Final answer:
The Great Famine severely weakened the manorial system by leading to a reduction in the labor force, skyrocketing food prices, and prompting peasants to seek better opportunities elsewhere, thus eroding the foundations of feudal obligations.
Step-by-step explanation:
Negative Effects of the Great Famine on the Manorial System
The Great Famine of 1315–1317 had a profound negative impact on the manorial system, a foundational economic and social structure of medieval Europe.
The manorial system was built upon the labor of serfs who were bound to the land and provided service to the lord of the manor.
When the Great Famine struck, it led to extensive depopulation and a severe shortage of resources, which, in turn, led to several critical transformations.
Firstly, the massive loss of life weakened the labor force that worked under the manorial system.
With fewer serfs to work the land, lords faced a dramatic decline in agricultural productivity and a subsequent loss of wealth.
Malnutrition and starvation became rampant among peasants, further impairing their ability to contribute labor, which strained the system even more.
Secondly, the skyrocketing prices of food staples like grain, coupled with the great bovine pestilence that followed the famine, reduced the viability of the manorial system.
Serfs, who were already living at a subsistence level, found it increasingly difficult to sustain themselves, let alone fulfill their feudal obligations to the manor lords.
Finally, the resulting instability prompted peasants to seek better working conditions.
Landlords competing for scarce labor began to offer more generous terms, and many peasants moved to cities in search of wage labor.
This migration began to erode the very foundations of the manorial system, with serfs seeking more freedom and better economic opportunities outside the feudal estates.