Palmer #5, The Black Death
The Black Death was an enormous setback to Medieval development and advancement; it provided some advantages to survivors but those were negated by other difficulties.
· The effect of the Black Death on the peasants
o In some cases wages were increased
§ “…and with landowners and urban employers decimated also, many of the poor could find no work…”
o When the upper classes tried to control wages and prices, many peasants revolted.
o Although the rebellions did not produce any immediate changes, it made it clear to the landowners that they had to offer more favorable terms such as lifetime tenure and fixed payment of sums of money.
o Due to these benefits, many peasant holdings became hereditary and a small class of peasant property owners began to emerge in many areas in Europe.
· The effect on the upper classes
o Peasants’ revolting resulted in the landowners’ granting better benefits.
o The kings were making greater demands on the upper class.
o “ These demands were resisted, or made subject to bargains by the representative bodies… so that the fourteenth century, and still more the fifteenth, has been called the ‘golden age’ of the medieval parliaments”
· The effect on royal governments
o Large numbers of their subject were killed by the plague
o Kings had to find a way to increase their income so it would be possible to employ armies of foot soldiers in the event of feudal resistance.
o They introduced new taxes to increase revenue.
· The effect on European population trends
o The Black Death killed enormous numbers of people alone
o Famines weakened the people and made the more susceptible to disease
o “The towns were especially vulnerable, because the contagion spread quickly through populations crowded within town walls.”
o The plague came and went sporadically, not allowing the population to increase over a long period of time.
Timothy Bulso
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