The emancipation of the peasantry was hastened, strangely
enough, as the result of perhaps the most terrible calamity that has ever
afflicted mankind. About the middle of the fourteenth century a pestilence of
Asiatic origin, now known to have been the bubonic plague, reached the West.
[24] The "Black Death" so called because among its symptoms were dark
patches all over the body, moved steadily across Europe. The way for its
ravages had been prepared by the unhealthful conditions of ventilation and
drainage in towns and cities. After attacking Greece, Sicily, Italy, Spain,
France, and Germany, the plague entered England in 1349 A.D. and within less
than two years swept away probably half the population of that country. The
mortality elsewhere was enormous, one estimate setting it as high as
twenty-five millions for all Europe.
[24] A similar plague devastated the Roman world during
the reign of Justinian.
EFFECTS OF THE "BLACK DEATH"
The pestilence in England, as in other countries, caused a
great scarcity of labor. For want of hands to bring in the harvest, crops
rotted on the ground, while sheep and cattle, with no one to care for them,
strayed through the deserted fields. The free peasants who survived demanded
and received higher wages. Even the serfs, whose labor was now more valued, found
themselves in a better position. The lord of a manor, in order to keep his
laborers, would often allow them to substitute money payments for personal
services. When the serfs got no concessions, they frequently took to flight and
hired themselves to the highest bidder.
