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Question 120

After the Black Death there were far fewer workers than before. What do historians commonly attribute to that shortage?

  1. Historians commonly hold that it drove wages down as peasants competed for the remaining land
  2. Historians commonly attribute to it higher wages, weaker labour dues and a decline of serfdom in some regionsCorrect answer
  3. Historians commonly hold that it ended serfdom everywhere in Europe within a single generation of the outbreak
  4. Historians commonly hold that the plague by itself brought the whole feudal order to an end

Explanation

With far fewer hands available, survivors could bargain for better terms, and lords in some regions had to offer pay or ease customary services in order to keep land in cultivation, which historians link with the weakening of unfree tenure there. The claim of a single generation across the whole continent fails because unfree status persisted in parts of Europe long afterwards and in some regions was tightened instead.

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