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How the Plague helped workers
Maybe COVID will do the same
The Black Death had a devastating impact on Europe. It hit the continent in the middle of the 14th century, being brought from Asia via ships that docked in the Sicilian port of Messina in 1347. When workers boarded these ships, they found the sailors dead and dying, with their bodies covered in the pus and blood oozing “buboes” for which the disease is named. Authorities acted quickly, but it was already too late.
Over the next 5 years, an estimated third of Europe’s population died.
The working classes were particular vulnerable to the ravages of the plague, as they were often malnourished.
Prior to the Black Death, Europe was a feudal society. There was a firm hierarchy and power was in the hands of the few at the top of the social pyramid — the aristocracy and the clergy having the lion’s share, with a small amount ceded to wealthy merchants. While the workers at the base of the pyramid provided most of the productive labor that fed, clothed, and cared for the rest, they had few rights and were badly treated. They were exploited, forced to work, and often starved.
So while the plague hit all of society, its impact disparately affected the peasantry. While this took an enormous human toll, there was a silver lining.
