The Bubonic Plague And The Hundred Years War

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The decline of feudalism was a period of time where three events affected feudalism in such a way that it became non-existent. Feudalism is a system, which is a hierarchy that has kings, lords, knights, and peasants as well as servants. The decline of feudalism was a huge time at the end of the middle ages, where there were events that made the king's power decrease, and the servants amount of power increase. This happened because of huge events, called the Magna Carta, the Bubonic Plague, and The Hundred Years War. These all lead to the fall of a hierarchy called feudalism.

First off, feudalism declined because of the document of rights called the Magna Carta. This paper gave rights to the barons, and was signed by King John after he was almost killed by doing it. To get him to sign it, the land barons and others tried to destroy the castles, tried to interrogate him, and force him into signing it. Once he signed it, he granted the rights to the barons. In the …show more content…

It was a horrible disease that swept through cities, killing off rich and poor. It was estimated that 1/3 of Europe's population was killed by this virus. It was mostly killing off the lower ranked people, who were the servants and helpers. Since the servants didn't have a luxurious lifestyle to keep them safe, they died easier so more of the helpers died than the rich. This somehow impacted the higher ranked people because their servants were dying off, so they found their helpers more valuable. This, however, made the servants demand more, so they took advantage of it. In this article, it states: ¨..such a lack of servants and helpers that there was no one who knew what he ought to do¨ (Knighton). This shows that people who owned servants didn't know what to do, so then servants gained more power. Therefore, it shows how so many people died, and many towns were abandoned because of it and the population for feudalism decreased