{"title":"The Black Death Investigations","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"the-price-of-survival-digital-download","title":"The Price of Survival: The Impact of the Black Death","description":"\u003ch2\u003eThe survivors did not get to rest.\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen the Black Death left England in 1349, it had killed somewhere between a third and a half of the population. The chroniclers recorded the dead. The physicians recorded the symptoms. What history has been slower to examine is what happened next: who held power over the survivors, how they used it, and why, within a single generation, the people who had rebuilt England rose up and burned London.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Price of Survival: The Impact of the Black Death\u003c\/em\u003e is a fully argued historical investigation into the thirty years that connected the plague to the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. It does not stop at the medical history. It begins where the medical history ends.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat this guide investigates\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Black Death did not simply thin the population. It destabilised every system built to control ordinary people: the labour market, the legal codes that kept the poor in their place, the feudal obligations that bound tenant to lord. For a brief moment, survivors had leverage. \u003cem\u003eThe Price of Survival\u003c\/em\u003e examines what the ruling class did with that moment, and what the labouring class did when they realised the old order intended to snap back.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe guide moves through the key figures, turning points, and structural forces of this thirty-year period:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe immediate aftermath of 1349 and the labour crisis that followed mass death\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Statute of Labourers and the legal attempt to freeze wages in a world where workers were suddenly scarce\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe men who enforced it, the men who evaded it, and the tensions that accumulated over decades\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe figures at the centre of 1381: Wat Tyler, John Ball, and Thomas Baker of Fobbing\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Peasants' Revolt itself: not as a sudden eruption, but as the logical conclusion of thirty years of pressure building on a system that refused to change\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eWritten to a standard you can reference\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is not a content article padded to fill a screen. \u003cem\u003eThe Price of Survival\u003c\/em\u003e is a fully argued historical booklet, written by Simon A. Williams, author of \u003cem\u003eThe Truth Behind Welsh Myths and Legends\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe Pendle Witch Conspiracy\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eNo Law for the Poor: Justice and Power in Medieval England and Wales\u003c\/em\u003e, to the same standard as his published books. It carries a full bibliography with primary and secondary sources. Every claim can be checked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you have read \u003cem\u003eNo Law for the Poor\u003c\/em\u003e, this guide belongs alongside it. It covers the same world from a different angle: not the architecture of medieval law, but what happened when that architecture failed to hold. It also sits alongside \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/historiesandcastles.com\/products\/the-labour-machine-survivors-of-the-black-death\"\u003eThe Labour Machine\u003c\/a\u003e, which takes the Statute of Labourers itself and shows exactly how it was built and who built it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eWho reads this\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStudents preparing for A-level or undergraduate modules on medieval England will find this guide a clear, authoritative companion to the primary source material. History readers who want more than a surface account of the plague will find an argument with evidence behind it. Anyone who has ever asked what the Black Death actually changed for the people who survived it will find an answer here that holds up under scrutiny.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eInstant download. Yours to keep.\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePurchase once and the file is yours. No subscription, no expiry date. Read it in your browser, on a tablet, or print it for desk use. At £4.99, it costs less than most single journal articles and covers the period in considerably more depth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eRead the history the textbooks rush past.\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThis is a digital product. No physical item will be shipped.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat you receive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA PDF download, delivered instantly to your email address upon purchase. Compatible with all devices and PDF readers. Print-ready if you prefer a physical copy for desk use.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eFormat\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFully formatted historical booklet with in-text references and a complete bibliography. Primary and secondary sources included.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eLicence\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSingle-user licence. For personal and educational use. Not for redistribution or commercial reproduction.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eAuthor\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSimon A. Williams. Published historian and Editor-in-Chief of \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/historiesandcastles.com\"\u003eHistories and Castles\u003c\/a\u003e. Author of \u003cem\u003eThe Truth Behind Welsh Myths and Legends\u003c\/em\u003e (2025), \u003cem\u003eThe Pendle Witch Conspiracy\u003c\/em\u003e (2025), and \u003cem\u003eNo Law for the Poor: Justice and Power in Medieval England and Wales\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Histories and Castles","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57779894354252,"sku":null,"price":4.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1028\/3869\/8316\/files\/The_Price_of_Survival.jpg?v=1782381603"},{"product_id":"the-labour-machine-survivors-of-the-black-death","title":"The Labour Machine: Survivors of The Black Death","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhen half the workforce died overnight, who decided the survivors were not allowed to profit from it?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe history books are careful about the Black Death. They record the death toll, the breakdown of the feudal order, the moment when ordinary workers found themselves, for the first time in centuries, with something resembling economic leverage. They call it a turning point.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat they tend not to linger on is the other half of the story: within three weeks of the plague's peak, the English governing class had already drafted a law to reverse what God had apparently permitted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Ordinance of Labourers was issued on 18 June 1349. The plague was still killing people. The fields were not yet cold.