With a death toll of eighteen percent, the higher clergy were able to conduct "business as usual," (Coulton, 496) but among the lower clergy, priests, monks and nuns, the pestilence took a very heavy toll. It is possible that the forty to fifty per-cent death rate in their ranks could be regarded as a praiseworthy sign that priest and monks did their duty by ministering to the sick and performing last rites. Could it be that they did not panic at the onslaught of plague? It has been suggested that this was not the case, or at best that clerks maintained their stations only out of fear while grudgingly performing their duties. (Ziegler, 261) This same line of reasoning also suggests that the closeness of monastic communities made them more susceptible to pneumonic plague. Whether the clergy was valiant or cowardly, or somewhere in between, the plague was an event boding ill for the international Church.

The Hundred Years War had already directed national sentiment against the papacy, which was centered in Avignon, and the pandemic further eroded confidence in the Church hierarchy. (McKisack, 273) There was a general feeling that to send funds to a pope in France was in some way aiding an enemy power. Concomitantly, inquiry into monastic houses that had been founded by foreign monasteries was undertaken. (Dickinson, 121) Though the Church officially sponsored processions and fasts, made petitions to saints and pleas to the deity, it was easy to see that such time honored customs were ineffective while plague was raging. Moreover, owing to the high mortality among the regular clergy--those who were supposed to be the epitome of virtue and the ministers of God--there was a growing laxity and anti-authoritarian sentiment developing in the ranks of the Church. There are indications that the high mortality among the beneficed clergy, necessitating replacement by less qualified and less respected men, led directly to attitudes which were ultimately responsible for the Reformation. (Coulton, 501-502)

The Church was the moral guardian of the "Age of Faith." Christian men and women of all stations depended on this institution for preservation and protection of their souls. Therefore, extraordinary measures were taken by the Church to sustain its function during the plague. Ralph of Shrewsbury, Bishop of Bath and Wells, who had taken refuge in his episcopal palace during the pandemic, struggled to maintain normalcy during the pestilence. He circulated this letter in January 1349. (Deaux, 119-120)

The implications of this letter are certainly astonishing. It may be observed, as a matter of course, that death rates among parish priests were extreme and conduct was mixed. Some heroically stuck to their parishes while others either grudgingly remained or else fled. The Black Death had created a crisis situation. Persons were dying without sacrament to preserve their souls, and the saving of souls was the Church's chief enterprise--man needed the Church. Yet, here, the bishop of Bath and Wells states that a professional mediator between them and God was unnecessary, as long as they received the sacrament. This appears noteworthy as precursing the Lollard heresy. (Coulton, 503-504)

The ranks of the clergy contained no greater propor-tion of saints or sinners than the ranks of the common man. Filling Church offices with the young or incompetent was not a practice which began with the plague, but it did intensify during the pestilence. It was also more difficult to find anyone to fill vacant positions. At least two monastic chroniclers decry the neglect of parishes at the time of the pestilence. Birchington of Canterbury states that there was a "scarcity and rarity" of priests, and that many of their rank had left their benefices because they feared for their lives. Dene of Rochester maintained that "in this plague many chap-lains and hired parish priests would not serve without exces-sive pay." (Ibid.) The bishop of Rochester commanded priests to remain at their stations at the same salary under pain of suspension and interdict. Due to the depopulation in various parishes, some priests simply deserted because they were unable to live on the decreased revenue. Langland relates: (4)

In 1350, the bishop of Hampshire decried the prevalence of absenteeism among parish priest which was endangering many souls. The archbishop of Canterbury declared that the plague had perverted the hearts of the clergy. (Coulton, 497-498)

The situation of the monastic houses and nunneries broadens the picture of the general laxity and disorganization resulting from the Black Death. Inquiries in the Diocese of York by Archbishop Thoresby revealed many interesting occurrences. (Thompson, York, 123-124) In Blyth Priory there were few monks, and those few lived careless and dissolute lives, failing to observe the rules of the order. Poor maintenance threatened Shelford Priory. At Monkbretton, the monks were disobedient and the prior vindictive. At Kirkham priory there was strife, dissension and scandal. Hampole nunnery was in the same state as Shelford. At the Priory of Newburgh, besides being poverty-stricken, there were accusations of "certain things hidden therein, which, if they be true, call for the due chastisement of correction." (Ibid.)

