Description
Book SynopsisThe horrors of the Great Famine (1315-1322), one of the severest catastrophes ever to strike northern Europe. This work provides a comprehensive inquiry into the Famine from Ireland to western Poland, from Scandinavia to central France and western Germany.
Trade ReviewWinner of the 2000 Haskins Medal, Medieval Academy of America One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1996 "In this important new synthesis of the causes, course, and consequences of the Great Famine, Jordan offers a corrective to the view that after its initial crippling effects, famine continued to afflict Europe until the ultimate devastation of the Black Death... A richly detailed cultural history that considers significant regional variations and stresses the event's human dimension, including its manifold and different effects in rural and urban contexts and on people of differing age, status, and power... This will become the standard work on the subject."--Choice "Ever since the publication of Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror, many readers have had a sneaking suspicion that the 14th century is uncannily similar to our own. Anyone who takes up this book in hopes of finding a new Tuchman will find something better, though: a work of great depth written in a scholarly though engaging way... [T]he impressive scholarship ... deserves to be appreciated for its own merits. Among the many virtues of this readable work are the corrections of many common misperceptions of the Middle Ages and a bibliography that is extensive and impressive... "--Publishers Weekly "A richly detailed cultural history... This will become the standard work on the subject."--Choice "Anyone who takes up this book in hopes of finding a new Tuchman will find something better, though: a work of great depth written in a scholarly though engaging way."--Publishers Weekly
Table of ContentsList of MapsAcknowledgmentsPrologue3Pt. IA Calamity "Unheard-of Among Living Men"1The Bringers of Famine in 1315: Rain, War, God72The Harvest Failures and Animal Murrains24Pt. IIThe Economics and Demography of the Famine in Rural Society3Prices and Wages434The Cost-of-Living Crisis: Lords615The Cost-of-Living Crisis: Rustics876The Struggle for Survival108Pt. IIITowns and Principalities7Urban Demography and Economy1278Coping in Towns1519The Policies of Princes167Epilogue182Notes189Bibliography261Index305
