Why did feudalism begin to delcline in the late 13th and 14th centuries.?

Question

what were 4 main reasons

Answer 1

The Black Death and the Peasants Revolt were two of the big reasons I remember.

Here is a site I looked up for you. I've used the site many times for different purposes, and always found the information to be reliable, and easy to find. Hope it helps...

http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/index.htm

Answer 2

There are a lot of theories. Here is the one of the late prof. Larry Epstein. It says that the late feudal crisis was an integration crisis.

It means basically that while Europe had the technical abilities to grow economically this growth did not happen in most places because of a lack of inter-connexion between the various regions.

For an economy to grow it needs to import row material and markets to export its production. If it lacks the connexions to trade, it won't be able to grow and a crisis will spread.

Here are four reasons why the various European regions did not connect enough for Europe to grow:

1. Political division. Although new big kingdoms had appear they weren't quite big enough to be viable. Border between them and often inside them prevented merchandises to travel efficiently.

2. The price of transport. The longer the trip, the more expensive it gets. Inland,  it was almost impossible to carry wheat over 100 miles, after that it would get too expensive for most people to buy it. On sea the situation was getting better but was still far from excellent.

3. Danger. Bandits, wars and cons were the worse enemies of the traders. They made traveling yet more expensive and dangerous. On top of that the rulers' justice system was rarely efficient and commercial issues could not be trusted to local tribunals.

4. Culture. Some powerful people had a lot to lose in the rise of a new class of elite traders. Unless what has often been said the Church often bend its rules in favour of the rising trading class. On the other hand, the aristocracy regularly tried to prevent the rise of trade because the city-based merchants were independent. In Italy for instance they even took over and replaced the rural aristocrats by the rule of an urban republic.