Chapter Feeding inequalities: the role of economic inequalities and the urban market in late medieval food security. The case of fourteenth-century Ghent

Although the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) revised their theoretical model of food security for over two decades ago, historians have been slow in adopting these new insights to study pre-modern societies. Showcasing the potential of the holistic approach proposed by the FAO, this paper a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Espeel, Stef, Geens, Sam
Format: Online
Language:English
Published: Firenze University Press 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:ONIX_20220601_9788855180535_215
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1869527526740590592
author Espeel, Stef
Geens, Sam
author_browse Espeel, Stef
Geens, Sam
author_facet Espeel, Stef
Geens, Sam
author_sort Espeel, Stef
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description Although the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) revised their theoretical model of food security for over two decades ago, historians have been slow in adopting these new insights to study pre-modern societies. Showcasing the potential of the holistic approach proposed by the FAO, this paper analyses the evolution of food security in the calamitous fourteenth century in Ghent, one the most populated cities at that time. In the long-term, access to food seem to have bettered during the second half of the century thanks to increased wages, wealth and investments into farmland. While these gains can partly be linked to demographic evolutions, we found no evidence of an often-hypothesized Malthusian ceiling before the Black Death.
format Online
id doab-20.500.12854ir-83428
institution Directory of Open Access Books
language eng
publishDate 2022
publishDateRange 2022
publishDateSort 2022
publisher Firenze University Press
publisherStr Firenze University Press
record_format ojs
spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-834282022-06-02T04:30:55Z Chapter Feeding inequalities: the role of economic inequalities and the urban market in late medieval food security. The case of fourteenth-century Ghent Espeel, Stef Geens, Sam economic inequality economic history low countries ghent pre-industrial age Although the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) revised their theoretical model of food security for over two decades ago, historians have been slow in adopting these new insights to study pre-modern societies. Showcasing the potential of the holistic approach proposed by the FAO, this paper analyses the evolution of food security in the calamitous fourteenth century in Ghent, one the most populated cities at that time. In the long-term, access to food seem to have bettered during the second half of the century thanks to increased wages, wealth and investments into farmland. While these gains can partly be linked to demographic evolutions, we found no evidence of an often-hypothesized Malthusian ceiling before the Black Death. 2022-06-02T04:30:54Z 2022-06-02T04:30:54Z 2022-06-01T12:11:42Z 2020 chapter ONIX_20220601_9788855180535_215 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/56032 9788855180535 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/83428 eng Datini Studies in Economic History open access image/jpeg Attribution 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/56032/1/14224.pdf Firenze University Press 10.36253/978-88-5518-053-5.25 10.36253/978-88-5518-053-5.25 2ec4474d-93b1-4cfa-b313-9c6019b51b1a 9788855180535 40 Florence open access
spellingShingle economic inequality
economic history
low countries
ghent
pre-industrial age
Espeel, Stef
Geens, Sam
Chapter Feeding inequalities: the role of economic inequalities and the urban market in late medieval food security. The case of fourteenth-century Ghent
title Chapter Feeding inequalities: the role of economic inequalities and the urban market in late medieval food security. The case of fourteenth-century Ghent
title_full Chapter Feeding inequalities: the role of economic inequalities and the urban market in late medieval food security. The case of fourteenth-century Ghent
title_fullStr Chapter Feeding inequalities: the role of economic inequalities and the urban market in late medieval food security. The case of fourteenth-century Ghent
title_full_unstemmed Chapter Feeding inequalities: the role of economic inequalities and the urban market in late medieval food security. The case of fourteenth-century Ghent
title_short Chapter Feeding inequalities: the role of economic inequalities and the urban market in late medieval food security. The case of fourteenth-century Ghent
title_sort chapter feeding inequalities the role of economic inequalities and the urban market in late medieval food security the case of fourteenth century ghent
topic economic inequality
economic history
low countries
ghent
pre-industrial age
topic_facet economic inequality
economic history
low countries
ghent
pre-industrial age
url ONIX_20220601_9788855180535_215
work_keys_str_mv AT espeelstef chapterfeedinginequalitiestheroleofeconomicinequalitiesandtheurbanmarketinlatemedievalfoodsecuritythecaseoffourteenthcenturyghent
AT geenssam chapterfeedinginequalitiestheroleofeconomicinequalitiesandtheurbanmarketinlatemedievalfoodsecuritythecaseoffourteenthcenturyghent