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis is not a history of the Black Death. It is a history of what the ruling class did the moment they realised the Black Death had shifted the balance of power.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Labour Machine\u003c\/em\u003e is a standalone investigation into the Statute of Labourers: who built it, how it worked, and why it produced the Peasants' Revolt thirty years later. Written by published historian Simon A. Williams, it follows the lawyers who drafted the legislation, the manorial lords who enforced it, the labourers prosecuted under it, and the judges who collected fines from the very people they had helped to impoverish.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat this guide investigates\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAct 1\u003c\/strong\u003e examines what happened in the fields of Suffolk in the summer of 1349, and how the preamble to the Ordinance recast rational economic behaviour as moral failure, casting workers who demanded fair wages as idle and greedy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAct 2\u003c\/strong\u003e analyses the machinery itself: the Justices of Labourers, the new judicial office created specifically to enforce the statute, the manorial court as an enforcement instrument, and the fine structure that was theoretically symmetrical but operated in one direction in practice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAct 3\u003c\/strong\u003e puts named individuals inside the machine: William of Shareshull, the Chief Justice of the King's Bench who drafted the legislation and then enforced it while holding personal landholdings; the women who appear in the prosecution rolls as categories rather than people; the lords who paid above the cap, and the way enforcement fell unevenly according to power; and John Ball, the priest whose eight-word question at Blackheath compressed thirty years of the machine's operation into a single accusation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAct 4\u003c\/strong\u003e examines the record itself: who produced it, in whose interest, and what its construction reveals about the system it documents. It includes a comparative account of France's response to the same demographic crisis, and what that comparison removes from the English case.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAct 5\u003c\/strong\u003e draws the lesson forward: the Statute of Labourers as a template, not an anomaly, for how a governing class responds when a crisis hands economic leverage to the people at the bottom of the social order.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eWritten to a standard you can reference\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is not a content article padded to fill a screen. \u003cem\u003eThe Labour Machine\u003c\/em\u003e is a fully argued historical booklet, written by Simon A. Williams, author of \u003cem\u003eThe Truth Behind Welsh Myths and Legends\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe Pendle Witch Conspiracy\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eNo Law for the Poor: Justice and Power in Medieval England and Wales\u003c\/em\u003e, to the same standard as his published books.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe investigation is grounded in the foundational scholarship of Bertha Putnam, the most recent reassessment by Mark Bailey (Economic History Review, 2025), and the primary statutory and parliamentary record. It is fully footnoted, with a complete bibliography covering primary sources, academic monographs, and contemporary comparative scholarship. Every claim can be checked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you have read \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/historiesandcastles.com\/products\/the-price-of-survival-digital-download\"\u003eThe Price of Survival\u003c\/a\u003e, this guide belongs alongside it. That investigation traces the thirty years from the plague to the Peasants' Revolt; this one takes the single law at the centre of those years and shows you exactly how it was built and who built it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eWho reads this\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStudents preparing for A-level or undergraduate modules on medieval England, the Black Death, or the Peasants' Revolt will find this guide a clear, authoritative companion to the primary source material. History readers who want more than a surface account of 1349 will find an argument with evidence behind it, the kind that explains not just what the Statute of Labourers said, but why it was written and what it reveals about power.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eInstant download. Yours to keep.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePurchase once and the file is yours. No subscription, no expiry date. Read it in your browser, on a tablet, or print it for desk use. At £4.99, it costs less than most single journal articles and covers the law in considerably more depth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRead the history the standard account leaves out.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot what the plague did. What the law did, to whom, and why. This is the investigation that follows the machine.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThis is a digital product. No physical item will be shipped.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat you receive\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA PDF download, delivered instantly to your email address upon purchase. Compatible with all devices and PDF readers. Print-ready if you prefer a physical copy for desk use.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFormat\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFully formatted historical booklet with in-text references and a complete bibliography. Primary and secondary sources included.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLicence\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSingle-user licence. For personal and educational use. Not for redistribution or commercial reproduction.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSimon A. Williams. Published historian and Editor-in-Chief of \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/historiesandcastles.com\"\u003eHistories and Castles\u003c\/a\u003e. Author of \u003cem\u003eThe Truth Behind Welsh Myths and Legends\u003c\/em\u003e (2025), \u003cem\u003eThe Pendle Witch Conspiracy\u003c\/em\u003e (2025), and \u003cem\u003eNo Law for the Poor: Justice and Power in Medieval England and Wales\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eOther titles in the Investigated Histories series: The Pendle Machine (Pendle Witch Trials, Lancashire 1612) and The Price of Survival: The Impact of the Black Death.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Histories and Castles","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57783918199116,"sku":null,"price":4.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1028\/3869\/8316\/files\/The_Labour_Machine_13bb7e6b-1d2b-4551-9d28-fbbcb7d2a7dd.jpg?v=1782378913"}],"url":"https:\/\/historiesandcastles.com\/collections\/the-black-death-investigations.oembed","provider":"Histories and Castles","version":"1.0","type":"link"}