Publication
Title
The Great Famine in the county of Flanders (1315-17): the complex interaction between weather, warfare, and property rights
Author
Abstract
The exceptional weather conditions and associated harvest failures of 1315-17 marked the beginning of the worst subsistence crisis in European history. Until now, historians have mainly viewed the Great Famine, and medieval famines in general, through theoretical models of the larger fourteenth-century crisis. However, this article suggests that this approach is flawed and instead applies recent theories on contemporary famines to the crisis of 1315-17 in the county of Flanders. This new perspective not only leads to a re-examination of existing explanations, such as the role of warfare, but also reveals the importance of property rights in entitlement to food: the power of elites, the relative number of large-scale landowners, and the structure of household income all influenced peasants' degree of vulnerability.
Language
English
Source (journal)
The economic history review. - London
Publication
London : 2018
ISSN
0013-0117 [print]
1468-0289 [online]
DOI
10.1111/EHR.12605
Volume/pages
71 :4 (2018) , p. 1048-1072
ISI
000446841400002
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 09.11.2018
Last edited 09.10.2023
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