The research that must have gone into this book is gobsmacking. The rich detail of who lived when and how they were related and when they died is a bit overwhelming. It is so dense and detailed it often seems like I am reading a George RR Martin book where there are too many characters to follow the plot. That is not to say that the book is not interesting. I might have liked a little more detail on how the Black Death impacted the many people covered in the book. I have always preferred my history with stories of people rather than cold facts and figures.

I did like how the first wave of Black Death follows its progress, county by county. It was no respecter of title or wealth but the book does seem to focus on people of means. Perhaps, they were the only ones that left some kind of evidence that they did exist. In the subsequent three further rounds, it spends less time in the details. The author does make a very interesting point at the end. Whilst we follow Chaucer and a number of others who made a mark, it begs the question how many others and to what degree might they too have contributed to society had they not been felled by the Black Death. It does cause one to ponder. Four purrs and one paw up.

This book is essentially a conglomeration of names, places, and dates of the victims and survivors of the Black Death in England. There’s no real story to it, so it’s best treated as a reference work.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

The Black Death, one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, ravaged England in the 14th century, leaving deep scars on the nation's social, economic, and cultural landscape.

Causes and Spread
- The Black Death was caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, transmitted through fleas on rodents.
- It arrived in England in June 1348 via a ship from Gascony that docked at Melcombe Regis in Dorset.
- The disease spread rapidly across the country, fueled by trade routes, poor sanitation, and overcrowding in towns and cities.

Impact
- *Death Toll*: Estimated 30-50% of England's population died, with some areas experiencing higher mortality rates. The clergy mortality rate was roughly 40-48%, and East Anglia's was around 65%.
- *Social and Economic Consequences*: The massive loss of life led to a severe labour shortage, which in turn drove up wages and contributed to the decline of the feudal system.
- *Cultural Impact*: The trauma of the plague influenced art, literature, and architecture, with many buildings and projects being halted or altered due to the shortage of labour.

Reactions to the Plague
- *Flagellants*: A group of people who whipped themselves to show their love for God, hoping to be spared from the plague.
- *Avoidance*: Some people tried to avoid infected areas or people, while others shut themselves in their homes to prevent infection.
- *Medicinal remedies*: Doctors used treatments like bloodletting and herbal remedies to try to cure the plague.
- *Spiritual remedies*: Many people turned to prayer, confession, and seeking forgiveness from God.

Notable Victims
- *Joan of England*: The daughter of King Edward III, who died in 1348 while on her way to marry Pedro of Castile in Spain.
- *Richard Rolle*: A popular religious author who died on September 30, 1349.

The plague recurred several times after the initial outbreak in 1348-1350. Some notable recurrences include:
- *1361*: A second outbreak occurred.
- *1369-1375*: Another outbreak took place.
- *1381*: Further cases of the plague were reported.
- *1665-1666*: The Great Plague of London, one of the last major outbreaks, killed an estimated 100,000 people.

I received an ARC for this book from Netgalley and the publisher in return for my honest review. The following opinion(s) are my own and hold no major spoilers.

The Black Death in England is a non-fiction piece about the plague years in 14th century England. I am a huge history nerd, especially when it comes to the Middle Ages-Renaissance so this book scratched my brain perfectly. The Black Death in England gives those who died their names back and tells the story of who they were before the plague that devastated the population. If you enjoy history and learning about those who lived through it, this is for you! Reading their stories helped me have a better understanding of what their lives were like before and during the plague.

I gave this book four stars not because I enjoyed it — I didn’t; to be honest I found it quite dry and a bit of a slog to read — but because I appreciate the book for what it is. The Black Plague swept through Europe over 600 years ago in a time where people didn’t tend to write in diaries, didn’t have social media, where the common people didn’t have a need or the ability to write about their day to day lives. At least, not for the common laborer, farmer, or tradesman.

This book doesn’t romanticize the situation or fictionalize them in an effort to bring these people to life, but instead gives names to some of the victims of the plague and gives readers a snapshot of families devastated by the loss of almost every member of their household as well as cousins, aunts and uncles, friends and inlaws. The amount of research is amazing, and the information covers much of England. It’s just … dry.

