closer look at the church books from this last plague epidemic. The aim is to gain some clues on plague’s epidemic behaviour, how it spread from parish to parish, how it affected lowlands and uplands, and how long it took for population to recover.

  Where are the victims of the Black Death buried?

  When the Black Death swept through Europe people died in unprecedented numbers. Chroniclers from the time emphasise the high mortality, and modern historians who base their conclusions on a wide range of historical records give the same picture.13 Although opinions differ on the exact amount of the population decrease – estimates on a European level usually range between one-third and two-thirds – it i
s believed to have been the most significant population drop in Europe’s history.14 The Black Death – the first strike of the plague – was followed by several recurring outbreaks during the late fourteenth century and throughout the fifteenth century.15 Increased mortality was connected to all of them, but in most parts of Europe the first event appears to have been the most devastating.16 It ravaged Europe in 1347–51, but on a local scale the visit by the plague in any particular region or town usually lasted only a few months or weeks.17 These months must have been characterised by shock and sorrow but also by the practical problems of taking care of the dead.

  It is easy to imagine that the super mortality of the Black Death called for extraordinary measures, and in the popular mind the plague is much associated with mass graves – ‘plague pits.’ The historical records provide some glimpses of such measures. For instance, Pope Clement VI, who resided in Avignon, bought a piece of land near Our Lady of Miracles and inaugurated it as a cemetery for plague victims. And more drastically, he consecrated the River Rhone so that the dead bodies could be safely thrown into the river.18 In the ports of Spain dead bodies were thrown directly into the sea.19

  From Boccaccio’s Decameron – the most frequently cited eyewitness account on the Black Death – a vivid picture is obtained of how the high mortality of the plague affected the funeral customs of the city of Florence:20

  It had once been customary, as it is again nowadays, for the women relatives and neighbours of a dead man to assemble in his house in order to mourn in the company of the women who had been closest to him; moreover his kinsfolk would forgather in front of his house along with his neighbours and various other citizens, and there would be a contingent of priests, whose number varied according to the quality of the deceased; his body would be taken thence to the church in which he had wanted to be buried … But as the ferocity of the plague began to mount, this practice all but disappeared entirely and was replaced by different customs … it was rare for the bodies of the dead to be accompanied by more than ten or twelve neighbours to the church, nor were they borne on the shoulders of worthy and honest citizens, but by a kind of grave digging fraternity, …