Famines During the 'Little Ice Age' (1300-1800) : Socionatural Entanglements in Premodern Societies 978-3-319-54337-6, 3319543377, 978-3-319-54341-3

Table of contents :
Front Matter ....Pages i-vi
Front Matter ....Pages 1-1
Famines: At the Interface of Nature and Society (Dominik Collet, Maximilian Schuh)....Pages 3-16
Front Matter ....Pages 17-17
The European Mortality Crises of 1346–52 and Advent of the Little Ice Age (Bruce M. S. Campbell)....Pages 19-41
Combining Written and Tree-Ring Evidence to Trace Past Food Crises: A Case Study from Finland (Heli Huhtamaa)....Pages 43-66
Front Matter ....Pages 67-67
Two Decades of Crisis: Famine and Dearth During the 1480s and 1490s in Western and Central Europe (Chantal Camenisch)....Pages 69-90
Climate and Famines in the Czech Lands Prior to AD 1500: Possible Interconnections in a European Context (Rudolf Brázdil, Oldřich Kotyza, Martin Bauch)....Pages 91-114
Food Insecurity and Political Instability in the Southern Red Sea Region During the ‘Little Ice Age,’ 1650–1840 (Steven Serels)....Pages 115-129
Front Matter ....Pages 131-131
The Role of Climate and Famine in the Medieval Eastern Expansion (Andreas Rüther)....Pages 133-147
Famines in Late Medieval and Early Modern Italy: A Test for an Advanced Economy (Guido Alfani)....Pages 149-169
Bread for the Poor: Poor Relief and the Mitigation of the Food Crises of the 1590s and the 1690s in Berkel, Holland (Jessica Dijkman)....Pages 171-193
Educationalizing Hunger. Dealing with the Famine of 1770/71 in Zurich (Andrea De Vincenti)....Pages 195-208
Front Matter ....Pages 209-209
Starvation Under Carolingian Rule. The Famine of 779 and the Annales Regni Francorum (Stephan Ebert)....Pages 211-230
Staging the Return to Normality. Socio-cultural Coping Strategies with the Crisis of 1816/1817 (Maren Schulz)....Pages 231-254
Remembering Hunger. Museums and the Material Culture of Famine (Andrea Fadani)....Pages 255-269

Citation preview

Dominik Collet · Maximilian Schuh Editors

Famines During the ‘Little Ice Age’ (1300–1800) Socionatural Entanglements in Premodern Societies

Famines During the ‘Little Ice Age’ (1300–1800)

Dominik Collet Maximilian Schuh •

Editors

Famines During the ‘Little Ice Age’ (1300–1800) Socionatural Entanglements in Premodern Societies

123

Editors Dominik Collet Heidelberg Center for the Environment University of Heidelberg Heidelberg Germany

ISBN 978-3-319-54341-3 DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54337-6

Maximilian Schuh Heidelberg Center for the Environment University of Heidelberg Heidelberg Germany

ISBN 978-3-319-54337-6

(eBook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017944307 © Springer International Publishing AG 2018 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Printed on acid-free paper This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Contents

Part I 1

Famines: At the Interface of Nature and Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dominik Collet and Maximilian Schuh

Part II 2

3

5

6

3

Interdisciplinary Approaches

The European Mortality Crises of 1346–52 and Advent of the Little Ice Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bruce M.S. Campbell

19

Combining Written and Tree-Ring Evidence to Trace Past Food Crises: A Case Study from Finland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Heli Huhtamaa

43

Part III 4

Introduction

Socionatural Entanglements

Two Decades of Crisis: Famine and Dearth During the 1480s and 1490s in Western and Central Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . Chantal Camenisch

69

Climate and Famines in the Czech Lands Prior to AD 1500: Possible Interconnections in a European Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rudolf Brázdil, Oldřich Kotyza and Martin Bauch

91

Food Insecurity and Political Instability in the Southern Red Sea Region During the ‘Little Ice Age,’ 1650–1840 . . . . . . . . . . 115 Steven Serels

v

vi

Contents

Part IV

Coping

7

The Role of Climate and Famine in the Medieval Eastern Expansion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Andreas Rüther

8

Famines in Late Medieval and Early Modern Italy: A Test for an Advanced Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Guido Alfani

9

Bread for the Poor: Poor Relief and the Mitigation of the Food Crises of the 1590s and the 1690s in Berkel, Holland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Jessica Dijkman

10 Educationalizing Hunger. Dealing with the Famine of 1770/71 in Zurich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Andrea De Vincenti Part V

Perceiving and Remembering

11 Starvation Under Carolingian Rule. The Famine of 779 and the Annales Regni Francorum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Stephan Ebert 12 Staging the Return to Normality. Socio-cultural Coping Strategies with the Crisis of 1816/1817 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 Maren Schulz 13 Remembering Hunger. Museums and the Material Culture of Famine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 Andrea Fadani

Part I

Introduction

Chapter 1

Famines: At the Interface of Nature and Society Dominik Collet and Maximilian Schuh

Abstract Famines have re-entered public consciousness. While most research focuses on modern and future crises, the past offers a rich and largely untapped archive of societies that have already faced similar challenges. However, current research is characterized by antagonisms of the natural sciences and the humanities. In this paper we argue for an integration of the ‘archives of nature’ and the ‘archives of man’. We survey emerging interdisciplinary research designs (vulnerability studies, social ecology, disaster studies) that facilitate such an approach and contend that due to their unique scope, famines constitute an excellent ‘boundary object’ to study socionatural entanglements. Examining the famines of the ‘Little Ice Age’ (1300–1800) can therefore overcome socially or environmentally determinist models of human-environment interaction. As a result, the research approach presented here, can advance our understanding of how past societies dealt with natural challenges and improve the basis for future decision making.




Keywords Famine Historical Human-environment interactions

climatology




Interdisciplinarity




Famines have re-entered public consciousness. The predicted rise of crop failures associated with climate change put this ‘old’ topic back on the agenda (Field 2012; Willenboekel 2012). Most research focuses on the simulation of future crises. The past, however, offers a rich and largely untapped archive of societies that have already faced similar challenges. Examining the way these encounters have been negotiated may improve the basis for future decision making.

D. Collet
M. Schuh (&) Heidelberg Center for the Environment, Heidelberg, Germany e-mail: [email protected] D. Collet e-mail: [email protected] D. Collet
M. Schuh Historisches Seminar, Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany © Springer International Publishing AG 2018 D. Collet and M. Schuh (eds.), Famines During the ‘Little Ice Age’ (1300–1800), DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54337-6_1

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Famines posed a fundamental threat to people experiencing them and continue to do so. Yet these events also challenge their researchers. Famines occur at the precarious interface of nature and society. They involve both a biophysical side affecting the availability of food and a social side governing the access to food. The most severe events result from the interaction of both these spheres, when environmental anomalies concur with war, economic stress and social inequality. As a result, the character of famines is best described as ‘socionatural’. Such events transgress the well-tended boundaries between the sciences and the humanities. Consequently, any comprehensive study on famines requires the interaction of various academic fields (Pfister 2012). In many cases this involves not just the collaboration of neighbouring disciplines, but the notoriously difficult ‘big interdisciplinarity’ between the measuring and the hermeneutical sciences. In the context of the current academic framework this takes the researcher far into uncharted territory. At the same time, the study of famines provides great opportunities. It relates to a range of pressing current debates: How do societies react to extreme natural events? How can human-environment relationships be framed without resorting to deterministic modes of explanation? How do we advance beyond the disputed and increasingly irrelevant dichotomy of nature and culture? These fundamental questions inform emerging transdisciplinary fields such as Social Ecology, Environmental Humanities or Disaster Studies and their conceptualizations of Socionatures, Panarchies, Naturecultures or the Anthropocene (Gunderson and Holling 2002; Cote and Nightingale 2012; Hall et al. 2015). They all react to the shared impression that current research designs and the ongoing disciplinary fragmentation have caused rather than addressed many major ecological challenges we face today. So far, the potent tropes associated with narratives of famine inform widely held assumptions about future catastrophes. But the lack of integrated studies has meant that these expectations are based on fragmentary and often misleading evidence. What role does ecological stress play in famines? How did environmental impacts become an economic challenge? How do affected social groups perceive, cope, and possibly appropriate extreme events? Researching past famines can help to substantiate speculative debates in fields ranging from technologies of risk and ‘cultures of disaster’ to environmental migration and ‘climate refugees’ (Bankoff 2003; Lübken 2012). A multifactorial, empirical approach can safeguard against simplistically ‘predicting the past’ (Collet 2014). However, the benefits of an inclusive, socionatural approach do not stop with current affairs. It similarly sharpens our grasp of premodern societies where famine was a constant companion, and broadens the methodological repertoire available to historians and paleoclimatologists. So far, historical research has been reluctant to engage with premodern famines because of their unfamiliar natural aspects. In order to stay well clear of climate determinism historians focused on more recent, predominantly man-made events that fall more easily within the remit of the humanities, such as the Irish Famine (1845–48) or twentieth century crises in totalitarian regimes (Ó Gráda 1999; Wheatcroft and Davies 2004; Wemheuer 2012). Earlier famines, primarily associated with ‘natural’ causes, have received much less attention. However, the wariness to engage with environmental impacts has relinquished

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central fields of historical research. Famines constituted key events of premodern agrarian societies. The production and provision of food legitimized rulers, its price regulated the economy, its consumption shaped popular culture. Crises of subsistence therefore cut to the very heart of past lifeworlds. They reveal complex socionatural arrangements, the embedded economies of survival, practices of social inclusion and exclusion, the crisis-driven intensification of governance as well as early attempts at securitization. In fact, famines can justly be described as the ‘normal exceptions’ (Grendi 1977) to premodern agrarian life. They reveal the deeper conflicts of societies that otherwise remain hidden and have been identified as the ‘missing pages’ of the great historical narratives (Davis 2001, 8). Rediscovering famines may serve as a reminder that human societies are open metabolisms, in constant exchange with the natural environment surrounding them. In these ‘built environments’ natural impulses enable social observations, without limiting them to simple deterministic cascades of cause and effect (Oliver-Smith 2004). Studying famines has the potential to not just broaden but deepen historical understanding. The same applies to the natural sciences. Fields such as paleoclimatology have experienced difficulties connecting their increasingly detailed findings to social developments. Not only is it challenging to find adequate natural ‘proxies’ (such as tree-ring, stalagmite and lake sediment data) that can be synced with historical ‘sources’ (such as narrative and administrative records). The integration of scientific analyses with the contingencies of human action requires new integrative approaches. As a result, social responses to environmental triggers often remain side-lined in scientific studies. They are frequently added with little or no integration into the original research design (Collet 2014). The resulting studies condense the plurality of social responses into fixed reactions to external triggers. These reductions of the human sphere stand in sharp contrast to the complexities attributed to the natural phenomena discussed (Hulme 2011). The growing concern about the effects of environmental degradation and climatic change, however, demands a more integrated approach that transcends mere reconstructions. Famines at the intersection of the social and natural spheres constitute an excellent starting point to bridge established disciplinary divisions. They leave traces in natural as well as social ‘archives’ and have fostered an inclusive methodology in the form of vulnerability studies (Collet 2014). As a result, their transgressive character can challenge social and climatic determinism and suggest alternative, more dynamic approaches to the entanglement of environment and society.

Antagonisms Famines have long proved a challenge for research designs. Few events can match the impact a famine has on society. The collective experience of starvation often leaves a mark on entire generations of victims. Their occurrence is remembered on par with war and plague; their absence sets good times apart from bad times. The physical and emotional violence of food shortages unsettles all areas of social,

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economic, and cultural life. Furthermore, famines constitute ‘slow disasters’. Unlike floods, earthquakes, or fires they can take months or years to fully develop and have the potential to affect large geographical areas. Because of their scope they provide ample space for the interaction of physical and social factors that cannot be limited to straightforward impacts and responses (Pfister and Brázdil 2006). Studying them, it is necessary to employ broad, multifactorial approaches. However, past research on famines is characterised by a paradox. The richness of the field resulted in the dominance of narrow, disciplinary approaches. Medicine, economics, geography, or anthropology each have developed their own research methodologies for studying famines (Murton 2000). The sheer wealth of data and sources made collaboration seem unnecessary. Instead of emulating the multifaceted event it studies, the research field is characterised by a rigid, unproductive fragmentation. Today one research tradition stresses ‘natural’ causes while the other focuses on ‘political’ factors—an opposition rooted in the division of natural and cultural sciences. Translated into academic settings, the sciences focus almost exclusively on the external, biophysical impacts studying the archives of nature (precipitation and temperature data reconstructed through the analysis of proxies such as speleothems, sediments or tree-rings). Similarly, the humanities limit themselves to internal, societal factors such as socio-economic inequality and resulting entitlement failure based on the archives of man (records of prices, births, and deaths, etc.). These approaches do not just use different data sets; they also suggest entirely different causalities of famine. The former regards famine as the straightforward result of the decreasing availability of food, advocating a strong link to climate impacts. The latter considers the decline in socially differentiated access to food as the root cause of famine, highlighting political or ‘green famines’ with no relevant link to climate, particularly in modern post-colonial settings. In order to frame this antagonism Amartya Sen coined the terms Food Availability Decline (FAD) versus Food Entitlement Decline (FED) (Sen 1981). During the 1980s the rivalry of production- and distribution-based approaches initiated productive research. It successfully challenged the dominant explanatory models focussing on natural causes and technological remedies. In the long run, however, this antagonism has resulted in scientific deadlock. It limits the potential to address current challenges, where risks are understood to result from the interlacing of climate change and social inequality. The FAD/FED divide also impedes research into historical famines: Both approaches maintain that past crises differ from modern famines and were mainly driven by natural impacts. The claimed mono-causality has encouraged climatologists to stay within their disciplinary comfort zone and discouraged historians to engage with the field. Researching historical events, the models of both climatologists and economists focus on an abstract sequence of external stress and demographic response. They fall far short of E. P. Thompson’s pressing question: “Being hungry, what do people do? How is their behavior modified by custom, culture, and reason?” (Thompson 1971, 77–78). As a result, for most historians working in a field shaped by the recent praxeological and cultural turns, famines seemed increasingly irrelevant.

