1349
The year the Black Death swept across England.
1349 CE
The Plague in the Bishop of Rochester’s Household
William Dene (attributed), History of the Church of Rochester, printed in Henry Wharton’s Anglia Sacra (1691) · soon after the events of 1348–1349
In hac pestilentiâ plures Capellani & stipendiarii Curati noluerunt sine excessivo salario deservire. Hos Episcopus Roffensis dato ad Archidiaconum Roff. mandato anno MCCCXLIX. die xxvii. Junii, sub poenâ suspensionis & interdicti jussit eisdem stipendiis deservire.
During this pestilence many chaplains and hired parish priests refused to serve unless they were paid far too much. On June 27, 1349, the Bishop of Rochester sent an order to the Archdeacon of Rochester. It commanded these priests to serve for the same pay as before, on pain of suspension and interdict.