Medieval Pension Crisis [30min]

Today we are faced with rising retirement ages, the collapse of final salary schemes and a government commission into how pensions can survive in the future. But in the middle of the 14th century, Britain faced an earlier crisis in paying for old age. The Black Death had left villages up and down the country bereft of young people. They had died of disease or fled to cities where they could find work, and were no longer at home to support their elderly parents. Jonathan Freedland goes to the village of High Easter in Essex, to trace the story of how one peasant widow came up with a solution to this problem -- and even fought a court battle with her own daughter to maintain her right to live in dignity and comfort. The result was, what can only be described as a "medieval pension" - and such was its success that it was emulated by other senior citizens in Essex and beyond. As historians and pension experts explain to Jonathan -- the parallels between the 14th century and today are striking.