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The indifference of historians also reflects the genesis of their discipline: for centuries historians studied the natural world alongside human societies. The split of professional historiography from the field of ‘natural history’ occurred only during the nineteenth century. This decoupling resulted in the marginalisation of natural factors and a strong aversion to perceived environmental and climatic determinism (Chakrabarty 2009). This tendency has been reinforced by the growing disenchantment with earlier cliometric or econometric approaches. They reduced the interaction of environment and society to one of climate and demography, forces beyond the reach of the individual (Mauelshagen 2010, 115). Such an approach is at odds with the commitment of the historical field to the autogenesis of humankind. The conviction that our fate is in our own hands and that human agency is the dominant factor of historical change is fundamental to the practice of historians. As a result, nature is rarely imagined as part rather than as counterpart of history. When historians do engage with premodern famines they usually recur (explicitly or implicitly) to the model of the ‘crise de type ancien’. Developed by Ernest Labrousse and Wilhelm Abel in the 1940s, it draws mainly on anonymised serial sources, such as price indices and demographic data. Their model of an immutable cycle of harvest failure, economic crisis, malnutrition, and excess mortality—invariable until the time of the industrial revolution—left little room for societal intervention and privileged natural causation. Few researchers embraced the alternative explanatory models of neighbouring disciplines drawing on socioeconomic factors instead. Historians have been slow to pick up Amartya Sens work on the crucial role of shifting entitlements and endowments, even though it offered more room for human intervention. This is even more surprising as his approach focussed on non-industrialised countries, non-market transactions, informal exchanges, and the heterogeneous composition of the poor that characterise many premodern societies. Instead of serving as a testing ground for studies on human-environment interaction, research on historical famines reflected the wider antagonisms of the field. Today it is marked by the renaissance of environmental determinism on the one hand (Fagan 2002) and the claim, that virtually all famines, including those in historical societies, constitute an exclusively man-made phenomenon on the other (Fogel 2004).

Entanglements Multifactorial approaches have only recently regained popularity. They are, however, not a modern invention but rather a rediscovery of earlier pluralities. Premodern societies understood famines to be caused by a combination of extreme natural events, human neglect, and divine intervention. While the weighting and relative importance of the three fields—real shortages, profiteering, punishment by an angry god—were eagerly discussed, all three were conceptualised as being closely interwoven. Mono-causal explanations only became dominant during the nineteenth century, when a new, secular worldview conceptualised man and nature

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as fundamentally distinct (Walter 2008). In this respect, integrative approaches to famine not only frame both sides of the reductionism characteristic of high-modernity (Zwierlein 2015). They also realign modern interpretations with more plural perceptions prevalent in the historical societies under scrutiny. Recent research increasingly conceptualises natural environments and human practices as closely entangled. These integrated approaches have been pioneered by historical disaster studies examining extreme natural events as momentous interfaces of nature and culture (Johns 1999; Mauch and Pfister 2009). However, they focused on rapid onset disasters with a clear natural stressor, such as earthquakes or floods. Slower, socionatural hybrids, such as famines, remained on the fringes. Disaster historians side-lined them because their natural impact appeared too limited, just as crisis-studies dismissed them because it seemed too dominant. Researchers of historical catastrophes have, however, argued convincingly that while hazards are natural, disasters are not (Bankoff 2004). As a result, they should be classified as ‘cultural’ as well as ‘natural’ catastrophes. Disaster studies have also revealed historical patterns of interpretation and coping to be unexpectedly dynamic (Walter 2008). These observations apply equally to research on past famines. They critique determinist approaches to climate and hunger and open the field to the methodological register of cultural history. The emphasis on the cultural consequences of disasters challenges claims by demographers and economists, that premodern famines constituted ‘mere fireworks’ in the historical record (Hoyle 2010, 975). Instead, concepts of a ‘culture of disaster’ (Bankoff 2003; Rozario 2007) encourage researchers to incorporate the similarly vibrant studies of cultural historians and anthropologists on specific historical cultures of hunger (Camporesi 1996; Montanari 2006; Scott 1976; Spittler 1989; Apt Russell 2005; Vernon 2007). The suggested integrative approaches have been incorporated in the field of environmental history. Here the co-constitution and co-development of nature and culture informs the research perspective. Its major studies on the links of nature and power, sites of ‘socionatural encounter’, or the metabolisms and resource flows of historical societies have tried to chart the ‘entangledness’ of human-environment relations beyond the confines of geomaterialism and ecodeterminism, as well as reconcile materialistic and symbolic modes of interpretation (Knoll 2013, 92–107). The perceptions of nature and of natural impacts in modern and premodern societies is another strand of environmental history strongly influenced by cultural research methods. Studies range from the powerful narratives of nature to the framing of catastrophes and extreme weather (Cronon 1992; Rohr 2007; Schuh 2016). Again, these concepts along with the respective research designs have yet to be taken up by studies on historical famines. So far, most historians of famine have refrained from exploring the interaction of natural and social stressors in their investigations. Instead, they focus on the economic and demographic effects of food shortages or highlight the role of governments, tracing the repertoire of famine policy as far back as Ancient Rome and Carolingian Europe (Garnsey 1988; Jörg 2010). They illustrate how famine prevention and food security became a catalyst of state formation, starting in medieval

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cities and spreading to the early modern territories and states (Jörg 2008; Lachiver 1991; Monahan 1993; Cullen 2010; Alfani 2013; Kaplan 1976). Some also investigate the cultural impacts of these events (Behringer 2015). Very few studies pursue a more integrative approach. Historical climatologists have been particularly active. They attempted to identify the biophysical triggers of harvest failures, explore bi-directional models of socionatural interaction and suggest ways to tie acute weather extremes into the long-term anomalies of the Little Ice Age (Pfister and Brázdil 2006; Behringer 2009). The crises of 1570–75 and 1815–17 have been studied from the broader perspective of environmental history (Behringer 2003; Krämer 2015). Socioecological connections are also made plausible in works on the great famine of 1315–18/22 and the global famines of the late nineteenth century (Jordan 1996; Davis 2001). They trace the entanglements of extreme weather and social phenomena such as witch hunts, state-formation or imperialism. Bruce Campbell recently extended his explorations of medieval climate and societies to the crucial link with disease (Campbell 2016). Many other areas remain uncharted. The role of epidemics has been explored mainly in demographic macro-studies (Post 1990). Famine-driven migration is often alluded to, but has seen much less empirical research than the better known cases of the 19th and 20th centuries (Engler and Werner 2015). Few historical studies draw on the rich field of current famine research. Little is known about the role of non-state actors, of gender, or of the informal economies, entitlements, and relief that inform the sustainable livelihood approach, even though they played a similarly crucial role in premodern societies (Chambers and Conway 1991). The same applies to the vast array of anthropological studies on hunger in non-European societies, even though famine has rightly been described as the ‘great leveller’ (Parker 2013, 695). Its physical and emotional violence reduces the differences between modern and premodern, Western and non-Western societies to the basics, substantially increasing the potential of comparative approaches. Due to these gaps in research, most studies regularly underestimate both the potential and the plurality of premodern crises. This has encouraged claims that earlier famines were predominantly perceived in religious terms or that the mediatisation of catastrophes, the charitable engagement of civil society, or the discourse on disaster ‘victims’ are characteristic only of current events. There is little awareness of the striking plurality of perceptions and practices that link these premodern disasters not to later mono-causal explanations but to the current ‘socionatural’ realignments.

Famine as Boundary Object The ecology of famine constitutes an excellent interdisciplinary research field. It highlights the interactions of the natural environment and social behaviour transgressing disciplinary boundaries. It can be studied in Western and non-Western settings of historical as well as current societies. Its extreme character produces a

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range of sources and data across the societal and natural archives even in areas or epochs that are otherwise poorly documented. Its physical and emotional force reveals socio-ecological arrangements and conflicts that would remain hidden under normal conditions. Famines can therefore be analyzed as Realexperimente. They allow testing societal responses to changes in fields that we cannot usually manipulate on a similar scale, such as the economy, culture, demography, or climate (Groß et al. 2005; Behringer 2015, 9). Because of their unique scope, famines constitute an excellent ‘boundary object’ of transdisciplinary research. It is both robust enough to maintain its uniform features across the disciplines, and plastic enough to organise co-operation and invite interdisciplinary ‘borrowing’ (Star and Griesemer 1989). Because of this pliability to multifactorial research settings, the field is characterised by a ‘natural’ affiliation to other integrative concepts such as Social Ecology or to the Environmental Humanities. However, it also comes with its own methodological approach in the form of Vulnerability Studies, which were developed in response to the increasing antagonisms in famine research during the 1980s. By then the continuation of severe crises in the developing world had raised awareness of man-made factors in famine causation and fostered the opposition of natural and political factors in the FAD versus FED debate. In a bid to return to a more graded approach, Robert Chambers suggested that famine vulnerability has, in fact, ‘two sides: an external side of risks, shocks, and stress to which an individual or household is subject; and an internal side which is defencelessness, meaning a lack of means to cope with damaging loss’ (Chambers 1989, 1). In order to understand these events, both needed to be addressed in their mutual interaction. His approach and terminology was quickly picked up and extended to a systematic conceptual approach. Ecological and cultural factors were added in the equation. The initially static ‘mapping’ of vulnerability soon gave way to a more procedural approach, opening the field to the humanities. Its use has extended from famine research into a wider field that studies human-environment interactions —most notably research on the consequences of climate change. At its core is not a fixed methodology but a specific research perspective: multifactorial rather than mono-causal approaches, dynamic interdependencies rather than rigid determinisms, and an understanding of human-environment relations as entangled rather than conflicted (Collet 2012, 2014). As a result, the research field provides both data and methods for multifactorial approaches that have not yet been applied to their full potential. Their implementation has the potential to address both a class of events that fundamentally shaped historical societies and the current debate on socionatural entanglements.

Famines During the Little Ice Age (1300–1800) The papers in this volume take up this challenge from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds. They are the result of a meeting organised by the research group ‘Environment and Society’ at the Heidelberg Center for the Environment and

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hosted by the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF) in Bielefeld. Focussing on ‘Socio-natural Entanglements in Premodern Societies’, it brought together researchers from the natural and social sciences as well as the humanities studying both European and non-European cases. Collectively, these texts seek to probe ways to integrate the archives of nature with the archives of man. For most of the researchers this meant leaving the comfort zone of their disciplinary settings. They did so with reference to a variety of interdisciplinary concepts (disaster studies, environmental humanities) and methodologies (vulnerability studies, historical climatology). In order to challenge deterministic models of human-environment interaction, the individual studies follow small-scale high-resolution research designs instead of the larger frameworks popular in human-environment research. Taken together they aim at establishing a model for empirical studies on the socio-natural character of historical societies. The case studies begin with events around 1300 to secure a record rich enough to connect data from natural proxies and historical sources. They extend to approximately 1800, in order to focus on agrarian societies where the interaction of natural and social factors is particularly intense and famines were a regular feature. The Little Ice Age was acknowledged as a guiding framework, fully aware of recent criticisms of the concept (Rotberg et al. 2014), considering the increased frequency of extreme weather conditions (LIATE) as more significant than overall trends (Pfister and Brázdil 2006). The Little Ice Age also serves to test our observation that established historical periodisation can be unsettled when environmental issues are included in the equation. In regard to experiencing, perceiving, and dealing with famine, the separation of medieval and early modern (and indeed some later) settings bears little significance. For the same reason, the volume includes case-studies that go beyond the classical arenas of European history. Their addition also reflects the desire to challenge the narratives of the ‘European Miracle’ (Eric Jones) or the ‘Great Divide’ (Kenneth Pomeranz) that place Europe’s supposedly superior mastery of nature and its food regimes at the heart of modern history—a claim increasingly disputed (Scott 1976; Parker 2013). All papers are inspired by three fundamental questions: What ‘archives’, both natural and societal, can provide the necessary data? Which research designs work best at challenging the opposition of natural and cultural factors with multifactorial, dynamic approaches? How can a focus on the entanglement of nature and society reshape our understanding of human-environment relations? Attempting to answer these problems, the case-studies have been grouped into four sections. These trace socionatural interactions on various levels of intensity and proximity. The first methodological unit charts new ‘Interdisciplinary Approaches’. Bruce Campbell argues for an integrative perspective drawing on the disastrous coupling of extreme weather and epidemics in fourteenth century England with developments in the economic and political sphere. He attributes the harrowing consequences of the ensuing crisis to the combined and interdependent impact of these stressors on an already vulnerable society. His study calls for the inclusion not just of climate and society but also of the etiology of epidemics into

