The immediate impact in the aftermath of the Black Death was one of general paralysis, trade ceased. The people were exhausted both physically and psychologically.

The Plague continued to beset Europe in waves of recurrences, striking mostly children , until it disappeared from Europe in 1399, not to return again until the 17th century, leaving behind it a major alteration to the demography and population dynamics of Europe that was to continue for generations. Europe's population continued to shrink, declining further so that at the end of the 14th Century the population was half that of 1345. It would require 100-133 years or about 5 to 6 human generations for Europe to absorb the shock of exposure to the plague in both its initial visitation and in its recurrences. In England the Poll Tax of 1377 counted 2 million persons. Since the minimum in 1345 was 3.5 million it meant that 1.5 million had died and England would take until the middle of the 16th Century to reach the population she had in 1345.

The Black Death struck at a world already in motion and greatly accelerated the changes that other pressures were beginning to bring on the fabric of medeival society. Social structures which had been breaking down since the beginning of the 13th century collapsed. In the countryside the most immediate effect of the Black Death was a severe shortage of labor. A lot of land passed out of cultivation. Landlords halted the process of emancipating serfs and tried to exact the old burdensome labor services from their teanants. Free laboroers tried to take advantage of the shortage of workers to demand higher wages and governments responded with repressive measures fixing wages at the old levels.

Traditional farming arrangements in villages all over Europe were thrown into chaos by the sudden extinction of many families, the failure of heirs in others and the unprecedented surplus of land.

For the first time there was an outbreak of religous fervor among the common people aimed at establishing a sort of democratic, socialist heaven in this world, not just preparing man for the next. When the peasants' hopes for a better life were repressed by the governbments and the landlords, they rose in violent rebellions. The French Jacquerie of 1358, and the English Peasant's Rebellion in 1381 were only the most striking examples.

None of these rebellions was immediately succsessful but in the end the continued shoratge of agricultural labor in relation to the land available for cultivation brought about changes that could not be achieved without violence. The disintegration of the manor had begun and Lords replaced the requirement of labor services from a deeply reluctant and depleted peasantry with the acceptance of money rents, while acknowledging the freeedom of their laborers.

In the sphere of urban life and commercial activity, the immediate impact was to create an oversupply of goods and a sharp drop in overall demand. With the reduction of the available labor pool prices for labor rose to all time highs creating run away inflation. The middle class responded the same as the landholder and tried to hold on to what they had and keep the lower classes in their place by enacting restrictive guild regulations and city ordinances. In the past anyone could be apprenticed, now the guild membership was made hereditary. The result was a growth of a large class of proletarian laborwers, living at the mercy of their masters and forbidden to organize to defend or further their own interests. Frustrated they responded with city riots comparable in violence to the peasant rebellions.

New aggregations of capitalist wealth arose. While the volume of trade decreased in 1350 (a much smaller population would tend to produce and exchange fewer goods), it is not so clear that there was a fall in per capita production or consumption and in some areas some industries prospered greatly despite the general decline. In England, a highly profitable cloth-manufacturing industry grew up based on a new technique which used the power of water mills.

Governments were forced to turn inward. As land was abandoned, rents fell off or were unpaid. The yield from taxes declined drastically. Philip was unable to collect more than a fifth of the subsidy granted him by the Estates (parlement) in the winter of 1347-8. The resulting shortage of both men and money had a dampening effect on large scale military operations by the English and French monarchies.

The loss of manpower and taxes led both the French king and the French lords to accept the concept of a paid army, recognizing that the warrior 's function was now a trade for at least the poorer knights if not the grand seigneurs. Rates of pay were set (40 sous a day for a banneret, 20 for a knight , 10 for a squire, 5 for a valet, 3 for a foot soldier and 2 1/2 for an armorer bearer or other attendant). Coming at a time when taxes were lower than previously, this led to smaller armies.