Rural Crisis. By 1300, even after the surge of urbanization that characterized the High Middle Ages, perhaps 90 percent of the European population still lived in the countryside. Throughout Europe at this time, rural society confronted a host of problems, such as uneven levels of population density, inadequate nourishment, overstraining of natural resources, overall economic depression, and surges in population growth that exacerbated all the aforementioned problems. Earlier, between 1100 and 1300, peasant communities throughout central and western Europe had indulged in large-scale clearings, uprooted woodlands, and drained marshes in order to grow more grain and feed a steadily growing population. For certain areas this uninhibited exploitation resulted in unproductive soil under cultivation, upon which some communities were still depending hundreds of years later. In addition, rapid deforestation caused problems of erosion as it lowered the water table and allowed valuable nutrients to wash out of the soil. The...