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the analysis. Heli Huhtamaa discusses the potential of natural proxies such as dendrochronological records to supplement the study of areas with a limited body of written sources. Using early modern Finland as an example, she demonstrates how integrating serial datasets on tree-ring growth can be linked to historical accounts on prices and demography. Both give formidable examples of highly integrated research designs spanning the natural sciences and the humanities. The second section explores the high-resolution study of ‘Socionatural Entanglements’. Chantal Camenisch investigates the crises of the 1480s and 1490s in Switzerland and the Low Countries. Her combined analysis of narrative and administrative sources as well as grain price series programmatically highlights the confluence of both FAD and FED factors in the evolution of these crises. Rudolf Brázdil, Oldřich Kotyza and Martin Bauch focus on famines in the Czech lands around 1500. They illustrate the momentous interplay of intense biophysical stress with long-term changes in political and economic environments. Steven Serels studies the impact of extreme weather patterns on the pastoral societies of East African coastal regions, demonstrating the broad range of societal responses, adaptations, and appropriations. Besides facilitating a flexible and strategic migration system, the rise of Sufi communities provided spiritual and physical relief, challenged established political regimes, and initiated the conversion of parts of the East African population to Islam. All these essays make use of the broad range of available ‘archives’, ranging from tax reports to tree-rings. While they stress the need to address the differences in resolution and precision of these data sets, they argue for the value of their integration in order to capture the complex socio-natural character and effects of famine events. The third section advances from the identification of exposure to the realm of ‘Coping’ with famines. At this ‘second-tier’ level, interactions are still noticeable and momentous. Andreas Rüther discusses migration as a potential mechanism to deal with the combination of environmental and societal stress. Drawing on the interpretation of the German medieval eastward expansion as a direct response to deteriorating subsistence levels, he indicates the gaps of the historical record on the motivation of migrants and explores the interconnections of multiple stimuli instead. Guido Alfani traces the interaction of political and economic appropriations of environmental pressure in Italy highlighting the diversity of the social responses and economic ‘solutions’ to similar challenges. Jessica Dijkman extends these explorations to rural settings. Her close reading of the records of charitable institutions reveals not only the dynamic adaptation to environmental stress but also high levels of cooperation fostered by these challenges. Andrea de Vincenti analyses the interaction of secular and spiritual authorities in Zurich during the famine of 1771/72. As both sides agreed to a moral interpretation of the event, the environmental shock served as a catalyst for educational and agricultural reform. These case-studies present the potential of integrated, micro-historical approaches that reduce the scope to improve the resolution as natural impacts travel through the complex tiers of social arrangements. The fourth section engages the realm of culture and traces practices of ‘Perceiving and Remembering’. Even though these fields are mediated through

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tradition and convention they prove to be dynamic. As such, they not only reflect the socionatural arrangements of the affected societies but also inform and change their responses. Stephan Ebert examines the interpretation of famine in Carolingian times. He illustrates how the historiographical construction of a vulnerable society served to strengthen spiritual and secular authorities. Maren Schulz investigates the use of processions and their images, whose medial transposition not only processed the need for closure, but also organised a new socio-political agreement of the affected population. The concluding essay by Andrea Fadani explores the material culture of famine. His tour of the material record of museums unlocks objects as another significant historical archive, serving as a potent reminder of the impact these events had on collective memory and revealing the tangible dynamics of remembrance. Together, these essays make the case for an integrative, transdisciplinary approach to historical famine research. Each of the events discussed is attributed to the interplay of multiple stressors rather than one dominant cause. They rate climatic and political, biological and cultural factors not as antagonisms but as communicating spheres that interact and co-develop. They do so not in fixed relations of cause and effect but in dynamic and unexpected forms of entanglement. Depending on local constellations, environmental stress could initiate not just widespread suffering but also cross-confessional collaboration, educational reform, religious conversion, or increased political participation. The societal perceptions, responses and appropriations are characterised by their plurality. However, there are also substantial cross-temporal and -cultural commonalities that link medieval and enlightened as well as Western and non-Western ways of coping. The experience of famine reveals fundamental conflicts grains-based societies and regimes shared across the globe in a highly asymmetrical distribution of risk, resources, and entitlements. Their ecologies are, therefore, best described as ‘embedded’ (Polanyi 1944). The cross-disciplinary ‘borrowing’ of data, methodologies, and perspectives of inquiry practised in this volume allows re-capturing the complex socionatural settings of famine. The volume demonstrates that integrative approaches are now able to draw and expand on a range of recent cross-disciplinary research designs, such as disaster studies, food history, vulnerability studies, and environmental history. It also confirms that there is a growing body of researchers capable of and interested in putting these designs into practice. However, the essays also illustrate that this scope of disciplinary transgression requires a carefully limited field of study. Integrating the different natural and societal ‘archives’ works best in high-resolution, small-scale case-studies. Such an approach yields much needed empirical studies on the effects of extreme events on past societies. It can serve to substantiate a debate that tacitly informs our understanding of the dangers of the current climate change, but has so far been limited to conjectures rather than to in-depth research.

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References Alfani, Guido. 2013. Calamities and Economy in Renaissance Italy. The Grand Tour of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Apt Russell, Sharman. 2005. Hunger. An Unnatural History. Cambride, MA: Basic Books. Bankoff, Greg. 2004. Time is of the Essence. Disasters, Vulnerability and History. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, 22 (3): 23–42. Bankoff, Greg. 2003. Cultures of Disaster. Society and Natural Hazards in the Philippines. London: Routledge Curzon. Behringer, Wolfgang. 2003. Die Krise von 1570. Ein Beitrag zur Krisengeschichte der Frühen Neuzeit. In Um Himmels Willen. Religion in Katastrophenzeiten, ed. Manfred Jakubowski-Tiessen, and Hartmut Lehmann, 51–156. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. Behringer, Wolfgang. 2009. A Cultural History of Climate. New York: Wiley. Behringer, Wolfgang. 2015. Tambora und das Jahr ohne Sommer. Wie ein Vulkan die Welt in die Krise stürzte. München: Beck. Campbell, Bruce. 2016. The Great Transition. Climate, Disease and Society in the Late-Medieval World. Cambridge: University Press. Camporesi, Piero. 1996. Bread of Dreams. Food and Fantasy in Early Modern Europe. Chicago: University Press. Chakrabarty, Dipesh. 2009. The Climate of History. Four Theses. Critical Inquiry 35: 197–222. Chambers, Robert. 1989. Editorial Introduction: Vulnerability, Coping, and Policy. IDS Bulletin 20 (2): 1–7. Chambers, Robert, and Gordon Conway. 1991. Sustainable Rural Livelihoods. Practical Concepts for the 21st Century. IDS discussion paper (296). http://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/ bitstream/handle/123456789/775/Dp296.pdf . Accessed 24 May 2016. Collet, Dominik. 2012. Vulnerabilität als Brückenkonzept der Hungerforschung. In Handeln in Hungerkrisen. Neue Perspektiven auf soziale und klimatische Vulnerabilität, eds. Dominik Collet, Ansgar Schanbacher, and Thore Lassen, 13–26. Göttingen: Universitätsverlag. Collet, Dominik. 2014. Predicting the Past? Integrating Vulnerability, Climate and Culture During Historical Famines. In Grounding Global Climate Change. Contributions from the Social and the Cultural Sciences, eds. Julia Tischler, and Heike Greschke, 39–58. Dordrecht: Springer. Cote, Muriel, and Andrea J. Nightingale. 2012. Resilience Thinking Meets Social Theory. Situating Social Change in Socio-ecological Systems (SES) Research. Progress in Human Geography 36: 475–489. Cullen, Karen J. 2010. Famine in Scotland. The “Ill Years” of the 1690s. Edinburgh: University Press. Cronon, William. 1992. A Place for Stories. Nature, Histories and Narrative. Journal of American History 78: 1347–1376. Davis, Mike. 2001. Late Victorian Holocausts. El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World. London, New York: Verso. Engler, Steven, and Johannes P. Werner. 2015. Processes prior and during the early 18th century Irish famines. Weather extremes and migration. Climate 3: 1035–1056. Fagan, Brian. 2002. The Little Ice Age. How Climate made History 1300–1850. New York: Basic Books. Field, Christopher B. (ed.). 2012. Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation: Special Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: IPCC. Fogel, Robert W. 2004. The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death. Cambridge: University Press. Garnsey, Peter. 1988. Famine and Food Supply in the Graeco-Roman World. Responses to Risk and Crisis. Cambridge: University Press. Grendi, Eduardo. 1977. Microanalisi e storia sociale. Quaderno storici 35: 506–520.

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Groß, Matthias, Holger Hoffmann-Riem, and Wolfgang Krohn (eds.). 2005. Realexperimente: Ökologische Gestaltungsprozesse in der Wissensgesellschaft. Bielefeld: Transcript. Gunderson, Lance, and C. S. Holling (eds.). 2002. Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Systems. Washington, D.C.: Island. Hall, Marcus, Philippe Forêt, Christoph Kueffer, Alison Pouliot, and Caroline Wiedmer. 2015. Seeing the Environment through the Humanities: A New Window on Grand Societal Challenges. GAIA. Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society 24: 134–136. Hoyle, Robert W. 2010. Famine as Agricultural Catastrophe: The Crisis of 1622-4 in East Lancashire. Economic History Review 63: 974–1002. Hulme, Mike. 2011. Reducing the Future to Climate. A Story of Climate Determinism and Reductionism. Osiris 26: 245–266. Johns, Alyssa (ed.) (1999). Dreadful Visitations. Confronting Natural Catastrophe in the Age of Enlightenment. New York: Routledge, Chapman & Hall. Jordan, William Chester. 1996. The Great Famine. Northern Europe in the Early Fourteenth Century. Princeton: University Press. Jörg, Christian. 2008. Teure, Hunger, Großes Sterben. Hungersnöte und Versorgungskrisen in den Städten des Reiches während des 15. Jahrhunderts. Stuttgart: Hiersemann. Jörg, Christian. 2010. Die Besänftigung göttlichen Zorns in karolingischer Zeit. Kaiserliche Vorgaben zu Fasten, Gebet und Buße im zeitlichen Umfeld der Hungersnot von 805/06. Das Mittelalter 15 (1): 38–51. Kaplan, Steven. 1976. Bread, Politics, and Political Economy in the Reign of Louis XV. Den Haag: Martinus Nijhoff. Knoll, Martin. 2013. Die Natur der menschlichen Welt. Siedlung, Territorium und Umwelt in der historisch-topographischen Literatur der Frühen Neuzeit. Bielefeld: Transcript. Krämer, Daniel. 2015. „Menschen grasten nun mit dem Vieh.“ Die letzte grosse Hungerkrise der Schweiz 1816/17. Basel: Schwabe. Lachiver, Marcel. 1991. Les années des misère. La famine au temps du Grand Roi 1680–1720. Paris: Fayard. Lübken, Uwe. 2012. Chasing a Ghost? Environmental Change and Migration in Historical Perspective. Global Environment 9/10: 1–17. Mauch, Christof, and Christian Pfister (eds.). 2009. Natural Disasters, Cultural Responses. Case Studies Toward a Global Environmental History. Plymouth: Lexington. Mauelshagen, Franz. 2010. Klimageschichte der Neuzeit. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft. Monahan, Gregory W. 1993. Year of Sorrows. The Great Famine of 1709 in Lyon. Columbus, OH: Ohio State UP. Montanari, Massimo. 2006. Food is Culture. New York: Columbia UP. Murton, Brian. 2000. Famine. In The Cambridge world history of food, vol. 2, eds. Kenneth F. Kiple and Kriemhild C. Ornelas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1411–1427. Ó Gráda, Cormac. 1999. Black ‘47 and Beyond. The Great Irish Famine in History, Economy, and Memory. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP. Oliver-Smith, Anthony. 2004. Theorizing Vulnerability in a Globalized World. A Political Ecological Perspective. In Mapping Vulnerability. Disasters, Development and People, eds. Greg Bankoff, Dorothea Hilhorst, and Georg Frerks, 10–24. London: Routledge. Parker, Geoffrey. 2013. Global Crisis. War, Climate Change and Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century. New Haven, CN: Yale UP. Pfister, Christian, and Rudolf Brázdil. 2006. Social Vulnerability to Climate in the “Little Ice Age”. An Example from Central Europe in the Early 1770s. Climate of the Past 2: 115–129. Pfister, Christian. 2012. Hunger—Ein interdisziplinäres Problemfeld. Archiv für Sozialgeschichte 28: 382–390. Polanyi, Karl. 1944. The Great Transformation. New York: Farrar & Rinehart. Post, John D. 1990. The Mortality Crisis of the Early 1770s and European Demographic Trends. Journal of Interdisciplinary History 12 (1) 29–62.

