Examkin

Question

Difficulty: HardThe Black Death and Social Change

The arrival of the Black Death in 1348 caused a massive demographic collapse, killing approximately one-third of the British population. This catastrophe created a severe labor shortage that fundamentally shifted the balance of power in medieval society. Which of the following best explains how this shortage directly contributed to the decline of the feudal system?

  1. The extreme scarcity of workers allowed surviving peasants to demand higher wages and move more freely, which eventually broke the rigid bonds that tied them to a specific lord's land.Answer
  2. B
    The land-owning nobility utilized the labor shortage to lower wages and increase the mandatory work hours of the remaining peasants, thereby strengthening the feudal hierarchy for several more centuries.
  3. C
    The plague in 1548 primarily affected the merchant classes in the cities, leading the rural nobility to seize control of all trade and consolidate their power over the peasantry.
  4. D
    The government successfully implemented a system where the Church assumed ownership of all farmland, ensuring that the labor shortage did not affect the traditional social order or the feudal rights of the monarchy.

Answer

The labor shortage allowed surviving peasants to demand higher wages and move more freely, which weakened the feudal system's control over them.
The correct answer identifies that the high demand for labor following the 1348 plague gave survivors the economic leverage to demand higher pay and move away from their lords, which directly undermined the feudal structure that required peasants to stay on specific lands.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the demographic impact of the 1348 plague.
About one-third of the population died, creating a massive void in the agricultural workforce.
Population loss is the primary driver of the subsequent economic changes.
2
Analyze the economic consequence of a labor shortage.
The demand for workers far exceeded the supply, making labor more valuable.
Economic laws of supply and demand apply to medieval labor markets.
3
Connect economic value to social mobility.
Peasants could demand higher wages or leave their current lords to find better conditions elsewhere.
Increased bargaining power allowed survivors to challenge the fixed nature of feudal serfdom.
4
Determine the impact on the feudal system.
The rigid structure of the feudal hierarchy, which relied on fixed labor and social stability, began to decline.
When peasants can negotiate and move, the core mechanism of feudalism (tying people to the land) fails.

Key Concept

The causal link between the 1348 labor shortage, increased peasant bargaining power, and the structural decline of feudalism.

Practice More

Review the 'Statute of Labourers (1351)' to understand how the government unsuccessfully tried to stop the social changes triggered by the Black Death.
Estimated Time:2m 0s
Rate this question

Topics

The Black Death and Social Change

More questions from this topic