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Frankly, I don't put too much stock in the theory that the Black Death broke feudal ties, I honestly think it had more to do with the inability of the lords to actually protect the serfs from invading armies which always seemed to be rampaging around. Nevertheless I have read where the relative scarcity of labor drove up wages which attracted serfs (who were theoretically bound to the land) to seek employment in the cities. Another factor is the rise of large kings like Edward the I who actually made laws weakening feudal ties. By weakening feudal ties, it actually made the English monarchy stronger since it wouldn't permit a vassal to ever get stronger (and thus be in a position to challenge the king for authority). Having watched a number of documenataries on this era recently I believe it was because there was a chronic shortage of labourers as most died off. The life of the surviving labourers etc improved a fair bit as they could pick and choose who they would work for and the only way a landowner could get his land worked was by paying a bit more than the others, or at least charging less rent to have the priveledge of working on their land !. At least this was the case in Britain. However it was short lived in the most part but did bring about some changes to the benefit of workers but I suggest you research further.

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16y ago

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