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Rohr, Christian. 2007. Extreme Naturereignisse im Ostalpenraum. Naturerfahrung im Spätmittelalter und am Beginn der Neuzeit. Köln, Weimar, Wien: Böhlau. Rotberg, Robert I., Theodore K. Rabb, and Reed Ueda (eds.). 2014. The Little Ice Age: Climate and History Reconsidered. Journal for Interdisciplinary History 44 (3, Special Issue): 299–377. Rozario, Kevin. 2007. The Culture of Calamity. Disaster and the Making of Modern America. Chicago: University Press. Schuh, Maximilian. 2016. Umweltbeobachtungen oder Ausreden? Das Wetter und seine Auswirkungen in den grundherrlichen Rechnungen des Bischofs von Winchester im 14. Jahrhundert. Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung 43: 445–471. Scott, James C. 1976. The Moral Economy of the Peasant. Rebellion and Subsistence in Southeast Asia. New Haven, CN: Yale UP. Sen, Amartya. 1981. Poverty and Famines. An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation. Oxford: Clarendon. Spittler, Gerd. 1989. Handeln in einer Hungerkrise. Tuaregnomaden und die große Dürre von 1984. Opladen: Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Star, Susan and James Griesmeyer. 1989. Institutional Ecology, ‘Translations’ and Boundary Objects: Amateurs and Professionals in Berkeley’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 1907–39. Social Studies of Science 13: 387–420. Thompson, E. P. 1971. The Moral Economy of the English Crowd in the Eighteenth Century. Past and Present 50: 76–136. Vernon, James. 2007. Hunger. A Modern History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP. Walter, François. 2008. Catastrophes. Une histoire culturelle, XVIe–XXIe siècle. Paris: Éd. du Seuil. Wemheuer, Felix. 2012. Der große Hunger. Hungersnöte unter Stalin und Mao. Berlin: Rotbuch. Wheatcroft, Stephen, and R.W. Davies. 2004. The Years of Hunger: Soviet Agriculture 1931–1933. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Willenbockel, Dirk. 2012. Extreme Weather Events and Crop Price Spikes in a Changing Climate. Illustrative Global Simulation Scenarios. Oxford: Oxfam Research Reports. Zwierlein, Cornel. 2015. Return to Premodern Times? Contemporary Security Studies, the Early Modern Holy Roman Empire, and Coping with Achronies. German Studies Review 38 (2): 373–392.

Part II

Interdisciplinary Approaches

Chapter 2

The European Mortality Crises of 1346–52 and Advent of the Little Ice Age Bruce M.S. Campbell

Abstract Between 1315 and 1352 populations in first northern, then southern and finally the whole of Europe succumbed to a succession of devastating mortality crises. These derived from a common episode of climatic instability generated by global processes of climate reorganisation. From the 1330s, climate forcing grew in strength until between 1342 and 1353 all parts of Eurasia were experiencing exceptional levels of environmental stress. This was the context for the poor harvest of 1346 in northern Europe and failed harvest of that same year in southern Europe, plus concurrent arrival of plague in the Crimea following is long westward migration from its reservoir region in the Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau of western China. In Europe the human impact of this conjuncture of climatic and biological extremes was amplified by escalating warfare and onset of a severe commercial recession. The notorious mortality crises of 1346–52 thus emerge as a multi-causal and multi-dimensional disaster. Keywords Climate change Plague 1340s







Extreme weather




Harvest failure




Famine




The innate seasonal and annual variability of weather in temperate Europe meant that harvest shortfalls were an unavoidable feature of pre-industrial economic life. Moreover, the effect of the transition to the atmospheric circulation patterns of the Little Ice Age (LIA) was to heighten that variability. In England, for instance, during the 200 years spanning both the Wolf (c. 1282–1342) and the greater part of the Spörer (c. 1416–1534) solar minima (Stuiver and Quay 1980), between 1270 and 1480, one grain-harvest in nine delivered a net yield at least 20% below trend (Campbell and Ó Gráda 2011, 865). Especially to be dreaded were the back-to-back failures of this magnitude that occurred on average two to three times a century, for, at the least, these caused serious subsistence crises and, at the worst, major famines, when populations suffered a net loss as fertility slumped and mortality soared. In these B.M.S. Campbell (&) The Queen’s University of Belfast, Belfast, UK e-mail: [email protected] © Springer International Publishing AG 2018 D. Collet and M. Schuh (eds.), Famines During the ‘Little Ice Age’ (1300–1800), DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54337-6_2

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crisis situations, deaths from starvation and hunger-related diseases reflected both the absolute supply-side deficiency of food and the demand-side inability of many of the poorest and most vulnerable individuals and households to gain licit access to such food stocks as were available. Social and economic factors, therefore, in the absence of effective institutional counter measures, typically compounded and sometimes greatly amplified the human consequences of bad weather. Agricultural producers obviously did what they could to mitigate the risks of harvest failure by cultivating a mix of winter-sown and spring-sown crops and combining arable with pastoral husbandry but were effectively powerless when confronted by extreme weather events that depressed output across the board and over a geographically extensive area. High storage costs meant that carryovers of food stocks from one year to the next were always small and were soon exhausted when harvests failed in consecutive years. Prior to the development of long-distance bulk supply networks that tapped into different climatic zones, external sources of relief food supplies were limited and costly to obtain, especially for inland localities lacking cheap water transport. Major cities often succeeded in securing relief grain supplies, their rural hinterlands did not (Jordan 1996, 146–147, 161–162; Keene 2011; Jansen 2009, 22–23). Inadequate transport infrastructures, imperfect markets, ineffective governments, significant numbers of households and individuals living below the poverty line, and the want of systematic welfare provision beyond Christian charity all meant that malnutrition became rife and excess deaths difficult to prevent when harvests failed in successive years. Late-medieval chroniclers commonly commented upon the links between bad weather, poor harvests, high food prices, hunger, and famine deaths among poor people (Schofield 2013, 74–76). Verification of these assertions is provided by independent palaeo-climatic evidence of weather conditions, the historical record of grain harvests and prices, and occasional archaeological finds of mass burials of economically, socially and demographically marginalised individuals (Connell et al. 2012), notably malnourished parentless, landless and jobless young males and females. In England the acute scarcities of 1202–1204, 1258 and 1295/96, all of them the result of back-to-back harvest failures, are well documented (Campbell 2016, 57, 61, 201–202), as are those of 1282 and 1286 in Tuscany (Herlihy 1967, 123). In each case annual prices of staple bread grains rose by between 50 and 100%. These thirteenth-century crises occurred notwithstanding the still prevailing relatively stable and benign climatic conditions of the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the momentum of economic expansion established by the medieval commercial revolution (Campbell 2016, 30–133), which demonstrates that setbacks could and did occur even at the best of times. Significantly, none of these thirteenth-century subsistence crises constituted more than a temporary interruption to the strongly rising population trends then prevailing in England, Italy and Europe as a whole (Fig. 2.1). On the contrary, over the course of that century Europe’s population grew by over a third and Italy’s and England’s by approximately half. In fact, on the bishop of Winchester’s large multi-manorial complex of Taunton in Somerset the 1258 food crisis had no observable effect upon the rising numbers of adult males in tithing and even during the more straitened

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conditions of the 1290s numbers of recorded males held more-or-less steady, before rising to a temporal peak in the 1310s (Titow 1961, 224, revised by Christopher Thornton). No matter how grim these thirteenth-century famines may have been for those exposed to them, demographically and economically they were essentially transitory events. Not so the famines and harvest failures of the next century. During the first half of the fourteenth century serious harvest failures occurred in increasingly close succession in both northern and southern Europe and, in both regions, at the point when population growth ceased and decline set in (Fig. 2.1). The greatest of these famines have consequently acquired a prominence in the historiography of the period, especially in those neo-Malthusian analyses that emphasise the imbalances that had arisen between population and available resources on the one hand and the diminishing returns to both land and labour on the other (Abel 1935, 1980; Postan 1966; Hatcher and Bailey 2001, 21–65). By any standard they were certainly unusually severe events, whether measured by the sheer scale of the precipitating food-availability decline, the magnitude of the consequent socio-economic stress, or the numbers of those who perished (Campbell 2010, 284– 313). Levels of price inflation were unprecedented (Fig. 2.2a) and the real wage rates paid alike to building labourers (Fig. 2.2b) and farm labourers plunged to their lowest levels on historical record (Munro no date; Clark 2007, 2009). During the Great Northern European Famine of 1315–1318, so great was the mismatch between supply and demand that in England, in breach of thirteenth-century precedent, oats prices doubled and those of barley and wheat trebled (Fig. 2.2a). That substantial excess mortality occurred both here and across northern Europe is beyond doubt, with the worst affected communities and regions sustaining net population losses of approximately 10% (Jordan 1996, 117–122, 146–148; Campbell 2009, 42–44). A dozen years later, in 1329/30, it was southern Europe’s turn to suffer. Here, too, the scale of the harvest shortfall sent prices soaring and the purchasing power of labourers’ daily wage rates tumbling (Fig. 2.2a, b). In hard-pressed Florence only determined action by the civic authorities in the form of the bulk purchase of imported southern Italian grain and subsidised sale of bread baked in the commune’s own ovens prevented the situation from escalating out of hand (Jansen 2009). Few other cities, however, proved to be as resourceful (Herlihy 1967, 124) and problems were particularly acute in the countryside where most people had to fend for themselves. Mean annual growth rate European population

80 60

0.11

0.11

40 20 0

0.15

0.40 0.30

0.31

0.30 0.20 0.13

0.09

0.00

0.02 -

600

700

0.10

800

900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1340

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-0.10

% annual growth rate

100

Total European population (millions)

Fig. 2.1 Estimated total European population and average annual growth rates, AD 600–1340 (Source Biraben 1979, 16)

B.M.S. Campbell

Indexed wheat price (log scale)

(a) 400

1.0

200

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100

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25 1300

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1320

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Years 11-year correlation Tuscany : England

Tuscany

England

200

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1323

50 1300

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1346 1351-2

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1310

1320

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1340

1350

Correlation coefficients (11-year periods)

Indexed real wage rates (log scale)

(b)

Years 11-year correlation Tuscany : England

England

Tuscany

Fig. 2.2 a Indexed annual English and Tuscan wheat prices (100 = mean 1310–49) and the correlation between them (11-year periods, end-year plotted) (Sources Farmer 1988, 790–1, 1991, 502; Malanima no date). b Indexed annual English and Tuscan building labourers’ daily real wage rates (100 = mean 1310–49) and the correlation between them (11-year periods, end-year plotted) (Sources Munro no date; Malanima 2012)

It is difficult to deny that these great crises arose in part because of the enlarged proportion of the population living on or below the poverty line, as defined by the ability to afford the more abundant and better quality respectability basket of consumables rather than some version of the inferior bare-bones consumption basket (Broadberry et al. 2015, 215–216, 328–330). The cumulative effect of generations of population growth (Fig. 2.1) had reduced many in the countryside to the status of semi-landless small holders, while the populations of most towns and cities had been swollen by an influx of landless rural migrants (Rutledge 1988, 28; Kowaleski 2014, 593–596). In England by the close of the thirteenth century, where average population densities were more than double the European average and maximum densities, at over 60 per km2, were four times that average (Campbell and Barry 2014, 66–68), small holders, cottagers, agricultural labourers and rural artisans collectively accounted for over three-quarters of all rural households. Together, they occupied just a third of all the arable land and received less than half

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of total rural incomes (Campbell 2016, 168–170). Processes of subdivision, sub-letting and piecemeal reclamation had stoked the multiplication of these immiserated households and the morcellation of the holdings from which they struggled to eke out a living, augmented by whatever else they could earn from casual labouring and an assortment of by-employments (Campbell 2005). The situation was little different in rural Tuscany and was especially pronounced in northern France and the southern Low Countries, where population densities often exceeded 70 per km2 (Pounds 1973, 332, 337; van Bavel 2010, 283). By the 1330s Guy Bois (1984, 287) considers that three-quarters of the population of Normandy were “wretched smallholders with 1–2 acres of land”. Survival of numbers of these households was threatened whenever harvests failed, prices soared, wage-earning opportunities withered and tax demands rose. The challenge of economic survival would have been less acute had market-generated economic growth of the sort envisaged by Adam Smith created supplementary means of earning a livelihood outside of agriculture. That, after all, had been the case for much of the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries when Europe’s demographic expansion had been underpinned by an equally dynamic commercial revolution (Lopez 1971; Campbell 2016, 85–130). But from the 1290s the European economy was in the grip of a deepening commercial recession which reinforced the traditional economic reliance upon primary production and fed the hunger for land. Responsible were military and commercial setbacks in the Levant; a tightening Mamluk monopoly upon Red Sea trade with India and the Orient; punitive papal embargoes upon Christian trade with the Sultan of Egypt; interference by the French Crown in the hitherto politically neutral operation of the Champagne Fairs and discrimination against the many Flemish and Italian merchants who traded there; the increasing risks to trade and traders almost everywhere presented by armies, war bands, brigands, pirates and corsairs; and successive bankruptcy of the Sienese and Florentine banking companies (Campbell 2016, 135– 142). Traffic still flowed along Europe’s commercial arteries, and those that connected Europe with Asia, but it was reduced in volume and subject to higher tolls. It also increasingly fell foul of the depredations of rent-seeking lords and war-mongering monarchs. Figure 2.3a illustrates some of the more quantifiable of these developments: a fall of at least 75% in the seigniorial revenues generated by the English international fairs of St. Giles Winchester and St. Ives (Huntingdonshire) between 1285 and the 1340s; an 80% reduction in tax receipts from the Champagne Fairs between 1295 and 1340; a halving of the rental values of Cheapside property in central London between 1305 and 1335; a 73% decline in the value of English overseas trade handled by alien merchants between 1300 and 1335; and (Fig. 2.3b) an upsurge in English net tax receipts following Edward III’s declaration of war against France in 1337. Collectively, this evidence leaves little doubt that national and international trade had declined to a particularly low ebb by the 1330s and 1340s. As Munro (1991, 120–130) has highlighted, deteriorating security on the old trans-Alpine overland routes, piracy on the alternative but more circuitous and costly shipping route between the Mediterranean and North Sea, and the manifold delays,

