Plague, Popular Memory, and Witness Testimonies in Late Medieval England

The role of plague in the popular memory of late medieval England has been contested by historians. Some have pointed to the seeming abundance of personal recollections of plague outbreaks, whilst others have noted a reluctance amongst witnesses to recall such memories. This article explores the ways in which contemporaries referred to plague outbreaks as both temporal markers and memory anchors. It then analyses a detailed case study of one court case to show how and why plague could come to dominate some witness testimonies. Popular memory in a community in the East Riding of Yorkshire in England coalesced around a series of disputed plague deaths, not necessarily because they left an indelible mark upon communal memory but because the mortuary dues of the deceased became contentious. This legal context explains how and why witnesses deployed their memories of plague and is thus instrumental in how we interpret such depositions.