The Black Death Killed 1/3 of Europe's Population in 3-4 Years
Over the decade or so when the plaque was at its worst, spreading throughout Europe, it managed to kill more than twenty million people. This was a third of Europe's total population. As one would expect, this caused the social structure of Europe to quickly come to a grinding halt. Much of the lower and middle classes dissapeared, and entire towns and cities were simply wiped off the map. Europe's population didn't recover until around fifty years after the initial onslaught of the Plague. This huge change in population obviously caused major upheaval throughout Europe,
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The Black Death Led to the End of Feudalism
Before the Plague struck, Europe was controlled by the feudal system. In it, peasants and serfs, owed loyalty to the lord of their manor, which was a self-sustaining plantation, who then owed owed loyalty to more powerful lords, and monarchs. After the plaque happened, there simply weren't enough people to keep this system around. The manors were no longer self-sustaining, and many of the lords themselves died, further aggravating the problem.
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