Plague and depopulation in Wales

Plague and depopulation in Wales is a turning point in the Count of Antwerp’s family story: an epidemic empties the country and destroys the household that had sheltered his son, yet the few survivors enable Perrot to rise from dependent exile to lordship and office.

The epidemic and its reach

A pestilential sickness reaches Wales after Perrot has grown in favour with the marshal who took him into his household. The account gives no symptoms or medical explanation for the Welsh outbreak; its emphasis is on the scale of loss and flight. Nearly half the population dies, while most of those who survive leave for other lands. The country consequently appears deserted.

The marshal’s household

The deaths extend through the marshal’s family and wider kin. The marshal, his wife, and their only son perish, along with many other brothers, nephews, and relatives. The household is nearly erased: its marshal’s daughter remains, as do Perrot and several other servants. The account’s stark contrast between the vanished family and this small remnant makes the epidemic not merely a public calamity but the event that determines who can inherit and govern the marshal’s estate.

Perrot’s marriage and advancement

After the mortality has somewhat abated, the marshal’s daughter, with the approval and counsel of the few surviving gentlemen of the country, takes Perrot as her husband. The decision rests on his worth and prowess. She makes him lord of the property that has come to her by inheritance, converting his place in the household from that of a dependent into that of its successor. The English king, having heard of the marshal’s death and knowing Perrot’s reputation, appoints him to the dead man’s office. Perrot thus succeeds to both the estate and the public position of the household that the plague has devastated.

Role in the family narrative

The Welsh epidemic reverses the apparent fortunes of the Count of Antwerp’s separated children. Their father had left them behind believing them lost; in Wales, the disaster that destroys Perrot’s protectors instead leaves him alive and able to inherit. The episode does not present the plague as a reward or as a judgment on any named person. Its narrative consequence is a severe, chance-driven transfer of family, property, and authority, establishing Perrot as a powerful figure before his father later discovers what has become of him.