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(a)

Tax receipts from 5 of the 6 Champagne Fairs Real gross receipts from St Giles Fair, Winchester Real court receipts from St Ives Fair Real rental values Cheapside London Value of English overseas trade by alien merchants

Indexed value (100 = 1280-84)

125 100 75 50 25 0 1285

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Invasion of france

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500 Anglo-French war

0 1285

1295

1305

1315

1325

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Fig. 2.3 a Indicators of contracting international commerce, 1285–1345 (Sources Edwards and Ogilvie 2012, 137; Titow 1987, 64–5; Moore 1985, 208; Keene 1984; Lloyd 1982, 210–24). b England: total deflated net receipts from direct and indirect taxation, 1285–1349 (Source Ormrod 2010)

disruptions and upsets of war were increasing risks all round and therefore greatly elevating transaction costs. This narrowed the range of commodities capable of being traded for a profit at a distance at the very time that overseas markets were themselves becoming less accessible to European merchants. The most obvious casualty was the cheap, light northern cloth once manufactured and traded in quantity to Mediterranean markets. By the second quarter of the fourteenth century English manufacture of these textiles was in advanced decline and Flemish producers were switching to high-quality luxury woollens, although this provided only partial compensation for loss of the once profitable says manufactory (Munro 1991, 110–116, 1999). Since textile manufacture was northern Europe’s single largest industrial source of employment, legions of households found their livelihoods squeezed or jeopardised. This, of course, had negative multiplier effects for many other activities. Europe’s long commercial boom was over and self-reinforcing economic decline was eroding employment opportunities, depressing earnings and

Indexed GDP/head (100 = mean 1340s)

2 The European Mortality Crises of 1346–52

25 England Italy Spain (11 year m.a.)

125.0 $1,712

112.5 $844 $1,541 $883

100.0 $880

$738

87.5

75.0 1250

1270

1290

1310

1330

Years

Fig. 2.4 Indexed GDP per head England (1252–1349), Spain (1282–1349) and the centre and north of Italy (1310–1349) (Sources Broadberry et al. 2015, 227–229 with additional estimates by Bas van Leeuwen; Álvarez-Nogal and Prados de la Escosura 2013, 14; Malanima 2011, 205)

depleting the limited welfare resources available to relieve food crises: the social and demographic consequences of harvest failure were increasingly grave. These were not materially rich societies to begin with and even the most successful—Flanders and the centre and north of Italy—were undoubtedly becoming poorer. For the latter, Malanima (2011) has made annual estimates of national income. These indicate a 16% contraction in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per head between 1310 and 1347, from over $1700 to barely $1400 ($1990 international), with notable, mostly harvest-driven, downturns in 1322/23, 1329/30, 1339 and 1346 superimposed upon this declining trend (Fig. 2.4). The worst year of all, 1346, when the last of the great Florentine mercantile societies finally failed (Hunt and Murray 1999, 116–117), was also a year of harvest crisis (Herlihy 1967, 105). The city’s diminished finances meant that relieving that putative famine presented a far greater challenge than the earlier and more acute shortfall of 1329/30 (Jansen 2009). England was barely half as rich as the centre and north of Italy and its service and industrial sectors were correspondingly less developed (Broadberry et al. 2015, 194–196, 374–375). It was a comparatively poor economy specialising in primary production with most value-added activities geared towards domestic consumption. Its GDP per head ranged between peaks of around $900 in the most prosperous years of the third quarter of the thirteenth century and troughs of less than $700 when murrain devastated the national wool clip and bad weather ruined harvests. National income growth failed to match population growth for most of the second half of the thirteenth century but GDP per head then recovered somewhat as population growth eased. Thereafter, during the first half of the fourteenth century, the economy bottomed out and a state of zero growth prevailed punctuated by the sharp contractions of 1315/16, 1321 and 1339 (Fig. 2.4). In such a poor society, so heavily dependent upon agriculture for food, industrial raw materials and export earnings, it is hardly surprising that agricultural output failures should have squeezed national income hard. It is perhaps more surprising that each crisis was

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followed by a recovery to the status quo ante. Recovery to the modest prosperity of the 1250s, however, required more sustained growth and under the commercial, economic and demographic circumstances then prevailing that proved unattainable. The Spanish economy similarly appears to have been locked into a state of zero growth (Fig. 2.4). Its GDP per head of less than $900 remained much the same in the 1340s as it had been in the 1280s. Unlike England, land-abundant and labour-scarce Spain’s lack of growth had little to do with resource constraints and much more with Europe’s general loss of commercial dynamism at this time (Álvarez-Nogal and Prados de la Escosura 2013). For an economy at its level of development, coping with significant harvest shortfalls, as in 1301, 1331–1333 and especially 1344–1347, posed a significant challenge (Oliva Herrer 2013, 97–102, 106–109). For these and other countries, war was a key ingredient of the deteriorating economic situation and greatly aggravated the plight of populations during some of the most testing of these years. For example, in 1296 the heavy taxes that underwrote Edward I’s invasion of Scotland compounded the hardship arising from the run of seven consecutive poor harvests from 1289 to 1295 (Figs. 2.3b and 2.6a) (Schofield 1997). Thirty years later, during the washout harvests of the Great Northern European Famine, fortunes were reversed and England became the target of hit-and-run Scottish raids following Edward II’s crushing defeat at the Battle of Bannockburn in June 1314 (McNamee 1997, 72–122, 169–186; Campbell 2010, 290–291). Distracted by the Scots pouring south over the border, there was little the royal government could do to alleviate the disaster of famine unfolding at home beyond enforcing traditional regulatory measures on baking and brewing, encouraging grain imports and prohibiting exports (Sharp 2013). This did, however, provide a precedent for future government responses to dearth and famine. Those in the north of England who bore the brunt of both the Scottish attacks and the relentlessly wet weather naturally suffered the worst, especially as local civic and ecclesiastical infrastructures of relief and stocks of grain fell victim to the raiders (Kershaw 1973, 14–16, 25–26; Sharp 2013, 631). The situation in the Lordship of Ireland was even graver, for in 1315 it had been invaded by a Scottish army ruthlessly intent upon living off the land and destroying the Lordship’s capability to support English military activity in Scotland. Financially and demographically, the Lordship of Ireland never fully recovered from this double disaster (Lydon 1987). Ireland’s experience was not unique. Across Europe, wars fought for a mixture of dynastic, feudal, political, religious, territorial and commercial reasons were on the increase (Munro 1991, 121–127). Everywhere they disrupted trade and commerce, drove up transaction costs, diverted scarce resources to military ends, bankrupted creditors, destroyed capital stock, undermined such limited welfare resources as were available, spread diseases and generally added to the misery of many. Militarily, probably no decade was more punitive in these respects than the 1340s, as bitter and ruinous conflicts erupted between rival Christian dynasties and states, between Christians and Muslims, and between competing Mongol and Muslim khanates (Campbell 2016, 267–276). In the west, England invaded France and Scotland invaded England. In the south, the old rivalries and conflicts

2 The European Mortality Crises of 1346–52

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continued between the Guelphs and Ghibellines and the Genoese and the Venetians, Florence fought Pisa for control of Lucca, and in southern Italy and Sicily the Angevins fought the Aragonese. To the east, the Byzantine Empire succumbed to a debilitating civil war, to the advantage of the encircling power of the Ottomans. On the Black Sea, the Venetians at Tana and Genoese at Kaffa fell foul of the Kipchak Khanate. In Persia and Syria the Kipchak Khanate fought the Il-Khanate and the Il-Khanate fought the Egyptian Mamluk Sultanate. And in the eastern Mediterranean the papacy enforced its embargo on Christian trade with Muslims and especially the Egyptians. These conflicts, and the crime, piracy and brigandage which they spawned, drove the international commercial economy deeper into recession (Figs. 2.3a and 2.4) and, for those directly or indirectly ensnared in them, heightened the susceptibility to major harvest failures. The situation would have been serious enough if the risk of harvest failure had remained constant but, instead, that risk was increasing as climatic instability, and the concomitant incidence of extreme weather events, rose. By the 1270s the era of high solar irradiance responsible for the Medieval Climate Anomaly had ended and as the Wolf Solar Minimum started to bite (Fig. 2.5) the transition began to the cooler global temperatures and altered and less stable atmospheric circulation patterns that characterised the LIA (Campbell 2016, 2–6, 198–208). As Fig. 2.5 illustrates, the year-on-year variability of temperatures, rainfall and growing conditions increased, as expressed by the rising variance of annual northern hemisphere and North Atlantic sea-surface temperatures, the band widths of a Scottish speleothem (a proxy for annual precipitation), and the ring widths of British Isles oaks Wolf Solar Minimum

Oort Solar Minimam

1365.50

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1150

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Decades Total Solar Irradiance N Atlantic SST British Isles oaks ring widths Mean variance

N Hemisphere temperatures Scottish speleothem band widths English grain yield ratios

Fig. 2.5 Total Solar Irradiance and percentage variance as an indicator of the level of environmental instability, 1000–1399. Total Solar Irradiance is the mean of the chronologies derived from ice cores and tree rings. Variance is calculated for 51-year (grain yields 25-year) moving periods and end-year plotted, then 5-year smoothed. The variance of grain yields is for a combined index of wheat, barley and oats yields gross of tithes and net of seed (Sources Delaygue and Bard 2010; Vieira et al. 2011; Mann et al. 2008; Proctor et al. 2002; British Isles oaks ring widths (25-series master chronology), data supplied by M.G.L. Baillie; Campbell 2007)

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50

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< DRIER Precipitation WETTER >

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Growrth downturn 1343-53

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Years World 12

European 4

Eurasian 8

and yields per seed of southern English grain crops (proxies for growing conditions). In all five of these independently estimated paleo-climatic proxy series the amplitude of annual variations was becoming magnified, resulting in a doubling, on average, of the level of variance between the 1320s and 1350s. In northwestern Europe this meant that the weather was becoming more unsettled, bringing heightened ecological stress and an increased risk of harvest failure and crop and

2 The European Mortality Crises of 1346–52

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JFig. 2.6 a Percentage variance of, and percentage deviations from trend in, English net grain

yields per unit area, 1270–1359. b Scottish precipitation index (100 = mean 1270–1359) based on the band widths of a speleothem from Cnoc nan Uamh Cave, 1270–1399, and percentage variance of those band widths. c Ring widths of temperate trees as a proxies for global, Eurasian and European growing conditions, 1270–1359. Notes a Net grain yields are gross of tithes and net of seed; yields of wheat, barley, and oats are combined using the ratio 2:1:1. a and b Percentage variance of grain yields and speleothem band widths is calculated for 25-year moving periods and end-year plotted. c The 4 European chronologies are European oaks, Fenoscandian pines, Polar Urals pines and Alpine conifers; the 4 Asian chronologies are Tien Shan junipers, Qinghai junipers, Mongolian Siberian larch and Siberian Siberian larch; the 4 non-Eurasian chronologies are North American bristlecone pine, Chilean and Argentinan fitzroya, New Zealand cedars and Tasmanian huon pine. All chronologies are indexed on 1300–99 and standardised to have the same coefficient of variation. (Sources Campbell 2007; Campbell and Ó Gráda 2011, 866; Proctor et al. 2002; European oak and pine, Siberian larch, North American bristlecone pine, Chilean and Argentinan fitzroya, New Zealand cedars and Tasmanian huon pine chronologies supplied by M. G.L. Baillie; Tien Shan juniper chronology supplied by Jan Esper; other chronologies from Büntgen et al. 2011; Yang et al. 2014; Jacoby et al. no date)

livestock diseases in its train. For the growing numbers living close to the margin of subsistence, life was becoming increasingly precarious. In effect, climate change was elevating the risks of serious supply-side food shortages at precisely the time that population pressure, commercial and economic contraction and escalating warfare were rendering society less able to cope with them (Campbell 2016, 253– 261). English harvests of wheat, barley and oats are exceptionally well documented across this pivotal period by annual manorial accounts and a small but significant corpus of tithe accounts (Fig. 2.7a). Figure 2.6a plots the combined net yield per unit area of the winter and spring grains (wheat, barley and oats, weighted using the ratio 2:1:1) as percentage deviations from trend, together with the variance calculated on the raw data for moving 25-year periods and end-year plotted. The consecutive sub-standard yields of 1289–1295, culminating in the back-to-back failures of 1294/95, when harvests were respectively 12% and 14% below trend, show up clearly. A lull of 20 years then followed, when variance declined, there were no back-to-back shortfalls, and the 1304 harvest alone was seriously deficient, with an 18.5% shortfall. The washout harvests of 1315–1317, respectively 25, 47 and 12% below trend, were therefore effectively bolts from the blue (Fig. 2.6a). These are the shortfalls responsible for the Great Northern European Famine of these years, when inflation of grain prices reached unprecedented levels (Fig. 2.2a), environmentally induced sheep murrains devastated flocks and depressed wool output, and the Great European Cattle Panzootic began is inexorable westward spread through the mixed-farming regions of northern Europe from Bohemia in 1316, to England in 1319 and eventually Ireland in 1321 (Newfield 2009, 159–163). The 32% harvest shortfall of 1321 (Fig. 2.6a) represents the sting-in-the-tail of this extended seven-year crisis, which stands out as the first and geographically most widespread famine of the LIA in northern Europe. Northern Europe’s loss was, however, southern Europe’s gain, for the latter was spared the inclement weather and, instead, experienced bumper harvests, as manifest in the low Tuscan wheat prices of 1316,

