Pandemics as a Disrupter


Women's Fashion in 14th C
Christine de Pizan. British Library . Harley 4431, f.259v.

The writing is on the wall! Thanks to the Graffito writer of Acle. His words  record the Plague that ran rampant through the population of Norfolk in the 14th Century - The Black Death. 
To get its meaning your Latin would need to be better than mine . Helpfully, Simon Knott provides a translation on his Norfolk Churches website: 

Oh lamentable death, how many dost thou cast into the pit!
Anon the infants fade away, and of the aged death makes an end.
Now these, now those, thou ravagest, O death on every side;
Those that wear horns or veils, fate spareth not.
Therefore, while in the world the brute beast plague rages hour by hour,
With prayer and with remembrance deplore death's deadliness.

The fashionable and literate lady in the illustration wears a horned veiled head dress.  

The Black Death was one of those great disrupters that mark the watersheds of history. Not so much causing change,  but a catalyst accelerating changes already afoot. Who foresaw women as writers and theologians? Who imagined Mother Julian would becoming trendy in 21stC?  

The shock and after shocks of the Black Death contributed to events as diverse as the Peasants' Revolt; and the loss of faith in sacraments and priestly ministry  that led to the Protestant Reformation. 

The words of  Rev'd John Ball's sermon at Blackheath, "When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then a gentleman?" ring down through the ages inspiring us still as we consider post-pandemic Britain.

 John Ball addresses Wat Tyler's Men
Jean Froissarts Chronicles : British Library manuscript "Royal 18 E. I f.165v" 

Hung drawn and quartered for his part in the revolt, Ball,  who ministered in Norwich for a while, paid the price for his actions.  Labelled a Lollard, he is a peg that does not fit neatly into a Protestant hole! He described himself as a "Sainte Marie priest of York." 
In my imaginary pantheon of radical Christian saints, Saint John Ball sits amicably sipping tea with Saint Fr. Tissa Balasuriya OMI.  Fr.Tissa's "Mary and Human Liberation" got him into hot water with the Bishop of Rome. After tea, I join them as they sing Magnificat (perhaps using the words of the very Protestant Timothy Dudley-Smith); and then we start out on the Walsingham Way

The present Covid 19 pandemic is another disrupter with the potential to be an historical watershed. Hopefully there will be room for change, radical Christianity and Our Lady in the day that is dawning. 

Sweet Liberties, 'Sing John Ball' by Sydney Carter,
performed at Cecil Sharp House, London on 28th November 2015.

                                                 
I'll crow like a cock, a carol like a lark
In the light that's coming In the morning

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