As towns grew and trade routes bustled, they carried more than goods — the Black Death rode the same roads, wiping out a third of Europe. The medieval world was in motion, and that very motion spread both prosperity and catastrophe.
Cracks in the old order
As trade grew, towns swelled and a class of merchants rose who did not fit the old feudal pyramid. Then, in the 1300s, the Black Death swept across Europe and killed perhaps a third of its people. With so few workers left, survivors could demand better pay — and feudalism began to weaken.
Click the events from earliest to latest.
0/4 placed
Order key medieval events and see how trade, plague, and change lined up over time.
- Write down the Black Death as a starting event.
- List two direct effects (fewer workers, empty villages).
- Explain how fewer workers could give peasants more bargaining power.
- Connect that power to the slow decline of feudalism.
What you should see: You traced a chain of cause and effect from a plague to the end of an age.