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One of the most devastating epidemics in human history, the Black Plague was carried on the backs oriental rat fleas which lived on the backs of black rats that lived on merchant ships.
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The rural worker demanded and recieved higher payments in cash in the plague's aftermath. Wages in England rose from twelve to twenty-eight percent from the 1340's to the 1350's and twenty to forty percent from the 1350's to the 1360's.
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After the Black Plague killed so many people, there was no longer just a poor class and a rich class. A middle class was created and it redistributed the wealth between the different classes.
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Because the middle class had more money, they bought clothes. Once the clothes wore out, they turned into rag paper.
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Because more paper was avalilable, the cost of paper decreased. However, because a lot of monks died during the Black Death, the cost of copying books increased.
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In 1451 Johannes Gutenberg created the printing press, which allowed for a quicker and more accurate spread of information and reached a wider reading public.
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By 1500, the printing presses operating throughout Western Europe had already produced more than twenty million copies. In the following century, production increased to an estimated 150 to 200 million copies.
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With the invention of the printing press, it was faster than ever for people to learn new subjects, including engineering.
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With greater wealth following the Black Death came greater literacy rates. By 1800, the literacy rate was over 50%.
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With the readily available knowledge about engineering due to the printing press, entrepeneurs like John Miller and John Allen could make their ideas for rollercoasters realities!
