The Effect Of The Black Plague On The Economic Situation Of England

Although the feudal system presented a mutually beneficial relationship at first, over time many burdens were placed on the vassals. A serf was bound to the land, thus resulting in a fixed income. Since he was unable to move to another lord, he was reliant on only what was originally agreed upon to provide monetary support. [Support was generally in kind, or in labor.] With no “right” to adjust the support needed for survival, the serf and his family experiences tremendous hardships.

To what extent can it be argued that economic factors was the most significant consequence of the Black Death?

Politics in Europe changed dramatically; Serfs began got higher pay, and feudalism weakened. In 14th century Europe, the government was run by feudalism.

These peasants were called Jacquerie meaning uprising or revolt in french since most of the attacks were at France. A speech by John Ball a priest who protested against on how the wealthy treated the poor, inspired many peasants in 1381 that the way the rich were poor were and this made them feel as if they were being used and started to revolt against the rich later that year at the end of May. A paragraph from Jean Froissart chronicles was about how the nobles destroyed destroyed a peasants village or a jacquerie village (what they called peasants at the time) were slaughtered and tortured including the women and children making the villagers enrage fought harder towards the wealthy lords and nobles has revenge for slaughtering one of their

Without compensation, they refused to work any longer. This caused the nobility to finally realize that with such a high demand for these workers, they had to pay them. In addition to their newfound freedom and pay, peasants could now purchase their own land (47). This was a major change in the system of feudalism. The world of the nobility was forever upturned (47).

King Edward III. Ordinance of Laborers. N.p.: n.p., 1349. Internet History Sourcebooks Project. Web. 10 Nov. 2015. King Edward III created the Ordinance of Laborers, aiming to discontinue paying wages to the laborers. This indicates labor shortages due to the Black Death. Also, it shows how societal roles and economy shifted during that period.

The Black Death The Black Death was a plague that ravaged Europe between the years 1346 and 1353. It swept away as much as one-third and possibly as much as 60% of the population in Europe. The plague had a significant factor on the societal and economical impacts on European society. While the plague had many negative effects of European society, not all were bad and it changed the way Europe worked for a while. It basically banished societal ladders and completely destroyed the economy and flipped it upside down.

The Great Plague was the worst outbreak outbreak in England since the black death in 1348. The plague caused swellings in the lymph nodes, headaches, vomiting, and fevers. There was a thirty percent chance of dying within two weeks. Treatments and prevention did not work at the time. London, England

Peasants did work, but they felt their value of their work was undervalued and they were getting paid an unfairly price even though they had worked strenuous hours each day in unsafe conditions. Subsequently, the peasants’ unhappiness with being paid an unfair price and having unsafe working conditions pushed them to demand an increase of wages and better working conditions. However, European rulers wanted no increase in wages which led to the creation of the Statute of Laborers in 1351. The Statute of Laborers forced peasants to work out of fear that if they disobeyed the statute then punishment will follow. Those who disobeyed or violated the statute were put in stocks and in some cases branded with the letter “F” on their foreheads. Eventually, the statute came to an end and wages did rise. John H. Munro with the University of Toronto states that “the daily wage rate during the 1330s rose from 3 dirhams to 5 dirhams and from 4 dirhams to 5 dirhams during the 1350s (Munro 346). Even in Maqrizi’s article is evidence of wage increases. The article states “the monthly salary of a groom rose from 30 dirhams to 80 dirhams (Maqrizi 473).” The demand for labor was so high that if lords could not raise a peasants’ wages then they enticed their peasants by offering freedom, food, clothes, land, ect. The article The Lives of Medieval Peasants by Saylor even prove this claim by

The Medieval Era was a time of knights and castles, royals and peasants, plague and famine, war and death. In the 1300’s a devastating plague swept across of most of Europe and Asia. It killed millions of people. Upon reaching Britain it killed over one-third the population.

The high middle ages from the eleventh to the fourteenth century saw the reemergence of urban life, the revival of long distance commerce, innovation, maturation of manorial agriculture, and a burgeoning population. Consequently, the fourteenth century spawned war, famine, disease and economic decay, leading to what many historians believe to be the end of the Middle Ages. Although there were many contributing factors such as famine, collapsing institutions and war. Many historians believe the arrival of the Black Death to England in 1348 was the final straw, and the most impactful agent of change in that area. In a letter to his brother, Petrarch wrote, “When has any such thing been even heard or seen; in what annals has it ever been

The Peasants Revolt - Peasants realised their worth and demanded changes. Charters were granted but ignored by nobles

Often medieval events seem primitive and distant, but the English Peasants’ Revolt during the summer of 1381 shared traits with many of today’s problems. Poor government, passionate leaders, and powerful momentum made the peasants a substantial force. Contemporaries of the revolt recorded it with a shared feeling of horror, while some modern men applaud the revolt for its ideals. Ultimately, for all its significance, the bloody revolt ended with little except a change in political atmosphere. The Peasants’ Revolt resulted from a great culmination of English issues, but despite the revolt’s relevant origins and catastrophic nature, the bloodshed and chaos ultimately brought little of value.

The past few months the plague has broken out throughout the city of London. Everyone is scared for their lives. My family and I stay secluded inside our tiny home praying that we would not become in contact with the plague.

The economic system of this era is termed feudalism. Feudalism is defined by conditioned holding of land by lords on some kind of service-tenure to the monarch. The lords were a noble class who supplied military service and council to the monarch. The lords' social status was determined by their land holdings. The lords' estates were farmed by compulsory labor, known as serfs. The lords maintained a great deal of control over the serfs. They dictated what, where and when to plant. They also operated as a judiciary force over the serfs (Hilton, pp. 34-36).