来源：《BBC历史》2023年6月刊
Until the arrival of one of the most horrifying pandemics in history, the standard of living across much of western Europe had not improved markedly for centuries. The decline of the Roman empire had created a power vacuum filled by warring feudal states. Kings granted large tracts of land to allies in return for loyalty. At the bottom of the pyramid, lesser lords provided serfs with land to farm in return for a share of crops, free labour and military service.
在历史上最可怕的流行病之一到来之前，几个世纪以来，西欧大部分地区的生活水平没有显著提高。罗马帝国的衰落造成了一个由交战的封建国家填补的权力真空。国王将大片土地授予盟友以换取忠诚。在金字塔的底部，小领主为农奴提供土地耕种，以换取一部分庄稼收成、免费劳动力和服兵役。
The feudal system discouraged innovation. Lords spent any surplus on building castles and armies to defend themselves or attack others. Serfs grew a variety of crops on strips of land in different fields to minimise the risk that their whole harvest would be destroyed by disease, animals or extreme weather. Their standard of living had not improved since Roman days.
封建制度阻碍了创新。领主们把所有的盈余都花在建造城堡和军队上，以保护自己或攻击他人。农奴在不同田地的条状土地上种植各种作物，以最大限度地降低其整个收成被病害、动物或极端天气破坏的风险。他们的生活水平自罗马时代以来就没有提高过。
Then, in the mid-14th century, the Black Death struck. Historian Ole Benedictow estimates that plague killed over half of Europe’s population in five years. If just one pandemic hit, societies would have probably rebounded within a few generations. But the plague struck again and again over the next couple of centuries. In England, the population did not return to its pre-Black Death level until the 18th century.
然后，在14世纪中期，黑死病爆发了。历史学家Benedictow估计，鼠疫在五年内杀死了欧洲一半以上的人口。如果只发生一次疫情，社会可能会在几代人内反弹。但在接下来的几个世纪里，瘟疫一次又一次地袭来。在英格兰，人口直到18世纪才恢复到黑死病前的水平。
This demographic collapse plunged the feudal system into crisis. Serfs tried to take advantage of the new scarcity of agricultural labour to negotiate better terms. Lords resisted, because the marked fall in the number of serfs had already put a massive dent in their incomes. In England, parliament passed laws that tried to maintain serfs’ obligations as they had been before the Black Death. This caused widespread anger, which boiled over in the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt. The lords eventually gave in to pressure from below, and offered serfs improved conditions. By the mid-15th century, most English peasants had won their freedom.
人口结构的崩溃使封建制度陷入危机。农奴们试图利用农业劳动力的新短缺来谈判更好的条件。贵族们拒绝了，因为农奴数量的显著下降已经大大降低了他们的收入。在英格兰，议会通过了法律，试图维持黑死病之前农奴的义务。这引起了广泛的愤怒，并在1381年农民起义中爆发。领主们最终屈服于来自下层的压力，为农奴提供了更好的条件。到15世纪中期，大多数英国农民已经获得了自由。
Over time, as American economic historian Robert Brenner points out, a new system emerged in which lords rented out their land at market-determined rates. The majority of rural inhabitants were made landless, but the most entrepreneurial peasants became commercial farmers, adopting the latest technology and growing the most lucrative crops. Innovation and specialisation led to astonishing growth in output.
正如美国经济历史学家罗伯特•布伦纳指出的那样，随着时间的推移，一种新的制度出现了，领主们以市场决定的价格出租土地。大多数农村居民失去了土地，但最具创业精神的农民变成了商业农民，采用最新技术，种植最有利可图的作物。创新和专业化导致了产出的惊人增长。
This transformed society. Farming was not only able to feed the rapidly growing urban population, but food became so plentiful and cheap that people had extra money to spend on things such as textiles and sugar, which in turn encouraged industrialisation at home and colonisation abroad.
这改变了社会。农业不仅能够养活快速增长的城市人口，而且食物变得如此丰富和便宜，人们有多余的钱花在纺织品和糖等东西上，这反过来又鼓励了国内的工业化和国外的殖民。