Editing Peasants' Revolt (section)

===Economics===
{{main|Consequences of the Black Death}}

The Peasants' Revolt was fed by the economic and social upheaval of the 14th century.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|pp=22–23}}</ref> At the start of the century, the majority of English people worked in the countryside economy that fed the country's towns and cities and supported an extensive international trade.<ref>{{harvnb|Rubin|2006|pp=1–3}}</ref> Across much of England, production was organised around [[Manorialism|manor]]s, controlled by local lords&nbsp;– including the [[gentry]] and the [[Religion in England|Church]]&nbsp;– and governed through a system of [[manorial court]]s.<ref>{{harvnb|Rubin|2006|p=2}}; {{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=14}}</ref> Some of the population were unfree [[serf]]s, who had to work on their lords' lands for a period each year, although the balance of free and unfree varied across England, and in the south-east serfdom was relatively rare.<ref>{{harvnb|Postan|1975|p=172}}</ref> Some serfs were born unfree and could not leave their manors to work elsewhere without the consent of the local lord; others accepted limitations on their freedom as part of the tenure agreement for their farmland.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=14}}; {{harvnb|Postan|1975|p=172}}</ref> Population growth led to pressure on the available agricultural land, increasing the power of local landowners.<ref>{{harvnb|Dyer|2009|p=249}}; {{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=15}}</ref>

In 1348 a plague known as the [[Black Death]] crossed from mainland Europe into England, rapidly killing an estimated 50 percent of the population.<ref>{{harvnb|Dyer|2009|pp=271–272}}</ref> After an initial period of economic shock, England began to adapt to the changed economic situation.<ref>{{harvnb|Dyer|2009|pp=273–274}}</ref> The death rate among the peasantry meant that suddenly land was relatively plentiful and labourers in much shorter supply.<ref>{{harvnb|Rubin|2006|p=65}}</ref> Labourers could charge more for their work and, in the consequent competition for labour, wages were driven sharply upwards.<ref>{{harvnb|Dyer|2009|p=278}}</ref> In turn, the profits of landowners were eroded.<ref>{{harvnb|Dyer|2000|pp=202–203}}</ref> The trading, commercial and financial networks in the towns disintegrated.<ref>{{harvnb|Butcher|1987|p=86}}</ref>

The authorities responded to the chaos by passing emergency legislation, the [[Ordinance of Labourers 1349|Ordinance of Labourers]] in 1349, and the [[Statute of Labourers 1351|Statute of Labourers]] in 1351.<ref>{{harvnb|Dyer|2009|p=282}}</ref> These attempted to fix wages at pre-plague levels, making it a crime to refuse work or to break an existing contract, imposing fines on those who transgressed.<ref>{{harvnb|Dyer|2009|p=282}}; {{harvnb|Rubin|2006|p=69}}</ref> The system was initially enforced through special [[Judicial officer|Justices]] of Labourers and then, from the 1360s onwards, through the normal [[Justice of the peace|Justices of the Peace]], typically members of the local gentry.<ref>{{harvnb|Dyer|2009|pp=282, 285}}</ref> Although in theory these laws applied to both labourers seeking higher wages and to employers tempted to outbid their competitors for workers, they were in practice applied only to labourers, and then in a rather arbitrary fashion.<ref>{{harvnb|Dyer|2009|pp=282–283}}</ref> The legislation was strengthened in 1361, with the penalties increased to include [[Human branding|branding]] and imprisonment.<ref>{{harvnb|Rubin|2006|p=69}}</ref> The royal government had not intervened in this way before, nor allied itself with the local landowners in quite such an obvious or unpopular way.<ref name="Dyer 2009 285">{{harvnb|Dyer|2009|p=285}}</ref>

Over the next few decades, economic opportunities increased for the English peasantry.<ref>{{harvnb|Rubin|2006|p=122}}</ref> Some labourers took up specialist jobs that would have previously been barred to them, and others moved from employer to employer, or became servants in richer households.<ref>{{harvnb|Dyer|2009|p=279}}; {{harvnb|Rubin|2006|pp=122–123}}</ref> These changes were keenly felt across the south-east of England, where the London market created a wide range of opportunities for farmers and artisans.<ref>{{harvnb|Dyer|2000|p=200}}</ref> Local lords had the right to prevent serfs from leaving their manors, but when serfs found themselves blocked in the manorial courts, many simply left to work illegally on manors elsewhere.<ref>{{harvnb|Rubin|2006|p=122}}; {{harvnb|Dyer|2009|p=278}}; {{harvnb|Postan|1975|p=172}}</ref> Wages continued to rise, and between the 1340s and the 1380s the purchasing power of rural labourers increased by around 40 percent.<ref>{{harvnb|Dyer|2009|p=279}}</ref> As the wealth of the lower classes increased, Parliament brought in [[Statute Concerning Diet and Apparel 1363|fresh laws in 1363]] to prevent them from consuming expensive goods formerly only affordable by the elite. These [[sumptuary law]]s proved unenforceable, but the wider labour laws continued to be firmly applied.<ref>{{harvnb|Dyer|2009|pp=283–284}}; {{harvnb|Jones|2010|p=16}}</ref>