30

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Indexed value (100 = mean 1340-9)

(a) 200

150

100

50

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Durham tithes

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Indexed value (100 = mean 1300-49)

(b)

75

0 1310

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Years Net grain yield per unit area Farm labourers' real wage rate GDP/head

Building labourers' real wage rate Grain price

Fig. 2.7 a English grain harvests (100 = mean 1340–49), 1310–59. b English grain yields, grain prices, the daily real wage rates of farm labourers and building labourers, and GDP per head, 1310–59. Notes a Wheat, barley and oats yields per seed are gross of tithes and net of seed. b Grain yields per unit area are gross of tithes and net of seed; yields of wheat, barley, and oats are combined using the ratio 2:1:1 (Sources Campbell 2007; tithe data for Hambledon, Hants., and Co. Durham parishes supplied by Ben Dodds; Farmer 1988, 790–1, 1991, 502; Munro no date; Clark 2009; Broadberry et al. 2015, 227–229)

1317 and 1322 and shipments of grain from the Mediterranean to northern Europe (Fig. 2.2a). The contrast between weather and harvest conditions in England and Tuscany at this time is evident in the strong negative correlation of at least −0.5 that prevailed between wheat prices in the two countries until 1325 (Fig. 2.2a). The twenty years that followed the Great Northern European Famine were entirely different from those that had preceded it. The variance of English grain yields rose significantly, as harvests swung between bad and good, but with abundant harvests, including the back-to-back bumper harvests of 1325–1327 and 1337/38, outnumbering deficient (Fig. 2.6a). At the same time notable Tuscan

2 The European Mortality Crises of 1346–52

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wheat-price spikes in 1329–1331, 1335/36, 1340/41 and 1347 indicate that southern Europe was now being penalised by repeatedly bad and unseasonable weather (Fig. 2.2a). More intriguingly, the correlation between wheat prices in Tuscany and England swung from negative to positive (Fig. 2.2a). Given the worsening commercial and economic environment, especially the rising transaction costs in international trade, it seems improbable that this price correlation is to be explained by closer integration of southern and northern European grain markets. Instead, stronger climate forcing and onset of autocorrelation between northern and southern European weather patterns are the more likely over-arching causes. Thus, from 1328 to 1333, while wet weather was ruining harvests in southern Europe (and boosting growth of Atlantic cedars in northern Morocco (Esper et al. 2009), English grain producers were experiencing a mixture of cold, hard winters and unusually dry summers: hence the poor English harvests of 1328 and 1331 but bumper harvest of 1333 (Fig. 2.6a, b). Again, in 1339 bitter winter cold in northern Europe proved to be the counterpart of excessive rain in southern Europe and triggered a sharp rise in wheat prices in both regions, albeit with southern producers getting the worst of the deal (Fig. 2.2a). 1346 was another bad harvest year in both regions. But whereas Florentine chronicler Giovanni Villani lamented, “not in a hundred years had there been such a bad harvest of grain and fodder and wine and oil and everything else in this country as there was in this year […] all because of too much rain” (Jansen 2009, 22), on the Winchester estates in southern England it was a wet winter followed by an extended summer drought that depressed grain yields (Titow 1961, 399–400). Crucially, therefore, and in direct contrast to the situation in 1315– 17, by the 1330s and 1340s when the weather turned bad the whole of Europe seems to have been adversely affected to some degree and in one way or another. If wheat prices are taken as a crude proxy of harvests, the consistently strong positive correlation between Tuscan and English wheat prices from 1334 to 1349 implies that climate forcing of growing conditions across the continent had become exceptionally marked (Fig. 2.2a). The annual band widths of a speleothem from the Cnoc nan Uamh cave system in northwestern Scotland capture the marked changes in atmospheric circulation and associated precipitation that were taking place (Fig. 2.6b), as the North Atlantic Oscillation weakened, polar high pressure became more dominant and the North Atlantic winter westerlies shifted south (Proctor et al. 2002; Trouet et al. 2009). Scottish rainfall in 1321 was the lowest in 100 years, 1329–1333 (when Morocco experienced the wettest weather in at least three centuries) were drier still, and 1339, when deep winter cold enveloped the whole of Britain (Britton 1937, 139; Titow 1961, 396–397), the driest year in over 250 years. This trend towards colder and drier winters was, however, fitful, with the result that the variance of speleothem band widths rose dramatically throughout the 1320s and 1330s, to a peak in the early 1340s (Figs. 2.5 and 2.6b). Instability was exceptionally pronounced during that environmentally most stressful of decades: 1342 delivered the lowest rainfall since the 1070s but then in 1348 and 1349 the winter westerlies rebounded to their previous strength (Fig. 2.6b) and mild, wet, cyclonic winter weather briefly returned once again.

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Contemporaries were well aware that the weather was behaving in unusual ways. As the Paris Medical Faculty reported in October 1348 (Horrox 1994, 161): For some time the seasons have not succeeded each other in the proper way. Last winter was not as cold as it should have been, with a great deal of rain; the spring windy and latterly wet. Summer was late, not as hot as it should have been, and extremely wet – the weather very changeable from day to day, and hour to hour; the air often troubled, and then still again, looking as if it was going to rain but then not doing so. Autumn too was very rainy and misty.

What they could not have known was that they were living through an episode of global climate reorganisation as the cumulative effects of the Wolf Solar Minimum reached their climax (Fig. 2.5). The climate changes then afoot had a depressing effect upon tree growth in temperate zones around the world. Twelve master dendrochronologies—four from Europe, four from northern Asia, one from North America and three from the southern hemisphere—collectively identify the years from 1343 to 1353 as a time of significantly reduced growth (Baillie 2000, 62–65; Baillie 2006, 33–38), with 1348 the nadir of that downturn (Fig. 2.6c). It is therefore unsurprising that in England the worst grain harvests on medieval record occurred at precisely this time (Fig. 2.6b) (Campbell 2009, 43–6). Measured against trend, net grain yields per unit area were 10% below average in 1346 and then consistently deficient for the six consecutive years from 1349 to 1354, before failing again in 1356 (Fig. 2.6a). In a double back-to-back (i.e. three-in-a-row) failure of unprecedented proportions, the harvests of 1349–51 fell short by, respectively, 37, 48 and 30%. In 1350 the absolute grain yield per acre averaged a dismal 3.76 bushels per acre, the lowest of any year on record until the bitterly cold 1460s and 10% below the previous minimum of 4.16 bushels in the famine year of 1316. In fact, in their scale and duration the 1349–1354 harvest shortfalls eclipsed those responsible for the Great Northern European Famine of 1315–1317 (Figs. 2.6a and 2.7a). The same was true of tithe receipts recorded on the Hampshire manor of Hambledon, while those obtained on a group of County Durham manors confirm the magnitude of the drop in output in 1349–1351 and 1356/57 (Fig. 2.7a). Yet, as massive as the supply-side failure was with winter-sown and spring-sown grains both equally affected, the price response was neither as immediate nor as dramatic as it had been in 1316 to 1318 (Fig. 2.7b). In part, this was because prices were initially restrained by monetary deflation, whereas those in 1316 to 1318 had been boosted by inflation, but it also reflected the fact that harvest failure had been accompanied by plague, so that demand contracted concurrently with supply. Indeed, the massive mortality of demesne managers and workers (in the south and southwest of England in 1348 and the rest of the country in 1349) undermined efforts to bring in the harvest and reinforced the negative effects of the adverse growing conditions upon grain production. Nevertheless, given the compelling independent evidence now available of the unstable and abnormal weather conditions prevailing at this time (Figs. 2.5 and 2.6b, c), there can be little doubt that had plague not intervened society would have become the victim of another “great

2 The European Mortality Crises of 1346–52

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famine” (Campbell 2011, 144–147), rendered all the harsher by the prevailing toxic mix of war, financial meltdown, commercial recession, economic contraction, shrinking employment and burgeoning poverty. In southern Europe the major back-to-back harvest failure of 1346/47 marks the onset of this extended multi-dimensional crisis (Fig. 2.2). It was the latest of a succession of serious harvest shortfalls precipitated by the southerly shift in westerly rain-bearing winds and for Italy its timing could not have been worse, for the economic fortunes of this once thriving commercial economy were in advanced decline. GDP per head and the real wage rates of building labourers had been trending down for at least 30 years (Fig. 2.4), as rising transaction costs squeezed profits on its overseas trade, vital Levantine markets were lost, and a series of international credit crises reduced numbers of its leading merchant banks to bankruptcy. Italy may have remained the richest economy in Europe but, as its service and manufacturing sectors contracted, more and more households found their livelihoods compromised. Urban artisans were particularly vulnerable to shrinking employment, falling wages and rising food prices, to the concern of the more responsible civic authorities. Florence, its financial resources depleted by a futile war with Pisa, was not alone in finding that the demand for relief was in excess of its ability to match it (Jansen 2009, 22–23). Nor was there any imminent prospect of any easing of the straitened economic situation. The Flemish economy (Italy’s leading northern European trading partner) was in even worse shape, Edward III was manipulating the English wool export trade to his own political ends, tough papal embargoes were squeezing the vital Venetian spice trade with Egypt, the Ottomans were continuing to encroach upon the shrinking rump of the Byzantine Empire, war was disrupting traffic along the Silk Road from China, and the Italian Black Sea colonies of Tana and Kaffa were under attack by Khan Jani Beg. Most ominously of all, in 1346 plague (Yersinia pestis) finally reached the Crimea from its core reservoir region of the Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau in Western China (Cui and others 2013) and over the course of the next 18 months was transmitted to Constantinople, the ports of the Aegean, Alexandria in Egypt, and, by autumn 1347, Sicily (Benedictow 2004, 61; Benedictow 2010, 585–587). Infection of Italy and Croatia followed and eventually, by November 1347, plague reached Marseille, striking at communities still recovering from the effects of the poor weather and harvest shortfalls of 1346/47. Punitively heavy mortality ensued. The situation was scarcely better in northern Europe. Here, the poor harvest of 1346 accompanied a significant escalation in the dynastic and feudal conflict between England and France, necessitating renewed heavy tax demands in both countries (Fig. 2.3b). Normandy bore the brunt of a full-scale English military invasion, crowned with the successful siege of Harfleur and, in August of that year, crushing defeat of the French at the Battle of Crécy. Bois (1984, 277) believes that it was from this point that the once prosperous Norman economy began its long-term implosion. Scotland, Flanders, Spain and Italy all became directly or indirectly embroiled in this conflict in one way or another and in October defeat of a Scottish counter invasion of northern England and capture of Scots king David II similarly placed Scotland at the mercy of the English. Two years later plague struck

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Indexed value (1300s = 100)

all the combatants and in 1349 and 1350, as cold and wet weather ruined crops (Figs. 2.6b and 2.7a), spread far and wide throughout northern Europe, everywhere with the same devastating demographic consequences. Among this conjuncture of adverse human and environmental circumstances, none was more unfortunate than the advent of plague. Where earlier harvest shortfalls and famines had for the most part been transitory events, plague’s intrusion into the human-environment equation transformed the agricultural output failure of the late 1340s and early 1350s into a watershed event (Figs. 2.7b and 2.8). This double environmental disaster was no mere coincidence. The serial harvest shortfalls and eruption of the Second Plague Pandemic sprang from a common episode of acute environmental stress generated by processes of global climate re-organisation felt right the way across Eurasia (Campbell 2016, 277–289): witness the synchronous downturn in temperate tree growth across the Old World (Fig. 2.6c). Biological evidence incriminates the Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau in Western China as the most likely reservoir region from which the strain of Yersinia pestis responsible for the Black Death emerged around the time that the Medieval Climate Anomaly ended and the Wolf Solar Minimum began (Cui et al. 2013). Within this semi-arid continental region, ground-burrowing sylvatic rodents (susliks and marmots) had for centuries served as plague’s maintenance hosts (Kausrud et al. 2010; Schmid et al. 2015). Possibly it was onset of a minor pluvial episode from 1310 that set in train a trophic cascade of greater vegetation growth, increased sylvatic rodent densities, higher burdens of flea vectors and wider dissemination of the Y. pestis pathogen, thereby advancing plague from a dormant enzootic to an active epizootic state (Stenseth et al. 2006). By 1338/39 it appears that plague may have spread westwards as far as Issyk-Kul, on a northern branch of the so-called Silk Road and at the easternmost extremity of the steppe grasslands that extended west to the Caspian Basin and beyond (Norris 1977, 10–11). Abrupt renewal of drought conditions in 1340 may then have triggered a mass die-off of plague’s sylvatic-rodent maintenance hosts and adoption by the disease’s flea vectors of

150 125 100 75 50 25 0 1300

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Italy population Italy GDP/head

Fig. 2.8 The demographic and economic watershed of the 1340s in Tuscany and England (Sources Malanima 2011, 205; Broadberry et al. 2015, 227–229)

