16th Century English Economics

             Like Plato, almost 2000 years before him, Thomas More was not satisfied with the political and economic structure of the society that he lived in. More found that his society, 16th century England, was a corrupt society that favored the few and oppressed the many. More, like Plato who wrote the Republic, also wrote a political commentary about his time entitled "Utopia". In Utopia, More explains the relative idiocy of killing a thief for stealing when because of the economic situation of the time many peasants were driven from their homes by the rich landowners. Contributing factors to this consist of the "Black Death" of almost 150 years before and a change in agriculture leading to a rise in poverty as More illustrates in Utopia.
             The "Black Death" was a horrible plague that wiped out about two thirds of the population of Europe between the years of 1347-1350. The consequences that followed and the turmoil that affected most of Europe was not fully recovered from until about the sixteenth century. The "Black Death" swept through Europe killing millions of people. It wiped out towns, depopulated cities and left Europe in turmoil. The crops that were in the land died because no one was able to tend the fields and starvation was great during the next few years as food was scarce and the price rose because of it. One good thing that did occur was a rise in the wages of the working class people, namely the peasants.
             Such a great loss of people destroyed many small towns and villages and depopulated the cities. The lords consequently received more land when a tenant died without anyone to whom to pass the family farm. Looking for laborers to work the land proved to be a fairly large problem, because of the diminished labor force. Labor was difficult to find and what labor that could be found was more expensive. This was because the peasants realized that they were more in demand and therefore could charge more for their se...

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