Mortality in the Fifteenth Century: Some New Evidence

An analysis of mortality in medieval England is presented using data from the records of the Benedictine priory of Christ Church Canterbury for the period 1395-1505. The data are sufficiently complete to allow the calculation of death rates the construction of life tables and the analysis of the incidence of epidemic disease. Mortality was extremely high with frequent crises; death-rates rose above 60 per thousand on 8 occasions. Overall the mortality experience of the monks lay close to West level 3 of the Princeton Model Life Table series where expectation of life at birth is put at less than 23 years. (EXCERPT)