ABSTRACT
THE Black Death of 1349, followed as it was by the Secunda Pestis of 1361 and a third plague in 1367, profoundly affected the universities and schools. The foundation of new colleges was absolutely stopped. None were created at Cambridge between 1352, when Corpus Christi College was founded expressly to repair the ravages created by the plague of 1349, and 1439, when God's House (now Christ's College) was founded to restore the supply of grammar masters, to the failure of which was attributed the fact that scores of grammar schools had fallen into abeyance. At Oxford none were founded between Queen's in 1340 and New College in 1379. The flow of scholars was seriously diminished. Perhaps the most striking testimony to this are two appointments of masters of Lincoln and York Grammar Schools respectively. At Michaelmas, 1351, the Lincoln Chapter granted their Grammar School to John Muscham “on this wise, that if an M. A. should come and ask for the school he should be admitted, since by custom the keeping of the school belongs to an M.A.” On 9 June, 1368, the Chapter of York departed from the “ancient custom” of at least 150 years, of appointing for a term of three to five years only, and “because since the time of the past Death through the shortness of the time and on account of the rarity of M.A.'s, no master in arts has cared to teach the school”, they appointed John of York M.A. “until he obtains an ecclesiastical benefice”. The person appointed was still master in 1380, when he was admitted a freeman of the city.
