The World That Emerged

The survivors inherited a changed world. So much land sat empty that it turned cheap, and people could now move to find better terms — a freedom feudalism had never allowed. The rigid ladder of lord and serf began to bend.

The Church took a blow it never fully recovered from. It had promised protection through prayer, and still the dying did not stop.

If God was punishing sinners, people asked, why did devout priests die faster than anyone, struck down while tending the sick? That question cracked unquestioning faith. The doubt it left behind helped feed the curious, human-centered thinking of the Renaissance.