Chapter Social Inequalities and the Great Famine in the County of Flanders (1315-7)

The Great Famine of 1315-7 is one of the key moments in the social and economic history of Northern Europe during the late Middle Ages. The adverse weather conditions of 1315-6 combined with high demographic pressures resulted in extreme poverty, famine and ultimately crisis mortality. In this paper...

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Egile Nagusiak: Speecke, Mathijs, Lambrecht, Thijs
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Argitaratua: Firenze University Press 2025
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author Speecke, Mathijs
Lambrecht, Thijs
author_browse Lambrecht, Thijs
Speecke, Mathijs
author_facet Speecke, Mathijs
Lambrecht, Thijs
author_sort Speecke, Mathijs
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description The Great Famine of 1315-7 is one of the key moments in the social and economic history of Northern Europe during the late Middle Ages. The adverse weather conditions of 1315-6 combined with high demographic pressures resulted in extreme poverty, famine and ultimately crisis mortality. In this paper we focus on the impact of these events in the Low Countries and the county of Flanders in particular. The aim of our paper is twofold. In the first part, we present new data about the effects of the adverse weather conditions of 1315 on agricultural output and food prices. Our data indicate that Flanders was particularly vulnerable to food shortages and famine due to its reliance on grain import from neighbouring regions. The second part focuses on the socially differentiated impact of the famine. Whereas large farms were able to secure enormous profits due to high food prices, smallholders were forced to sell their holdings to survive.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1633002025-08-02T05:01:14Z Chapter Social Inequalities and the Great Famine in the County of Flanders (1315-7) Speecke, Mathijs Lambrecht, Thijs Middle Ages 14th century Flanders peasants Great Famine inequality The Great Famine of 1315-7 is one of the key moments in the social and economic history of Northern Europe during the late Middle Ages. The adverse weather conditions of 1315-6 combined with high demographic pressures resulted in extreme poverty, famine and ultimately crisis mortality. In this paper we focus on the impact of these events in the Low Countries and the county of Flanders in particular. The aim of our paper is twofold. In the first part, we present new data about the effects of the adverse weather conditions of 1315 on agricultural output and food prices. Our data indicate that Flanders was particularly vulnerable to food shortages and famine due to its reliance on grain import from neighbouring regions. The second part focuses on the socially differentiated impact of the famine. Whereas large farms were able to secure enormous profits due to high food prices, smallholders were forced to sell their holdings to survive. 2025-08-02T05:01:13Z 2025-08-02T05:01:13Z 2025-08-01T15:53:47Z 2025 chapter ONIX_20250801T173835_9791221507058_221 2704-6079 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/104771 9791221507058 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/163300 eng Reti Medievali E-Book open access image/jpeg Attribution 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/104771/1/44817.pdf Firenze University Press 10.36253/979-12-215-0705-8.12 10.36253/979-12-215-0705-8.12 2ec4474d-93b1-4cfa-b313-9c6019b51b1a 9791221507058 25 Florence open access
spellingShingle Middle Ages
14th century
Flanders
peasants
Great Famine
inequality
Speecke, Mathijs
Lambrecht, Thijs
Chapter Social Inequalities and the Great Famine in the County of Flanders (1315-7)
title Chapter Social Inequalities and the Great Famine in the County of Flanders (1315-7)
title_full Chapter Social Inequalities and the Great Famine in the County of Flanders (1315-7)
title_fullStr Chapter Social Inequalities and the Great Famine in the County of Flanders (1315-7)
title_full_unstemmed Chapter Social Inequalities and the Great Famine in the County of Flanders (1315-7)
title_short Chapter Social Inequalities and the Great Famine in the County of Flanders (1315-7)
title_sort chapter social inequalities and the great famine in the county of flanders 1315 7
topic Middle Ages
14th century
Flanders
peasants
Great Famine
inequality
topic_facet Middle Ages
14th century
Flanders
peasants
Great Famine
inequality
url ONIX_20250801T173835_9791221507058_221
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