An interesting situation occurred at the Abbey of Eynsham which further illustrates the dire straits of monastic orders in the face of plague (Adam of Eynsham, xxiv-xxvi). In 1338, Nicholas de Upton was elected Abbot of Eynsham. In 1344, Nicholas was deposed and William de Staunford elected in his place. In 1345, the pope, acting on appeal from five monks who had traveled to Rome to petition him, wrote the bishop of Lincoln asking that the monks who had been bodily thrown out of Eynsham by Nicholas be lodged in any other monastic house which could offer food and lodging. Nicholas returned to the abbey, subsequently, with 1500 armed men and ousted Abbot William. The pope, upon being informed of the matter of the competing abbots, granted petitions to some members of the order to live at different abbeys. The bishop who had deposed Nicholas died, leaving him in charge of Eynsham. The next word of Nicholas came in 1348, when inquiry was being made because some persons had laid "violent hands" on him. At first, Nicholas was not restored to all the powers of abbot, but the Black Death intervened. The trustees of the abbey were reported to be dying of the plague on 13 May 1349, and new trustees appointed. Four days later the bishop reported that the new set of trustees had "gone the way of all flesh" and that Abbot Nicholas, although he had been suspended from management and care of the spiritual and temporal property, was to be in charge until he could personally visit the abbey.

Disturbances like the aforementioned in parishes and abbeys set a very bad example for the masses. This does not mean that many beneficed clergy were not actively doing a good job, it means many men who served God were actively engaged it activities not befitting their station. Clerics could have stood a better chance of survival during the plague than laymen, had they isolated themselves from the populace, but this does not seem to have been the case. In fact, the plague took a disproportionate toll among the more educated and devoted. This destroyed a needed force within the fabric of the faith, which could have been relied upon to counter heresy and other anti-authoritarian movements. (Ziegler, 262)

The common people did not revert to paganism as in Bede's time, but did look to means which were outside the accepted norm. There was a growth in Satan worship and a reversion to magic. (Nohl, 163) The intoning of words like "abracadabra" was felt to be of value in self preservation. (Ibid., 190) Amulets were worn and potions prescribed to protect a person from plague. (Chamberlin, 9) Some felt that the only way to escape the plague was to live profligate and unfettered lives. Once such group in Germany was the "Brethren of the Free Mind" which openly professed free love, sodomy and homosexuality. (Nohl, 208-209) The Brethren were said to have engaged in orgies rather than church functions.

The most notable of the anti-authoritarian groups were the "Flagellants, " who made their way to England at Michalmas 1349. (Robert of Avesbury, 407-408) The "Brotherhood of the Flagellants" or "Brethren of the Cross," also began in Germany. They traveled in long winding processions, two abreast, from city to city. (Nohl, 227) The Brethren of the Cross was a predominantly lay organization since clerics were banned from its higher echelons. (Ibid., 235) Flagellants wore dark cowered robes with felt hats pulled over their eyes. Their robes and hats were emblazoned front and back with red crosses. (Ziegler, 89) When word reached a town that the Brethren were coming, the inhabitants would gather to await their entry. In some cases the parish priest took part in their ceremonies, but most dropped out of sight for the duration. Interference by parish priests often brought threats of physical assault from the parishioners . (Ibid.) Citizens were shown a copy of a fantastic letter--said to have been written by Jesus Christ--which had fallen from heaven. (Nohl, 231-233) It outlined a frightening plan for the destruction of humanity that was supposedly conceived by God for man's punishment. Persons were told they could escape punishment by following the example set by the flagellants. (Chamberlin, 86-97)

Their ceremonies began to further unfold after they had entered the parish church. There they would divest themselves of all their garments, except those about their loins. The flagellants would then march singing into the churchyard. During their litany, they flailed themselves with triple scourges. (Nohl, 228) As blood surfaced and ran down over their ankles they sang in this manner: (Ibid.)

They then knelt and lay down on the ground, stretching their arms out in a cruciform manner. They remained on the ground while each one assumed a position which indicated the nature of the sin that he or she had committed (Ibid.). After saying several prayers, the company scourged one another while the leader spoke: (Ibid. 229)

The ceremony, not yet over, continued in the same brutal manner, and underlined the piety of those in the Brotherhood. The sincerity with which these confessed sin-ners receiver their punishment attracted many to their ranks while their anti-establishment attitude served to alienate the Church. (Ziegler, 92-93) The Flagellants were not allowed to accept any comforts or aids from the populace, and slept on straw with only a small blanket for cover. They could not purchase goods, bathe, shave or wash their head without leave of their master. Each carried his own money and did not seek alms. (Nohl, 233) These attributes greatly impressed the people. The Flagellant movement was a self-help enterprise, which offered some tangible answer to the depredations of the plague. It was when they appeared to usurp the power of the Church that condemnation came from the Holy See, since Flagellants were said to be defiant of the efficacy of the sacraments. (Ziegler, 93)

Besides alienating the Church, the Flagellant move-ment produced more sinister mutations. They were often the focus of mass persecutions of Jews. Furthermore, due to dis-ease in their ranks, they aided in the spread of the plague (Hirst, 18). On 30 October 1349, Pope Clement VI issued a bull that con-demned the group. The issuance of this bull, combined with the high death rate among their higher ranks, proved to be the doom of the organization. (Ziegler, 95)

The plague had drawn suspicion and lack of respect to the Church from the ranks of those it was supposed to have been established to care for. The image of the Church as a force for good, once seriously questioned, did not recover from the shock. The age was changing and organized religion would have to change with it to survive.