There is little doubt that the religious houses of the diocese suffered in a similar way. The abbots of Jervaux and Rievaulx, Welbeck and Roche, the priors of Thurgarton, and Shelford, of Monkbretton, of Marton, of Haltemprice and Ferriby, are only some few of the superiors of religious houses who died at this time. For one of the monasteries of the county, Meaux, there exists a special account in the chronicles of the house. [p153] Abbot Hugh, it says, "besides himself had in the convent 42 monks and seven lay brethren; and the said abbot Hugh, after having ruled the monastery nine years, eleven months and eleven days, died in the great plague which was in the year 1349, and 32 monks and lay brethren also died. "This pestilence so prevailed in our said monastery, as in other places, that in the month of August the abbot himself, 22 monks and six lay brethren died; of these, the abbot and five monks were lying unburied in one day, and the others died, so that when the plague ceased, out of the said 50 monks and lay brethren, only ten monks with no lay brethren were left. "And from this the rents and possessions of the monastery began to diminish, particularly as a greater part of our tenants in various places died, and the abbot, prior, cellarer, bursar, and other men of years, and officials dying left those, who remained alive after them, unacquainted with the property, possessions, and common goods of the monastery. The abbot died on 12th August, A.D. 1349."[283] In the Deanery of Holderness, in which Meaux Abbey was situated, there is evidence of great mortality. It is striking to observe how frequently the bailiffs and collectors of royal rents and taxes are changed. It is by no means uncommon to find an account rendered by the executors of executors to the original official.[284] This evidence as to the great extent of the mortality here as in other places of England, and as to the consequent distress, is borne out by the _Inquisitiones post mortem_ for the period. In one case, where the owner of the property had died on 28th July, 1349, it is said that 114 acres of pasture were let at 12d. a year, "and not more this year because of the mortality and dearth of men." At Cliffe, on the [p154] same estate, the rents of customary tenants and tenants at will are stated to have been usually worth £10 5s. a year; but in this special year they had produced only two shillings.[285] The chronicler of Meaux has described the disastrous consequences of the sickness in his own monastery. That this condition was not soon mended appears certain from the fact that in 1354 it was found necessary to hand over the abbey, "on account of its miserable condition," to a royal commission.[286]