In only one district in Norfolk have I found evidence of any
widespread lawlessness. Even there one hears of it only to hear of
vigorous grappling with the ruffians, who were not allowed to have it
all their own way.
The hundred of Depwade, lying to the south of Norwich, contains
twenty-three parishes; and at the time we are concerned with had very
few resident gentry of any consideration. Then, as now, the country
parsons were the most important people in the district, and the
benefices were above the average in value. In the summer and autumn,
at least fifteen of these clergymen fell victims to the plague; among
them the rector of Bunwell and the vicar of Tibenham, adjoining
parishes. The vicarage was a poor one; it was worth no one's holding;
the rectory had been held by William Banyard, a near relative of Sir
Robert Banyard, lord of the manor; the plague carried him off in
July, and his successor was instituted on the 25th of the month, but
does not seem to have come into residence immediately. There had been
a clean sweep of the old incumbents from all the parishes for miles
round; the poor people, left to themselves, became demoralized; there
seems to have been a general scramble, and for a while no redress
anywhere. It is recorded that the cattle roamed at will over the
standing corn with none to tend them, and that there had been none to
make the lord's hay; that among others who had died there were five
substantial men among the homagers on whose lands heriots of more or
less value were due; but no heriot was recoverable, inasmuch as since
the last court certain persons unknown had plundered all that could
be carried off--cattle and sheep and horses and goods, and there was
nothing to distrain upon but the bare lands and the bare walls.
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