1.What was causing people to leave Sandwich?
- Due to the Black Plague an extremely devastating pandemic of Bubonic plague that was peaking during the exact same era throughout all of Europe. The mortality rate was extremely high and it would end up killing a third of the population of Europe.
2. What are the two reasons listed in the document that explain why the government would want to keep the people in the town?
- The first is to avoid the spreading of the disease by the migration of infected individuals and/or groups. The second is to avoid the flight of capital and or people who were needed by the English realm in order to properly function.
3. Make a reasonable conclusion based on your knowledge from this unit and the reading and explain: What would be the long-term economic and social effects on Sandwich and England if people were allowed to leave?
- Had all people been allowed to leave, the whole town would have been deserted, probably never to be inhabited again. A good portion of its inhabitants might have fled to other parts of England, worsening the pandemic and the others would have gone to the France, were England was waging the Hundred Years’ War against the French. Since many of these people might have been infected, their presence in the English-controlled parts of France might worsen the already damaging pandemic and weaken the English war effort. For England the effect would have been overall destructive due to these reasons.
