Once the Black Death lifted, many locations lacked a sufficient number of weavers, or carpenters, or bricklayers. In every case of shortage, two things happened. First, supply and demand: those in the relevant profession experienced an increase in take-home pay, setting the stage for our modern concept of skilled labor. Second, the need to expand the output of such skill sets led local workers, guilds, and rulers alike to increase productivity. Some did this by training new workers. Some by developing new techniques. Some by importing the long-forgotten knowledge preserved by the Arabs in the
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