Soon after Godwyn fled, Elfric died of the plague.

Caris was sorry for Alice, his widow, but aside from that she could hardly help rejoicing he was gone. He had bullied the weak and toadied to the strong, and the lies he had told at her trial almost get her hanged. The world was a better place without him. Even his building business would be better off run by his son-in-law, Harold Mason.
The parish guild elected Merthin as alderman in Elfric’s place. Merthin said it was like being made captain of a sinking ship.
As the deaths went on and on, and people buried their relatives, neighbours, friends, customers and employees, the constant horror seemed to brutalize many of them, until no violence or cruelty seemed shocking. People who thought they were about to die lost all restraint and followed their impulses regardless of the consequences.
Together, Merthin and Caris struggled to preserve something like normal life in Kingsbrige. The orphanage was the most successful part of Carir’s programme. The children were grateful for the security of the nunnery, after the ordeal of losing their parents to the plague. Taking care of them , and teaching them to read and sing hymns, brought out a long suppressed maternal instincts in some of the nuns. There was plenty of food with fewer people competing for the winter stores. And Kings bridge Priory was full of the sound of children.
In the town things were more difficult. There continued to be violent quarrels over the propriety of the dead. People just walked into empty houses and picked up whatever took their fancy. Children who had inherited money, or a warehouse full of cloth or corn, were sometimes adopted by unscrupulous neighbours greedy to get their hands on the legacy. The prospect of something for nothing brought out the worst in people.
From the book ‘World without end’ by Ken Follet

Hundreds of people came to marks Webber’s funeral

Hundreds of people came to marks Webber’s funeral. He had been one of the town’s leading citizens, but it was more than that. Poor weavers arrived from the surroundings villages, some of them having walked for hours. He had been unusually well loved, Merthin reflected. The combination of his giant’s body and his gentle temperament cast a spell.
It was a date a wet day, and the bared heads of rich and poor men were soaked as they stood around the grave. Cold rain mingled with hot tears on the faces of the mourners. Madge stood with her arms around the shoulders of her two younger sons, Dennis and Noah. They were flanked by the eldest son, John, and the daughter, Dora, who were both much taller than their mother, and looked as if they might be the parents of the three short people in the middle.
Merthin wondered grimly whether Madge or one of her children would be the next to die.
Six string men grunted with the effort of lowering the extra large coffin into the grave. Madge sobbed helplessly as the monks sang the last hymn. Then the gravediggers started to shovel the sodden earth back into the hole, ant the crowd began to disperse.
That afternoon, Elfric was re-elected alderman of the parish guild. After the meeting Merthin sought out Bill Watkin, the largest builder in town after Elric. ‘Once the foundations of the tower are repaired, it could be built even higher,’ he said.
‘No reason why not,’ Bill agreed. ‘But what would be the point?’
‘So that it could be seen from Mudeford Crossing. Many travellers – pilgrims. Merchants and so on – miss the road for Kingsbridge, and go on to Shiring. The town loses a lot of custom that way’.
From the book ‘World without end’ by Ken Follet