The plague struck at a time when society was in upheaval. The Catholic Church was losing importance as a guiding force in national politics. Eventually there was a break in the church resulting in two popes, one in Avignon and one in Rome; countries began "taking sides" in the split, further weakening church influences. The Hundred Years War for the throne of France brought new weapons and methods of fighting, and suddenly the "troops" of commoners were just as vital in battle as the nobles. Weather was changing, with colder winters and wetter summers, which affected crops and resulted in widespread famine in the early 14th century (BBC).
Beguin notes in "Post Plague Social, Economic, and Historical Characteristics of Chaucer’s Pilgrims" that before the plague struck, eighty percent of England's population consisted of laborers and tenant farmers, or family members of laborers and tenant farmers. As the population rapidly died off, there were fewer serfs to work the fields, tend the animals, and keep the manors and castles running. There were also fewer people of any class available to buy products such as grain and meat. Farms contracted in size, and those who were still alive to work them were now able to demand wages, cheaper rent, or better working conditions -- the law of supply and demand at work even in medieval times (Beguin).
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| Farmers Using Rakes, Forkes and Scythes, illustration from the "Book of Hours", 1410 |
Another aspect of the decreased population was that those who remained were able to take or use items left behind by the dead. One theory posits that the Franklin in Canterbury Tales may have so much land and wealth because he appropriated the land that was left behind by his neighbors (Beguin).
The Church continued to lose importance after the plague years. A good number of clergy members perished from disease, and those who were left were unable to answer the constant questions of "Why did God do this to us?" Their only answer was that the plague was a sign of God's anger at the sins and degradation on earth. People became disillusioned with Church teachings when they realized all their prayers, abstinence, pilgrimages, and pardons could not save them. Clergy members who deliberately avoided the sick during the plague and refused to offer Last Rites or comfort to grieving families may have survived the disease, but were looked upon with disdain by their parishioners (Beguin).
