Question

How did the Black Death affect political institutions in Europe?

Answer 1

Because the Black Death killed so many people, it reduced the number of people who could work -- namely the peasants.

So now, the workers who survived were demanding higher wages because they could ask for them now that many lords and other land owners had lost nearly everyone that had worked for them. This forced England in particular to pass a very unpopular law called the Ordinance of Labourers which essentially made it illegal for workers to go abroad and find better wages and to accept the wages they were working for years earlier. It still didn't stop a lot of peasants from leaving anyway to find work, but it shows how desperate the situation had become for a number of governments in trying to get back on their feet.

It had also weakened the authority of the Church in the long run because they didn't have a solution to the Black Death. Many started to question their faith. A number of nobles and other officials across Europe had also succumbed to the plague leaving their posts open for others to step in and establish new dynasties and ties that would last into the Renaissance.