The Influence of the Black Death on the English Monasteries

What it is

This is a dissertation written by Peter George Mode in 1916, submitted for a doctorate at the University of Chicago's Graduate Divinity School. It studies how English monasteries were affected by the 1348-1349 outbreak of plague.

Why it matters

Monasteries kept many of the records historians use to understand the Black Death's impact, including deaths among monks and changes to religious life. This work, written centuries after the pandemic, shows how later historians have used such records to piece together the disease's effects on institutions and daily religious practice.

Look closer

• Why might monasteries be a good place to look for evidence about the plague's effects?
• What kind of sources might the author have used to write this, so long after the events?
• What does the choice of topic suggest about what interested historians in 1916?