The Aftermath of the Black Death in England: Edward III\u27s Economic Policies to Repress the Peasantry

The Black Death caused a mass mortality in England, drastically affecting society. However, it was the aftermath of the plague that had the greatest impacts. The loss of life removed pressure on the economy due to population density, which gave the peasants opportunities to improve their lives. But that was a short-lived phenomenon; the peasantry ultimately remained repressed, as they had been prior to the plague. Edward III meddled in the English economy in the wake of the Black Death by introducing price and wage regulations. These efforts were to maintain the status quo in English society so that the king could fulfill his personal political priorities. This paper analyzes the conditions of the peasantry in the wake of the plague and the role of the Crown in England’s post-Black Death economy leading to the continued repression of the peasantry