Explain the causes and effects of rural poverty in Europe between 1200 and 1500. What role did the natural environment play in people's survival?
What will be an ideal response?
ANSWER:
Students should understand that nine out of ten people lived in rural areas and that this majority of people were subjected to famine as well as epidemics such as the Black Death. Rural people worked hard in the fields, and the fruits of their labor went to the noble landowner. From 1110 to 1300 the European population more than doubled, partly because of environmental changes such as increases in average temperature. This explosion in the population led to the use of the three-field system as well as the opening of new agricultural settlements; however, it also led to the reality that most Europeans would experience extreme hunger at least once in their lives. This was a world of social inequality, where serfs worked and the nobility and the church owned the land. Students should also emphasize inefficient farming practices, widening class differences, and burgeoning population as the root factors creating rural poverty.
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