The legacy of the Black Death and back to war with France!
‘An Englishman’s home is his castle and Windsor was King Edward’s favoured abode!
And when Edward entered its newly refurbished portals, he positively glowed!
King Edward III looking suitably regal.
After the horrendous year of 1348, Edward concentrated his enormous energies into turning his birthplace, Windsor Castle into a sumptuous palace. No expense was spared as he moulded the old castle into a glittering royal residence replete with the very finest of furnishings. Its bold new edifice standing high across the horizon, it took the breath away from each and every visitor. Of course, Windsor was to be the headquarters of his newly established Order of the Garter, which held its first meeting there on St George’s Day, 1349. It was an occasion marked by great pageantry and joyful fanfare, which was in stark contrast with the mood in the rest of the country which was still suffering in the last throes of the Black Death.
St George slays the dragon.
One of the first Knights of the Garter was of course the king’s eldest son, Prince Edward.
Edward III inducts his son into the Order of the Garter.
‘Arise my dear son and noble knight, Prince Eddie!
At Crecy field you showed yourself to be a warrior, always at the ready!
The legacy of the Black Death.
The Black Death had resulted in so many deaths that there was now a severe shortage of manpower in the realm. Labourers found themselves in the enviable position of being able to ask for more money and better conditions from any employer, which was usually the lord of the manor.
‘You demand more money for doing exactly the same job!
Your intention is not to work, you have come here intending to rob!
If the lord refused to pay what they asked, the peasant could move elsewhere to seek higher earnings. The ruling classes were quick to respond to this unprecedented and most unwelcome set of circumstances. In 1349, parliament passed the Ordinance of Labourers, which stipulated that wages rates were not to exceed those that were paid prior to the onset of the plague. The Ordinance also forbade labourers from migrating from their locality in a quest for better paid work. This was followed by the passage of the Statute of Labourers in 1351 which reinforced the Act of 1349.
‘Do not leave your home for better employment to seek!
Stay where you are and behave in a manner most mild and meek!’
These laws had very little practical effect on either wage levels or worker mobility.
France.
England and France both had a common foe, the Black Death. It ravaged both countries, so on either side there was little appetite for war. In August 1350, King Philip VI died and his son, John, the Duke of Normandy became king of France as John II.
Out with the old! King Philip VI of France.
In with the new! John being crowned King of France in 1350..
There was now a lull in the hostilities between England and France as both sides sought to reach agreement. King John II made some suggestions of a conciliatory nature to Edward, but he was blocked by the virulent hatred that the French people had for the English. As a result, war broke out once again in 1355. It would be a conflict in which the king’s son Edward, later known as the Black Prince, would play a leading role.