ABSTRACT
Twenty years of war had very important consequences for Edward III’s subjects in England. The whole framework of their lives, their prosperity, the opportunities which could open for them, and their outlook, were all affected by the experience. Other factors too helped to make the period important in domestic history. The peers were acquiring new privileges, the commons in parliament a greater independence as a result of the part that they played in granting taxes. And in 1348 the Black Death struck England, with consequences which affected the lives of people at every social level. Its effects were in fact so far reaching that they will have to be dealt with in a separate chapter.
