_THE BLACK DEATH IN EAST ANGLIA._ (CONTINUED.)
When Bishop Bateman started on his journey upon the King's business,
in March 1349, he can scarcely have turned his back upon his diocese
without some misgivings as to what might happen during his absence.
In some parts of Norfolk a very grievous murrain had prevailed during
the previous year among the live stock in the farms, and though this
had almost disappeared, there was ample room for anxiety in the
outlook. If the plague had not yet been felt to any extent in East
Anglia, it might burst forth any day. London had been stricken
already, and there was no saying where it would next appear in its
most malignant form. It was hoped that the Bishop's mission would be
accomplished in a couple of months, and during his absence the charge
of the diocese was committed as usual to his officials, to one of
whom the palace at Norwich was assigned as a temporary residence.
The good ship, with the Bishop and his suite, had hardly got out of
the channel, when a storm other than that which sailors care for
burst upon town and village in East Anglia. The Bishop's official
found his hands full of work. In April he was called upon to
institute twenty-three parsons to livings that had fallen vacant.
This was bad enough as a beginning, but it was child's play to what
followed.
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