Black Death DBQ Essay

596 Words3 Pages
I. The biggest problem that the Black Death left behind was the lack of agricultural laborers. 50% of the population died on the first round, “a great part of the people, and especially of workmen and servants, late died of the pestilence”. (Ed III par 1, p.1) The majority of those who were claimed by the plague were peasants, which means there weren’t many low-class workers left to tend the farms in England. Without them the nobility would be faced with famine. Unfortunately for the barons, who needed workers, they decided to raise the wages that were paid before the plague to get workers on their farms and tend to them. The workers realizing that they were somewhat indispensible took advantage of the situation. They demanded extremely high…show more content…
Edward III’s attempt to solve the problems the Black Death left behind was by creating the Ordinance of Laborers. These requests were laws that demanded every man less than 60 years of age to work. Whether they liked it or not. “Every man and woman of our realm of England, of what condition he be, free or bond. Able in body, and within the age of threescore years…shall be bounden to serve him which so shall him require; and take only the wages, livery, meed, or salary, which were accustomed to be given” (Ed III par 2, p.1) To prevent the peasants from taking advantage of the situation, Edward III commanded them to accept the wages that were paid before the plague hit England, or else they’d be punished. Begging or acts of charity were prohibited because they were thought to encourage lazy behavior. Although Edward III’s Ordinance of Laborers was in a sense a good idea to keep the peasants and barons under control, in reality it didn’t work very well. People still asked for more money and the nobility paid what was asked for because they were in need of workers. Once the population rose and more workers became available the pay went down. Once again the peasants were forced to accept whatever their lords deemed fair. Another way King Edward tried to keep the peasants where they belonged was by not allowing them to sell goods that they did not already sell before the plague. Those who sold goods were to sell them at a reasonable price and not over price them because greed
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