ed of skilled craftsman. Those serfs who decided to leave the fields entered these needed positions in the cities. In response of the need of serfs to attend the nobles land, the nobles refused to continue the long common practice of serfdom. Prior to the plague serfs could gradually buy their freedom, but the Black Death left killing serfdom and the whole feudal system. The Black Death was a catalyst promoting the economy. Since there was such a shortage of labor the guilds were opened. Guilds were an association of persons who had similar interests in a craft, business or profession. The purpose of the association is mutual aid and protection from others entering a particular profession and hurting those in the guild. The main factor in formulating guilds together was to foster the self-interest of its members. As soon as the population decreased, so did the membership and the power of the guilds. This left the market wide open and indeed many people were able to enter, which under normal circumstances would not have been able too. The drastic loss of population accounts for the hardest hit aspect of Europe after the plague. The hardest hit aspect of Europe preceding the plague was the economy. The economy, just preceding the plague became stagnant. Obviously, since there was such a decrease in the population this initially affected the number in the workforce. The plague caused a shortage of labor. This shock in the economy allowed many peasants to demand a restructuring of society. The biggest problem was that valuable artisan skills disappeared when large numbers of the working class died. Those who had skills soon become more valuable than the rich people restructuring society giving poor laborers more value and power. This value and power allowed the peasants, the poor, to demand for higher wages. These higher wages allowed people to have more money to spend on luxuries. This demand of luxuries resulted in ...