This is a book that will be more enjoyable for people who adore history, are interested in the Black Plague and English history in the 1350s because it does give you a look at the society of these towns and villages, of how interconnected people were; marriages, births, jobs, positions and rank … it’s all there. The writing is efficient, and it’s very informative, but for me, personally, I need a tighter focus on events than this book gives, a focus on individuals or a single town rather than an entire country. But that’s not the book’s problem; that’s just what I’m more comfortable reading.

This will be an excellent resource for someone. Just … not for me.

Thank you so much to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC!

While there is some analysis at the beginning pointing out how busy and bustling England in all sectors before the Black Death, for the most part this book comprises of raw data of all the names, places, wills, inheritances, occupations and dates of birth, marriage and death of the regular people of England.

Its impressive just how many people Warner traces in the record, considering how much this time period is dismissed as only recording the lives of royalty, but not much is done with all this raw data. Its mostly name after name, followed by when, exactly, during the Black Death that they died.

This is a Black Death book with a focus on the social history of the time period. I enjoyed that it went into specific peoples experiences during the time period, and felt like it added to my current knowledge. I'm always up for a new perspective on history, and this book ticked off that box for me. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

The story of the Black Death has been told in many ways, from the factual to the scientific. Here, Warner looks deeply at the personal effect of the pandemic on the ordinary people of England, the families wiped out and the changes to the social make-up of the country. It's a meticulously researched book, going into contemporary records and teasing out the true extent of the devastation that was wrought on the populace.

I admire the research that went into this book. The names of so many plague victims and survivors are staggering! The book is broken down into each region of England with the recorded deaths from the first pandemic in 1348 through each of the three later ones.

The only thing that dropped this book down to 3 stars was that it gets a bit tedious reading all the names of the dead one after the other. It made me start to skim the book, looking for “stories” or last names of people I know today, so I could make a connection with it. I think I was expecting more of a focus on a few families in each region, rather than names after names after names. However, that is what was recorded at the time, and I appreciate the author’s dedication to authenticity in honoring the dead.

Well researched, informative, and compelling. A good book that made me learn a lot
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

England in the fourteenth century was characterized by catastrophic loss of life due to the plague. Due to the time period and the sheer scale of the deaths, there is little account of the individuals, and the families impacted. However, while the publisher's description leads the reader to believe this will be a social history of plague victims, it is instead a reference text. The bulk of the book is composed of paragraph after paragraph of detailed birth and death dates and family connections of those that likely died due to the plague. This would be a great reference text for someone writing a history or even a novel of the plague, but it was not particularly enjoyable to read as a history, nor do I think it was necessarily intended to be sat and read straight through.

There were some interesting details gleaned from this book. I was fascinated by the range of names, many of which I had never heard before! These included last names like Cokheved, Merflet, and Stodeye but also first names like Avice, Pernel, Urry, and Gonnora. And others were, as the author says, "gloriously named" all around like Amflesia Mareschall.

It was also nice to see that pains were taken to look out for the many children left orphaned due to the plague: "the London authorities took swift and decisive action against people who tried to take advantage of vulnerable orphans, even before the terrible first pandemic was over." The courts worked to make sure orphans were placed in the custody of guardians and "orphans were never placed in the custody of complete strangers." The staggering level of loss is evident though in how tenuous some of the connections between child and guardian was. For example, one child named Agnes Stokwell lost her entire family, including "her parents, her four siblings, her and her uncle in 1349" and was placed with her late father's apprentice, someone who at least who have been known to her, but who was clearly not a relative.

The author's final notes do include some contemplation of how history would have been different had certain individuals not survived the plague. For instance, multiple relatives of Geoffrey Chaucer died but he was spared. How different the literary world would be had he not survived to write The Canterbury Tales! Similarly, if a young boy named Philip Dispenser had succumbed like multiple members of his family, his descendent Jane Seymour, the future mother of King Edward VI would never been born and the history of England would likely look very different. Of course, conversely, it also makes you wonder "how many great writers, thinkers, scholars and potential world-changers - or ancestors of world-changers - we perhaps lost to the Black Death."

It is difficult for me to rate this book. It is clearly well researched and technically sound. I do find the publisher's description misleading as I likely would not have picked this up had I known it was essentially a reference text/catalog of plague victims. However, I did learn a good deal and it was interesting to be given some insight into the ordinary people who suffered from this great loss of life rather than just prominent or royal individuals affected.

