Worker Power: How the Black Death Revolutionised Workers’ Rights

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Despite afflicting the world in a serious measure for less than a decade, the black death, also known as the plague, is both one of the deadliest diseases to ever set upon humankind, and likely the most famous.

Between 1348 and 1351, in just 3 years, it’s estimated that the black death reduced the population of England from 4.8 million to 2.6 million, down by roughly 46%.

With no vaccines, bloodletting as a common medicinal practice, and poor sanitary conditions, the fate for the rest of Europe was similar, with estimates of between a third and a half of the population being wiped out between 1348 and 1450.

Yet the black death didn’t kill gold, nor land, nor the wheat and crops that grew on the land (though it did kill the animals). The bubonic plague struck people down indiscriminately. Land still needed cultivation, work still needed doing, and a classic example of supply and demand was about to take place.

Here is everything you need to know about how the infamous black death plague wiped out much of Europe but gave its survivors a completely new world of social upheaval.

Scarce Labour

In just ten years, Europe’s established societal hierarchy was thrown into disarray, as labour became scarce and workers began to wield their power as a valuable resource.

Historian and plague expert DeWitte explains that, given less labour and more land, wealth, and food, the plague could easily be seen as “a benefit to the labouring classes”. Meanwhile, English accounts from the period clearly indicate that “such a shortage of workers ensued that the humble turned up their noses at employment, and could scarcely be persuaded to serve the eminent unless for triple wages”.

Freedom of Movement

Crucially, what was once a country of peasants locked to the land by serfdom under the feudal system was transformed. A lack of labour allowed those who were once serfs – labourers tied to a specific lord or manor, to leave for work and better pay elsewhere, knowing soundly that better pay was a near certainty.

Though generally despised by the peasantry for the additional powers it gave the wealthy over the peasants, serfdom was often voluntarily entered into for set periods. With less freedom typically came lower rents, more stable work, income, and food, and a life of less risk.

Free labourers often faced higher rents and less guaranteed income, yet with such a drastic reduction in the workforce, this risk-reward trade-off became much more attractive following the black death.

Landlords struggled to find tenants for their lands, and serfs were able to move around and market themselves to the highest bidder. Beyond just money, labourers also saw vast improvements to diet, with more fresh fish, meat, ale, and white bread.

Controlling the Poor

Though a return to serfdom was never particularly pursued by England’s ruling classes, almost all landed elite employed free labourers, and thus measures were swiftly taken to limit social upheaval and regain control of the labour market.

Just four years after the plague’s first wave, Parliament passed the Statute of Labourers in 1351, legally freezing wages at pre-plague levels and making it a criminal offence for workers to demand higher wages or for employers to pay them.

It also aimed to control the free movement of labour, allowing labourers who left their home villages in search of better conditions to be arrested and branded. Similarly, all able-bodied workers faced mandatory employment in an effort to better meet demand.

Results were mixed. In a rural, disconnected economy, labourers were often willing to risk the judgement of the law to leave for better pay, should they find a lord willing to bend the rules.

For example, court records from 1352 state “Edward le Taillour of Wootton, employee of the prior and convent of Bradenstoke … left his employment before the feast of St Nicholas [6 December] without permission or reasonable cause, contrary to statute,”, and similar issues lasted well into the 1300s, as in 1374 “John Fisshere, William Theker, William Furnes, John Dyker, Gilbert Chyld, Alan Tasker, Stephen Lang, John Hardlad, Cecilia Ka, Joan daughter of Henry Couper, Matillis de Ely, Alice wife of Simon Souter, all of Bardney, labourers, refused to work [for the Abbot of Bardney at the stipulated wages], and on the same day they left the town to get higher wages elsewhere, in contempt of the king and contrary to statute.” – Rosemary Horrox, ed., The Black Death

Lords who failed to bend the rules would often find themselves short several labourers, whatever the law might say. And a few cases of peasants leaving for better pay would not be the end of England (and Europe’s) social upheaval.

From Revolting Legislation to Open Revolts

Unhappy with Parliament’s new labour laws, specifically the recent 1380 Poll Tax but also the 1351 Statute of Labourers, a large peasant revolt began in 1381, known imaginatively as the Peasants’ Revolt.

Led by local figure Wat Tyler and the radical priest John Ball, tens of thousands of rebels took up arms in the regions of Kent and Essex, and marched directly on London with clear demands: the abolition of serfdom and the right to rent land freely.

The rebels successfully razed a London palace, forced the surrender of the Tower of London, and unceremoniously executed the two chief architects of the Poll Tax: Archbishop Simon of Sudbury and the treasurer, Sir Robert Hales, and brought the King to the negotiation table.

The following day after capturing London, the King, Richard II, and the Mayor of London met with the rebels’ leaders. Wat Tyler was quickly executed, but in order to disperse the remaining rebels, Richard II promised to meet the rebels’ demands for reform.

Of course, once the rebels dispersed, their remaining leaders were executed, and no reforms were enacted.

The Peasants’ Revolt did succeed, however, in preventing the unpopular Poll Tax, despite not facilitating any broader legal reform.

Meanwhile on the mainland, in 1358 the peasantry of northern France rioted, followed a decade later in 1378 when disenfranchised guild members revolted.

Long-Term Outcomes

There is no doubt that the short-term living conditions for England and Europe’s poor saw a dramatic increase following the Black Death plague. Labourers enjoyed a newfound sense of freedom, higher wages, and better diet, all spurred by their new in-demand status.

Yet in the long-term, did workers really enjoy a societal victory? It’s a mixed bag.

On the one hand, the plague had transformed Europe’s, and especially England’s, social classes. Serfdom was a thing of the past, and free labourers, for better or for worse, were the new building block of society. The government and the ruling elite would continue to enact legislation to control the peasantry, but it could be argued that this shift would indirectly allow for emancipation and other social change several hundred years down the line.

On the flip side, the wealthy, landed aristocracy remained well in control of the country, as shown by the swift removal of the Peasants’ Revolt. Beyond this, some have argued that the Black Death simply made the rich richer.

Historian Eleanor Russell explains that wills became highly specific, and the wealthy went to great lengths to ensure that their patrimony was no longer divided up after death, replacing the previous tendency to leave a third of all their resources to charity.

Podcast episodes about social changes caused by the black death

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