A plague on feudalism
How the Black Death restructured western Europe’s social systems
Until the arrival of one of the most horrifying pandemics in history, the standard of living across much of western Europe had not improved markedly for centuries. The decline of the Roman empire had created a power vacuum filled by warring feudal states. Kings granted large tracts of land to allies in return for loyalty. These aristocratic clans then entered into similar relationships with vassals. At the bottom of the pyramid, lesser lords provided serfs with land to farm in return for a share of crops, free labour and military service.
The feudal system discouraged innovation. Lords spent any surplus on building castles and armies to defend themselves or attack others. Serfs grew a variety of crops on strips of land in different fields to minimise the risk that their whole harvest would be destroyed by disease, animals or extreme weather. Their standard of living had not improved since Roman days.
Then, in the mid-14th century, the Black Death struck. Historian Ole Benedictow estimates that plague killed over half of Europe’s population in five years. If just one pandemic hit, societies would have probably rebounded within a few generations. But the plague struck again and again over the next couple of centuries. In England, the population did not return to its preBlack Death level until the 18th century.
This demographic collapse plunged the feudal system into crisis. Serfs tried to take advantage of the new scarcity of agricultural labour to negotiate better terms. Lords resisted, because the marked fall in the number of serfs had already put a massive dent in their incomes. In England, parliament passed laws that tried to maintain serfs’ obligations as they had been before the Black Death. This caused widespread anger, which boiled over in the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt. The lords eventually gave in to pressure from below, and offered serfs improved conditions. By the mid-15th century, most English peasants had won their freedom.
Over time, as American economic historian Robert Brenner points out, a new system emerged in which lords rented out their land at market-determined rates. The majority of rural inhabitants were made landless, but the most entrepreneurial peasants became commercial farmers, adopting the latest technology and growing the most lucrative crops. Innovation and specialisation led to astonishing growth in output.
This transformed society. Farming was not only able to feed the rapidly growing urban population, but food became so plentiful and cheap that people had extra money to spend on things such as textiles and sugar, which in turn encouraged industrialisation at home and colonisation abroad.