Economy
Trends
Shift away from cereal monoculture in the West (and concomitant rise in the East). This was a result of the demographic crisis that allowed farmers to diversify investment in crops. Miskimin tells of a French monastery that branched out into viticulture and sheep. It also granted lands out to peasants for money rents, and these peasants also tended to diversity. In particular, they raised woad, which was a high-profit crop. Despite these measures, the real income of the monastery fell steadily through the 14th century and by 1400 the large grange, built in the 13th century to store grain, was empty and in ruins, having been burned by marauding armies.
Abandoned villages is another sign of the economic difficulties of the countryside. These were especially numerous in Germany. Miskimin says it was as high as 80% in Thuringia. The great era of German wines really began as a consequence of the agrarian problems. The Hanseatic regions were a bit more resilient.
Eastern Europe fared somewhat better, at least in the north. This may partly have been simple recovery from the Mongol invasions, but it's clear that there was actual population growth in most areas. The Balkans were a different story, for they were falling under Ottoman control.
The pattern was very different in Spain and especially in Castile. Our period marks the boom years of the Mesta, which was created in 1276 by King Alfonso. Cereal agriculture was neglected. Specialty crops throve, however, including such items as cotton, sugar, fruit of all kinds, rice, almonds, saffron, and mulberry trees. These had all been introduced by the Arabs; as the Reconquista took over the lands, the Spanish also took over these other forms of agriculture. Prices on these goods rose steadily through the 14thc.
Southern Italy, and especially Sicily, suffered terribly from the consequences of plague and falling grain prices. The ancient tradition of grain production in Sicily collapsed, never to recover. As in Spain, new crops helped mitigate the loss somewhat, especially sugar. This, too, was lost, in the 15thc, when the Portuguese developed sugar colonies off the coast of Africa.
Northern Italy, by contrast, prospered, largely due to the thriving towns. The merchants there eagerly bought up estates and they tended to exploit these efficiently. Much of the land was purchased from the Church, with the result that the Catholic Church was actually a minor landholder in the north (around 10%-15%, according to Cipolla). In northern Italy, peasant freedom was gained at the expense of having their lands subjected to urban taxation. They might be driven into debt and forced to sell, thereby becoming little more than cottagers or sharecroppers. Something like this was also happening in areas of southern Germany, though to a lesser extent because the rural nobility there was stronger.