The Oil Drum: The Black Death as a Case Study for Peak Oil?

One of the nice things about studying history is that you get to look at a good number of specific examples of how people, individually and in groups, have responded to challenges. What history shows us is that societies do not necessarily respond to horrible catastrophes by collapsing, nor do they always transform themselves overnight. What is remarkable is that they often retain as much of the established order as possible. To further explore the question of what might happen in our own future, Stuart asked me to post a discussion of what happened to medieval society when it was hit by the plague known as the Black Death.

much more interesting stuff after the jump to The Oil Drum.