"The spread of a disease which, at its height, wiped out one in two people in London, one in three in the Eastern counties (the Black Death) put the finishing touch to the peasant revolt movement in 1352. ........It was about this time that the people began singing a song called The Cutty Wren. Several versions of this song have been collected, each with a different tune and a fairly different set of words." The Singing Englishman - A.L.Lloyd p7