Farm workers were so rare that they were able to demand wages at
double or triple the pre-plague rate. The pre-plague had been 4d.-
6d. daily for masons, carpenters, plasterers, and tilers and 3d.
for their laborers. These laborers could buy 12 cheap loaves, 3
gallons of ale, and a gallon of cheap wine or half a pair of
shoes. Prices did not go up nearly as much as wages. Villeins
relinquish their tenements, and deserted their manors, to get
better wages elsewhere. They became nomadic, roaming from place to
place, seeking day work for good wages where they could get it,
and resorting to thievery on the highways or beggary where they
could not. The Robin Hood legends were popular among them. In
them, Robin Hood is pure outlaw and does not contribute money to
the poor. Nor does he court Maid Marion.
They spread political songs among each other, such as: "To seek
silver to the King, I my seed sold; wherefore my land lieth fallow
and learneth to sleep. Since they fetched my fair cattle in my
fold; when I think of my old wealth, well nigh I weep. Thus
breedeth many beggars bold; and there wakeneth in the world dismay
and woe, for as good is death anon as so for to toil."
Groups of armed men took lands, manors, goods, and women by force.
The villeins agreed to assist each other in resisting by force
their lords' efforts to return them to servitude. A statute of
laborers passed in 1351 for wages to be set at the pre-plague
rates was ineffectual.
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