The Black Death

The worst effect of the Black Death was felt in the economy’s agricultural sector, which makes sense because at that time about 90% of the population made a living through agriculture. Before the plague, the large population kept wages from rising. Most peasants did not consider leaving their villages to find work somewhere else. After the plague, workers demanded higher wages and better working conditions. Many lords agreed to these demands, and those who didn’t soon found that other lords would. Wages in England rose from twelve to twenty—eight percent from the 1340s to the 1350s and twenty to forty percent from the 1340s to the 1360s. Lords began to realize they had less control over the peasants and began to change what they produced. Many workers were needed to grow and harvest grain, so some lords began to raise sheep instead. Raising sheep required fewer workers and there were more customers for the meat and for woolen clothing. Rise in income led to a rise in consumption, which led to an increased production.

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Over the years, the increase in wages was off-set by another effect of the plague. High mortality from the plague ensured that the supply of currency in gold and silver increased on a per—capita basis, which in turn inflated prices that did not subside in England until the mid—1370s and even later in many places on the continent. Inflation reduced the purchasing power of the wage laborers so significantly that, even with the higher wages, their earnings either afforded them no more or often substantially less than before the plague.