Rural Growth and Crisis, Worked 50 plus hours of labor, Women & men worked the fields, Rural poverty increased which lead to rapid population growth, Population 80 million by 1300, Rotational system for agriculture in which two fields grow food crops & one lies fallow, New settlements, Poor soil for agriculture lead some people to famine, Life expectancy was 30-35 years of age, Outbreak of bubonic plaque that spread across Asia, North Africa, and Europe, Reversed population growth