'The Black Death in England: Journal of the Plague Years' by Kathryn Warner is less of a usual book and more of a reference. The book starts by setting the scene before the first round of the Plague raged across Europe. Who were the ruling figures, what were they doing and who were their families., Then, chapter by chapter, we are exposed to names, ages and family trees of many of the individuals and families that met their demise.

In the introduction of the book itself, the goal is pretty clear:
"Journal of the Plague Years aims to give names to some of the people of England who died in the Black Death and those who lived through it, and to recreate a little of their lives wherever possible."

And this is exactly what the book succeeds in doing. I am honestly in awe at how much the author was able to gather about all those people. Who was married to whom? Who were their children? What happened to their loved ones after their passing? What about their wills? I honestly didn't expect all of these details.

While the information is presented in a factual manner, something about just giving names to all those people and realizing that once upon a time, they were real persons with dreams, hopes and full lives is heart-wrenching. The accounts shared are truly horrifying in their ... simplicity. Entire families vanished. Children lost all of their parents, siblings and relatives within days. Young daughters were wed off by the next surviving guardians to 'protect them' as others greed after their inheritance.

This is not a book you read for entertainment, nor is it a book to read casually. This is an ideal reference for anyone exploring the medieval times and the plagues. And it does so brilliantly.

Throughout history, pandemics have ravaged human populations and changed the course of history. None more so than the Bubonic Plague, also known as the Black Death. It devastated entire families and altered entire countries, primarily in Europe. Although England is an island nation, that does not mean it could not escape the pandemic's horrors for long. In her latest book, “The Black Death in England: Journal of the Plague Years in the Fourteenth Century, “ Kathryn Warner explores the lives of the victims of the Black Death throughout England during this century.

I would like to thank Pen and Sword Books and Net Galley for sending me a copy of this book. I haven’t read many books that focus primarily on the Black Death, so I was interested to see what kind of insights Warner would provide in this book.

Warner is known for her meticulous research, which she masterfully demonstrates in this book. Unlike other books about the Black Death, Warner chooses to focus on the individual stories of the victims and the survivors from every walk of life. Now this is a lot of information, especially when you consider how many waves of the plague hit England and the number of villages that were in England during this period. However, Warner breaks it down so each region gets its special section. Primarily, Warner explores the plague outbreak of 1349-1350, but she does explore other outbreaks.

The true highlight of this book is the fact that Warner focuses on the stories of the common people, not just the nobility or royalty, which are often highlighted in medieval history books. I think it was so fascinating to see how others dealt with the plague and how it affected their families and the nation as a whole.

Overall, I think this is a solid book for those who want to dive into the archives and explore the impact of the Black Death in England. It may be a difficult read for some and it might not be for casual readers, but if you want something more academic, I would suggest “The Black Death in England: Journal of the Plague Years in the Fourteenth Century” by Kathryn Warner.

Very informative and an enjoyable read, I liked that it helped put a human face to the tragedy, and helped with research for my current wip too.

Sadly this did not work for me. I found it very repetitive and it just didn’t hold my attention.

Although this didn’t work for me, it might for you.

I am such a history geek and the Black Death is a period in history that has fascinated me for such a long time. This was a really great non fiction read, insightful and intriguing

A wonderful historical reference book about the turbulent times of the Black Plague. The author definitely did her research. Well-written and detailed.

Thanks to Netgalley and Pen & Sword History for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is difficult to review for me, as I was expecting something completely different. The blurb let me to believe it would be more of an actual Journal of people surviving or not surviving the Black Plague in England and being an easy to digest non-fiction read.

What it really is, is more of a reference book. Giving names to the people that died in the pestilence and giving background, where the background was known. It also comes with some family trees and the chapters are divided by region. Kathryn Warner has definitely done her research and it is a book that will be interesting for those wanting to dive deep into this subject.

Now this was such an interesting read,
Even had my own little town in it which was amazing
I really enjoyed it and actually felt like I learned so much. Such a brilliant read love it

I’m basing my rating on a mix of the quality of this as a reference book and my enjoyment but only because I mistook this as a more read-through history book. If I knew what I was going into it likely would’ve been 5 stars because this many details of people from not only the 14th century but also from during a mess like the Black Death is amazing.

Definitely recommend for research!