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commensal rodents as substitute hosts. Since rats are far more susceptible to plague than marmots and susliks, this amplified plague from an epizootic to a more deadly and fast-spreading panzootic state. It will also have brought plague into more direct contact with humans and initiated rising numbers of zoonotic cases among them (Drancourt et al. 2006, 234). The effects of climate change upon ecological conditions in the extensive semi-arid steppe grassland region extending east and west of the Caspian Basin, still crossed in the early 1340s by a steady flow of traffic along the various branches of the Silk Road, thus appear to have been material to the Black Death’s first recorded historical appearance in the lands of the Kipchak Khanate between the Caspian and the Black Seas (Benedictow 2004, 44–54; Aberth 2005, 15–16), whence, in 1346, it spread to the Mongol army besieging the Genoese port of Kaffa on the Crimean coast (Schamiloglu 1993; Horrox 1994, 14–26; Wheelis 2002). Fleas, and possibly other ectoparasites, were the essential vectors of the disease’s transmission; temperatures and humidity the environmental conditions that influenced levels of flea activity; dense populations of susceptible rodents and humans the preconditions for plague’s spread; marching armies and commercial traffic the instruments of that spread; the ecologies of ships, cargoes, households and settlements the enabling circumstances that impelled the pathogen on its destructive path; and the prevalence of poverty, malnutrition and proto-famine conditions the economic factors that magnified exposure and diminished resistance to Y. pestis and ensured that overall death rates were exceptionally heavy. Everywhere the soaring disease mortality confounded the normal relationships between bad harvests, high prices and low real wage rates. As the well-documented example of England demonstrates (Fig. 2.8), food availability declined dramatically but so, too, did the number of mouths to be fed. Buildings were suddenly in excess supply, so that demand for building labour slumped, but the Black Death’s survivors still had to be fed with the result that agricultural labour now commanded a premium, hence the daily real wage rates of building and agricultural workers diverged. Since plague killed people but not coins, money supply per head rose and price inflation, reinforced by the prevailing poor harvests, followed. Finally, plague’s brutal solution to the hitherto intractable problems of under- and un-employment and land-hunger and landlessness, allowed GDP per head to rise, doing so despite the continuing weather-induced depression of grain output per unit area (Fig. 2.7a). Whereas earlier harvest shortfalls and famines, no matter how great, had made little lasting difference to prevailing prices, wages and levels of GDP per head, the plague-accompanied shortfalls of the 1340s and 1350s altered their respective trajectories in fundamental ways (Fig. 2.8). Moreover, plague proved to be an enduring biological shock whose recurrence ensured that full recovery to pre Black Death levels of population and volumes of economic activity were long delayed (Fig. 2.9). The unique conjuncture of climate change, ecological stress, fast-spreading plague, harvest failure, war and widespread poverty thus ensured that this complex crisis became a watershed demographic and economic event.

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English grain yields

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European tree growth

Fig. 2.9 English grain harvests, European tree growth and reported numbers of plague outbreaks in France, the Low Countries, Britain and Ireland, 1345–1475 (Sources Recorded references to plague outbreaks (minimum of 5 outbreaks) from Biraben 1975, 363–374; English grain yields per unit area gross of tithes and net of seed (yields of wheat, barley, and oats combined using the ratio 2:1:1) from Campbell 2007; European 5-series master dendrochronology supplied by M.G.L. Baillie)

Intervention of plague, among the most ecological of diseases and involving interactions between environmental conditions, rodent hosts, insect vectors and human carriers and victims, was the new ingredient that set the catastrophic harvest shortfalls of the 1340s apart from virtually all that had gone before. In this vital respect the ‘famines’ of the 1340s represented an ominous new departure. Henceforth, until almost the end of the seventeenth century, plague in Europe tended to act in concert with the extreme weather and ecological stress that were similarly responsible for harvest failure (Fig. 2.9) and, when it did so, wrought far

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greater prodigies of destruction than could be achieved by hunger alone (Wrigley and Schofield 1989, 332–336, 416). Of course, disease had long been responsible for most famine deaths, but following disappearance of the Justinianic Plague in the late eighth century, none had been as lethal. Whether the classic famine disease of typhus was yet present in pre Black Death Europe is unknown, smallpox had yet to acquire its later virulence, and neither diarrhoea nor dysentery was capable of killing on the same scale as plague. Consequently, where during the thirteenth century famine had proved powerless to prevent the relentless growth of population, from the mid-fourteenth century the alliance of physical and biological hazards helped thwart demographic growth for four to five consecutive generations (Fig. 2.9). Although poverty decreased and the living standards of many improved in the post Black Death world of labour scarcity and relative resource abundance, the heightened instability of LIA climates ensured that serious harvest shortfalls, as in England in 1361, 1367–69, 1375, 1390, 1400/01, 1428, 1437/38, 1441/42, 1449/50, 1457/58 and repeatedly from 1464, were still hazards to be feared and the more so because not unusually they brought plague and in due course other deadly diseases in their train. In these respects the harvest crises of the 1340s were the harbingers of things to come and exemplify the complexity and multi-dimensional character of the greatest human mortality crises.

References Abel, Wilhelm. 1935 and 1980. Agrarkrisen und Agrarkonjunktur in Mitteleuropa vom 13. bis zum 19. Jahrhundert (Agricultural fluctuations in Europe from the thirteenth to the twentieth centuries. Trans. O. Ordish. London: Methuen), Hamburg and Berlin: Verlag Paul Parey. Aberth, John. 2005. The Black Death: the great mortality of 1348–1350. A brief history with documents. Boston and New York: Bedford/St Martin’s. Álvarez-Nogal, Carlos, and Leandro Prados de la Escosura. 2013. The rise and fall of Spain (1270–1850). Economic History Review 66 (1): 1–37. Baillie, M. G. L. 2000. Putting abrupt environmental change back into human history. In Culture, landscape, and the environment: The Linacre lectures 1997–8, eds. K. Flint and H. Morphy, 46–75. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Baillie, M. G. L. 2006. New light on the Black Death: The cosmic connection. Stroud: Tempus. Bavel, Bas van. 2010. Manors and markets: Economy and society in the Low Countries, 500– 1600. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Benedictow, Ole J. 2004. The Black Death 1346–1353: A complete history. Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer. Benedictow, Ole J. 2010. What disease was plague? On the controversy over the microbiological identity of plague epidemics of the past. Leiden: Brill. Biraben, Jean-Noël. 1975. Les hommes et la peste en France et dans les pays européens et méditerranéens, 1, La peste dans l’histoire. Paris and The Hague: Mouton. Biraben, Jean-Noël. 1979. Essai sur l’évolution du nombre des hommes. Population 34 (1): 13–25. Bois, Guy. 1984. The crisis of feudalism: Economy and society in eastern Normandy c.1300–1550. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Britton, C. E. 1937. A meteorological chronology to A.D. 1450. London: Meteorological Office Geophysical Memoirs 70.

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Broadberry, Stephen N., Bruce M. S. Campbell, Alex Klein, Bas van Leeuwen, and Mark Overton. 2015. British economic growth 1270–1870. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Büntgen, Ulf, W. Tegel, K. Nicolussi, M. McCormick, D. Frank, V. Trouet, J. O. Kaplan, F. Herzig, K.-U. Heussner, H. Wanner, J. Luterbacher, and J. Esper. 2011. Central Europe 2500 year tree ring summer climate reconstructions. IGBP PAGES/World Data Center for Paleoclimatology Data Contribution Series, NOAA/NCDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder CO, USA, 2011–026. Campbell, Bruce M. S. 2005. The agrarian problem in the early fourteenth century. Past and Present 188: 3–70. Campbell, Bruce M. S. 2007. Three centuries of English crop yields, 1211–1491. http://www. cropyields.ac.uk. Campbell, Bruce M. S. 2009. Four famines and a pestilence: harvest, price, and wage variations in England, 13th to 19th centuries. In Agrarhistoria på många sätt; 28 studier om manniskan och jorden. Festskrift till Janken Myrdal på hans 60-årsdag (Agrarian history many ways: 28 studies on humans and the land. Festschrift to Janken Myrdal 2009), ed. Britt Liljewall, Iréne A. Flygare, Ulrich Lange, Lars Ljunggren, and Johan Söderberg, 23–56. Stockholm: Kungl. Skogs- och Lantbruksakademien. Campbell, Bruce M. S. 2010. Nature as historical protagonist: environment and society in pre-industrial England (the 2008 Tawney Memorial Lecture). Economic History Review 63 (2): 281–314. Campbell, Bruce M. S. 2011. Grain yields on English demesnes after the Black Death. In England in the age of the Black Death: Essays in honour of John Hatcher, ed. Mark Bailey and Stephen H. Rigby, 121–174. Turnhout: Brepols. Campbell, Bruce M. S. 2016. The Great Transition: Climate, disease and society in the late-medieval world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Campbell, Bruce M. S., and Lorraine Barry. 2014. The population geography of Great Britain c.1290: a reconstruction. In Population, welfare and economic change in Britain, c. 1290–1834, eds. Christopher Briggs, Peter Kitson, and Stephen Thompson, 43–78. Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer. Campbell, Bruce M. S., and Cormac Ó Gráda. 2011. Harvest shortfalls, grain prices, and famines in pre-industrial England. Journal of Economic History 71 (4): 859–886. Clark, Gregory. 2007. The long march of history: farm wages, population, and economic growth, England 1209–1869. Economic History Review 60 (1): 97–135. Clark, Gregory. 2009. English prices and wages 1209–1914. Global Price and Income History Group. http://www.iisg.nl/hpw/data.php#united. Accessed 03 August 2016. Connell, Brian, Amy Gray Jones, Rebecca Redfern, and Don Walker. 2012. A bioarchaeological study of medieval burials on the site of St Mary Spital: Excavations at Spitalfields Market, London E1, 1991–2007. London: Museum of London. Cui, Yujun, Chang Yu, Yanfeng Yan, Dongfang Li, Yanjun Li, Thibaut Jombart, Lucy A. Weinert, Zuyun Wang, Zhaobiao Guo, Lizhi Xu, Yujiang Zhang, Hancheng Zheng, Nan Qin Xiao Xiao, Mingshou Wu, Xiaoyi Wang, Dongsheng Zhou, Zhizhen Qi, Zongmin Du, Honglong Wu, Xianwei Yang, Hongzhi Cao, Hu Wang, Jing Wang, Shusen Yao, Alexander Rakin, Yingrui Li, Daniel Falush, Francois Balloux, Mark Achtman, Yajun Songa, Jun Wang, and Ruifu Yanga. 2013. Historical variations in mutation rate in an epidemic pathogen, Yersinia pestis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 110 (2): 577–582. Delaygue, G., and E. Bard. 2010. Antarctic last millennium 10Be stack and solar irradiance reconstruction. IGBP PAGES/World Data Center for Paleoclimatology Data Contribution Series, NOAA/NCDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder CO, USA, 2010–2035. Drancourt, Michel, Linda Houhamdi, and Didier Raoult. 2006. Yersinia pestis as a telluric, human ectoparasite-borne organism. The Lancet Infectious Diseases 6 (4): 234–241. Edwards, Jeremy, and Sheilagh Ogilvie. 2012. What lessons for economic development can we draw from the Champagne fairs? Explorations in Economic History 49 (2): 131–148.

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Esper, J., D. C. Frank, U. Büntgen, A. Verstege, J. Luterbacher, and E. Xoplaki. 2009. Morocco millennial Palmer Drought Severity Index reconstruction. IGBP PAGES/World Data Center for Paleoclimatology Data Contribution Series, NOAA/NCDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder CO, USA, 2009–032. Farmer, David L. 1988. Prices and wages. In The agrarian history of England and Wales, II, 1042–1350, ed. H. E. Hallam, 715–817. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Farmer, David L. 1991. Prices and wages, 1350–1500. In The agrarian history of England and Wales, III, 1348–1500, ed. Edward Miller, 431–525. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hatcher, John, and Mark Bailey. 2001. Modelling the Middle Ages: The history and theory of England’s economic development. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Herlihy, David, 1967, Medieval and renaissance Pistoia: The social history of an Italian town, 1200–1430. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. Horrox, Rosemary, trans. & ed. 1994. The Black Death. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Hunt, Edwin S., and James M. Murray. 1999. A history of business in medieval Europe, 1200– 1550. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Jacoby, G. C., R. D. D’Arrigo, B. Buckley, and N. Pederson. No date. Mongolia (Larix Sibirica): Solongotyn Davaa (Tarvagatay Pass). NOAA Paleoclimatology Tree Ring Data Sets. https:// www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/3609. Accessed 03 August 2016. Jansen, Katherine L. 2009. Giovanni Villani on food shortages and famine in central Italy (1329– 30, 1347–48). In Medieval Italy: Texts in translation, ed. Katherine L. Jansen, Joanna Drell and Frances Andrews, 20–23. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Jordan, William Chester. 1996. The Great Famine: Northern Europe in the early fourteenth century. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Kausrud, Kyrre Linné, Mike Begon, Tamara Ben Ari, Hildegunn Viljugrein, Jan Esper, Ulf Büntgen, Herwig Leirs, Claudia Junge, Bao Yang, Meixue Yang, Lei Xu, and Nils Chr. Stenseth. 2010. Modeling the epidemiological history of plague in Central Asia: Palaeoclimatic forcing on a disease system over the past millennium. BMC Biology 8 (112): 14p. Keene, Derek J. 1984. Social and economic study of medieval London: Summary report 1979–84. Unpublished report to the Economic and Social Research Council, London. Keene, Derek J. 2011. Crisis management in London’s food supply, 1250–1500. In Commercial activity, markets and entrepreneurs in the Middle Ages: Essays in honour of Richard Britnell, eds. Ben Dodds and Christian D. Liddy, 45–62. Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer. Kershaw, Ian. 1973. Bolton Priory: The economy of a northern monastery 1286–1325. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kowaleski, Maryanne. 2014. Medieval people in town and country: new perspectives from demography and bioarchaeology. Speculum 89 (3): 573–600. Lloyd, T. H. 1982. Alien merchants in England in the high Middle Ages. Brighton: Harvester Press. Lopez, Robert S. 1971. The commercial revolution of the Middle Ages, 950–1350. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall. Lydon, James. 1987. The impact of the Bruce invasion. In A new history of Ireland, II: Medieval Ireland, 1169–1534, ed. Art Cosgrove, 275–302. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Malanima, Paolo. 2011. The long decline of a leading economy: GDP in central and northern Italy, 1300–1913. European Review of Economic History 15 (2): 169–219. Malanima, Paolo. 2012. Italy. In Agrarian change and crisis in Europe, 1200–1500, ed. Harry Kitsikopoulos, 93–127. London: Routledge. Statistical appendix: Consumer price indices and wages in Central-Northern Italy and Southern England 1300–1850. http://www.paolomalanima. it/default_file/Italian%20Economy/StatisticalAppendix.pdf . Accessed 03 August 2016. Malanima, Paolo. No date. Wheat prices in Tuscany. Institute of Studies on Mediterranean Societies, Italian National Research Council. Mann, Michael E., Zhihua Zhang, Malcolm K. Hughes, Raymond S. Bradley, Sonya K. Miller, Scott Rutherford, and Fenbiao Ni. 2008. Proxy-based reconstructions of hemispheric and global surface temperature variations over the past two millennia. Proceedings of the National

