How Did The Black Death Contribute To The Positive And Negative Changes In Medieval Society

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The Black Death caused many positive and negative changes in medieval society.

Since the Black Death caused such a vast amount of humans to die in a short period, there was a large surplus of food however a shortage of peasants to work the land. This labour shortage meant that serfs were no longer tied to the land and could leave to find higher wages, as said in Chronicle of the Black Death 'such a shortage of workers... scarcely be persuaded to serve the eminent unless for triple wages'.

Secondly, because of the upwards mobility and lack of structure that came from the Black Death and the fact that serfs could ask for more pay, feudalism became a lot less prominent in many places and was eventually replaced with other systems, such as capitalism. There were attempts by the rich to put the peasants back in their previous condition however it was unsuccessful and multiple revolts happened as a result. The peasants still struggled but they could now live better lives and there was less authority over them. …show more content…

Many started to question the church and they started doing things that were seen as sinful, such as drinking, laughing and dancing all day despite death being all around them.

To sum up everything that has been stated, the Black Death brought many positive and negative changes to medieval Europe that would end up in the downfall of the feudal system and changing the way society worked.

Bibliography:

Armstrong, D. (2021). How the Black Death Devastated the Church. [online] Wondrium Daily. Available at: https://www.wondriumdaily.com/how-the-black-death-devastated-the-church/ [Accessed 27 May