New
New
Year 7

The Statute of Labourers and the response to the Black Death

I can describe the government's response to peasant demands for higher wages.

New
New
Year 7

The Statute of Labourers and the response to the Black Death

I can describe the government's response to peasant demands for higher wages.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. The Black Death killed around half of the English population.
  2. The Black Death caused labour shortages.
  3. Labourers began to demand better pay for their work.
  4. The Statute of Labourers ordered labourers to stop asking for more money.
  5. Historians disagree about the aims of the Statute of Labourers.

Keywords

  • Peasant - a person in the medieval period who worked the land and had few legal protections

  • Negotiate - to obtain something by discussion

  • Statute - a written law

  • Labourer - a person doing unskilled work for wages

  • Ordinance - an order given by a ruler, often a king

Common misconception

That the Statute of Labourers immediately forced all peasants to return to their home manors and to cease negotiating higher wages.

Through the interpretations section of the lesson, draw out the point that the Statute of Labourers was unenforceable in many cases.

Pupils may find it useful to see a diagram representing supply and demand in relation to the post-Black Death labour crisis.
Teacher tip

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of sensitive content

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
The Revolt occurred in 1381.
Correct Answer: Peasants', peasant, peasants
Q2.
In which year did the Black Death first reach England?
Correct answer: 1348
1381
1448
1481
Q3.
What was the name of the sumptuous palace that was a target of the 1381 Revolt?
Hampton Court Palace
Correct answer: The Savoy Palace
The Tower of London
Westminster Palace
Q4.
Which of the following were not symptoms of the Black Death?
fever
Correct answer: hair loss
Correct answer: sudden blindness
swellings in the neck, armpits and groin
vomiting blood
Q5.
What was the name of the port where it is thought the Black Death first arrived in England?
Aberdeen
Belfast
Cardiff
Correct answer: Melcombe
Port Erin
Q6.
Most historians now believe that between one third and a of England's population died of the Black Death in 1348-49.
Correct Answer: half, 1/2

6 Questions

Q1.
Why did lords have a problem when half the peasants died of the Black Death?
Lords often married peasant women.
Lords had a Christian duty to care for peasants.
Correct answer: Lords needed peasants to farm their lands for them.
Lords could not leave their estates without peasant permission.
Q2.
A is a person doing unskilled work for wages.
Correct Answer: labourer, manual worker, agricultural labourer, farm worker, farm labourer
Q3.
In 1349, King Edward III issued the Ordinance of .
Correct Answer: Labourers
Q4.
What did the Ordinance of 1349 order?
Labourers had to quarantine for 40 days if they had Black Death symptoms.
Correct answer: Labourers should stop asking for more money from lords.
Correct answer: Labourers should work for the same wages as they had been paid in 1348.
Lords should offer higher wages to labourers if they needed workers.
Q5.
Match the words to their correct definitions.
Correct Answer:peasant ,a person who worked the land and had few legal protections

a person who worked the land and had few legal protections

Correct Answer:negotiate ,to obtain something by discussion

to obtain something by discussion

Correct Answer:statute ,a written law

a written law

Correct Answer:labourer ,a person doing unskilled work for wages

a person doing unskilled work for wages

Correct Answer:ordinance,an order given by a ruler, often a king

an order given by a ruler, often a king

Q6.
Put these events in chronological order.
1 - Arrival of the Black Death in England
2 - Labourers start negotiating for higher wages
3 - Ordinance of Labourers
4 - Statute of Labourers

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