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During the Middle Ages, wealth was concentrated in the hands of the very few. Under this system, workers were, for all practical purposes, owned by feudal lords. In the middle of the 14th century, a disease attacked Europe that decimated the population. Nearly half the population of the city of London, for example, died during one such outbreak. As a result, "[hiring] laborers became much more expensive. You could say that the farms were theirs; and they wanted the oxen, seed, loans quickly and on good terms. " Marchione di Coppo Stefani, born in Florence in 1336. Read this account of the effect of the "black death" on the inhabitants of the Italian city of Florence . Florence was the home of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Dante and other leading contributors to the Italian Renaissance. What effect, if any, do you think the "Black Death" might have had on the people of Florence and Europe, in general, that might have contributed to the flowering of the Renaissance?
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Italian Renaissance
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