I have read that the plague is one of the reasons the Manorial (serf) system eventually failed in Great Britain. There were so few left, folks just walked off and took up their own land or bargained as cottagers.
Yup. I've read similar things...like, some of the later plaques leading eventually to the Magna Carta and even to our own Constitution.
That is correct.
AIDS may do the same thing in Africa.
Yes but wrong plague. It was the 14th century plague that did in the manor system. The price of labor got so high no one would stay on the manors and no one would turn runaways in.
During the black death, life expectancy at birth was - get this - 16.
It seems the english survived.
But it must have been brutal.
Imagine you are a 12-yo mother, with your first child, living on whatever you can.
By the time the child is four, it is an orphan, living like an animal.
How is a cottager better than a serf?
Who would stay with Lord "X" and his obligatory 120 days of service when Lord "Y" has openings for serfs at only 90 days of service? Thus a 'free market' system of valuating labor came about.
(A significant reason why I oppose open borders and Amnesty of any sort)