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Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 105 (36): 13252–13257. http://www. ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/metadata/noaa-recon-6252.html . Accessed 03 August 2016. McNamee, Colm. 1997. The wars of the Bruces: Scotland, England and Ireland, 1306–1328. East Linton: Birlinn. Moore, Ellen Wedemeyer. 1985. The fairs of medieval England: An introductory study. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies. Munro, John H. 1991. Industrial transformations in the north-west European textile trades, c.1290– c.1340: economic progress or economic crisis? In Before the Black Death: Studies in the ‘crisis’ of the early fourteenth century, ed. Bruce M. S. Campbell, 110–148. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Munro, John H. 1999. The ‘industrial crisis’ of the English textile towns, 1290–1330. In Thirteenth-Century England 7, ed. Michael Prestwich, Richard Britnell, and Robin Frame, 103–141. Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer. Munro, John H. No date. The Phelps Brown and Hopkins ‘basket of consumables’ commodity price series and craftsmen’s wage series, 1264–1700: Revised by John H. Munro. http://www. economics.utoronto.ca/munro5/ResearchData.html. Accessed 03 August 2016. Newfield, Timothy P. 2009. A cattle panzootic in early fourteenth-century Europe. Agricultural History Review 57 (2): 155–190. Norris, John. 1977. East or west? The geographic origin of the Black Death. Bulletin of the History of Medicine 51 (1): 1–24. Oliva Herrer, Hipólito Rafael. 2013. De nuevo sobre la Crisis del XIV: carestías e interpretaciones de la Crisis en la Corona de Castilla. In Crisis alimentarias en la Edad Media: modelos, explicaciones y representaciones, ed. Pere Benito i Monclús, 87–114. Lleida: Milenio. Ormrod, W. Mark. 2010. The relative income from direct and indirect taxation in England, 1295–1454. European State Finances Database. http://www.esfdb.org/table.aspx?resourceid= 11762. Accessed 03 August 2016. Postan, Michael Moïssey. 1966. Medieval agrarian society in its prime: England. In The Cambridge economic history of Europe, I, The agrarian life of the Middle Ages, 2nd edition, ed. M. M. Postan, 549–632. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pounds, Norman J. G. 1973. An historical geography of Europe 450 B.C. – A.D. 1330. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Proctor, C. J., A. Baker, and W. L. Barnes. 2002. Northwest Scotland stalagmite data to 3600 BP. IGBP PAGES/World Data Center for Paleoclimatology Data Contribution Series, NOAA/NCDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder CO, USA, 2002–028. Rutledge, Elizabeth. 1988. Immigration and population growth in early fourteenth-century Norwich: evidence from the tithing roll. Urban History 15 (1): 15–30. Schamiloglu, Uli. 1993. Preliminary remarks on the role of disease in the history of the Golden Horde. Central Asian Survey 12 (4): 447–457. Schmid, Boris V., Ulf Büntgen, W. Ryan Easterday, Christian Ginzler, Lars Walløe, Barbara Bramanti, and Nils Chr. Stenseth. 2015. Climate-driven introduction of the Black Death and successive plague reintroductions into Europe. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 112 (10): 3020-3025. Schofield, Phillipp R. 1997. Dearth, debt and the local land market in a late thirteenth-century village community’. Agricultural History Review 45 (1): 1–17. Schofield, Phillipp R. 2013. Approaches to famine in medieval England. In Crisis alimentarias en la Edad Media: modelos, explicaciones y representaciones, ed. Pere Benito i Monclús, 71–86. Lleida: Milenio. Sharp, Buchanan. 2013. Royal paternalism and the moral economy in the reign of Edward II: the response to the Great Famine. Economic History Review 66 (2): 628–647. Stenseth, Nils C., Noelle I. Samia, Hildegunn Viljugrein, Kyrre Linné Kausrud, Mike Begon, Stephen Davis, Herwig Leirs, V. M. Dubyanskiy, Jan Esper, Vladimir S. Ageyev, Nikolay L. Klassovskiy, Sergey B. Pole, and Kung-Sik Chan. 2006. Plague dynamics are driven by climate variation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 103 (35): 13110–13115.

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Chapter 3

Combining Written and Tree-Ring Evidence to Trace Past Food Crises: A Case Study from Finland Heli Huhtamaa

Abstract The lack of written source material on population and food availability has hindered studies on medieval and early modern food crises in many parts of the world. Examining the case of sixteenth and seventeenth century Finland, this article explores how indirect evidence—so called proxy data—could be used to identify past food crises. The proxies of past climate, grain harvest, storage capacity and population variability were derived from tree-ring studies and early administrative accounts. Evidence from “natural” and written archives supplemented each other. The applicability and limitations of using proxy data to trace past food crises is further discussed by comparing the examples of the sixteenth and seventeenth century to the better documented famine period of the 1860s. It was found that tree-ring data and early administrative accounts provides valuable material to identify past food crises. Keywords Climate


Hunger
Finland
Proxy data
Agriculture

Introduction Finland is often considered to be the most northern agricultural country in the world (e.g. Mukula and Rantanen 1987; Häkkilä 2002; Hollins et al. 2004), where hunger, frost and crop failures constitute recurring themes in the narratives of its agricultural history (e.g. Jutikkala 2003; Solantie 2006; Lappalainen 2012). Prior the industrial era harvest success was largely mediated by climate fluctuations (Huhtamaa et al. 2015; Huhtamaa and Helama 2016). Estimations from 18th century Finland state that, on average, during two years of any given decade the harvest was lost, while it was poor in three years, mediocre in four, and only one year was expected to bring a good or abundant harvest (Gadd 1785, 3). Later studies on the frequency of early modern crop H. Huhtamaa (&) University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland e-mail: [email protected] H. Huhtamaa University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland © Springer International Publishing AG 2018 D. Collet and M. Schuh (eds.), Famines During the ‘Little Ice Age’ (1300–1800), DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54337-6_3

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failures are largely based on this 18th century estimation (Weckström 1850; Melander and Melander 1924; Keränen 1931; Myllyntaus 2009). Before the 20th century, 80% or more of the Finnish population gained their livelihood from subsistence agriculture. Thus, if the harvest was lost or badly damaged twice per decade, it may appear that the society was constantly living on the edge of a subsistence crisis. Therefore, it is rather surprising that past subsistence crises have not gained much attention from Finnish historians. Insight into medieval and early modern subsistence crises is particularly scant, which most likely results from the lack of written contemporary sources. “Natural archives”, however, have recorded past environmental changes when men have not. As high resolution tree-ring data from the region is available in large quantities, Finland makes an excellent case study on the connections between climate-sensitive food production and related crises. Not only do tree-ring data indicate temperature and precipitation fluctuations in Finland with high accuracy and precision (Helama et al. 2009, 2014; Matskovsky and Helama 2014), it can also reveal regional harvest fluctuations and years of crop failure (Hustich 1947; Mikola 1950; Huhtamaa et al. 2015; Huhtamaa and Helama 2017). Various administrative registers from the early modern period provide additional information on the economic condition of the population. The medieval and early modern natural or written sources do not provide direct evidence as to whether there was a subsistence crisis or not. Yet, data from these materials can be aggregated into annual time series, where negative anomalies might indicate years of possible subsistence crises. This article explores whether crop failures and subsistence crises can be identified and quantified from these different time series of indirect indicators of subsistence crises in Finland during the “Little Ice Age” (LIA, c. 1450–1900 in Finland; for the dating of the LIA, see e.g. Weckström et al. 2006; Luoto and Helama 2010; Helama et al. 2014). The only exceptions of the little known history of Finnish subsistence crises are the famines of 1695/1697 and 1867/1868 which have piqued the interest of historians for decades. During these famines approximately 27% (1695/1697) and 8% (1867/1868) of the Finnish population died from malnutrition and related diseases, respectively (Muroma 1991, 292; Pitkänen 1991, 207). Although the frequency and severity of past subsistence crises during the LIA have not received careful examination in Finland, crop failure and hunger are widely used as explanations for social distress, especially during the early modern period. In this context, the turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth century is particularly interesting, as a peasant uprising raged in Finland in 1596/1597 and a civil war shook the whole kingdom in 1598/1599. In both incidents, crop failure and hunger have been connected to the events, although they have not been regarded as their primary causes (see, e.g., Lappalainen 2009, 67, 165, 216). Moreover, the 1601 food crisis is known as “the great straw year”1 in Finland, and although no reliable estimates of the human consequences of the crop failure exist, the year has been compared to the fatal crop

Finnish: Suuri olkivuosi. Replacing grain flour with grounded straws was a common practice during famines in pre-modern Finland.

1

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failures of 1695 and 1867 (Voipio 1914, 1). In fact, the existing chronologies of Finnish crop failures paint a gloomy image of the turn of the century. According to estimates, Finland was suffering from major crop failures from 1595 to 1598, in 1600/1601 and 1609 (Melander and Melander 1924, 352; Myllyntaus 2009, 83). The chronologies may be unreliable, however, as they are spatially biased and misleadingly include Russian and Swedish events (Huhtamaa et al. 2015, 719). In order to identify and quantify the possible crises, this article compares the indirect evidence of the “hunger-ridden” turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth century to the better known famine periods of the 1690s and 1860s. Finland’s geographical location at the northern margin of agriculture, where long winters disrupt trading routes over the Baltic Sea for several months, influenced the country’s food system (Holopainen and Helama 2009, 216–217; Huhtamaa and Helama 2017). As the majority of the population gained its livelihood from subsistence agriculture, imported grain constituted a minor share of the total grain demand of the country (less than 2% in the eighteenth century, approximately 14% in the 1860s).2 Thus, the country was more or less self-sufficient in food production up until the late nineteenth century.3 Cultivation was limited mainly to winter rye (Secale cereale L.) and spring sown barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), two principle grains which tolerate the shortness of the growing season. In pre-industrial Finland, crop yield fluctuations followed the spring and summer temperatures (Huhtamaa et al. 2015, 713–714). Compared to the food systems in continental Europe, the food system in Finland seems to have been relatively simple. The more complex food systems are, the more diverse responses to climatic factors and their impact on populations can be expected. Thus, the case study of pre-industrial Finland appears to be an ideal starting point for exploring the feasibility of proxy evidence in studying past subsistence crises.

Indirect Sources of Subsistence Crises A subsistence crisis is a crisis of food supply, resulting in increased mortality due to starvation and diseases, whereas famine refers to a catastrophic crisis where the scarcity of food is extremely severe and population loses widespread (Ó Gráda

2

Estimations are based on contemporary population and trade statistics published by Statistiska Central-Byrån (1871) and Suomen virallinen tilasto (1868, 1875). 3 Finland was part of the Swedish Kingdom from the Middle Ages until 1809, when Sweden lost the Finnish War (1808–1809) to the Russian Empire. Thereafter Finland became an autonomous part of the Russian Empire known as the Grand Duchy of Finland up until 1917, when the country declared its independence. In this article, the geographical area that covers modern day Finland is referred to as “Finland” throughout the study period, although no such country existed before 1917. Under Swedish rule Finland was a part of Sweden proper, not dominion or possession of the realm (like, for example the Baltic states in the seventeenth century). During the Russian rule, Finland enjoyed a high degree of autonomy, particularly considering the economy.

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Table 3.1 Observed and measured climate, food supply and population statistics and corresponding proxies (i.e. the indirect indicators) from Finland Population

Food supply Production

Distribution and exchange Affordability and allocation

Statistical data (continuous series from)

Proxies (first records from)

Population statistics (1749)

Parish registers of baptized and buried (late-17th c.) Deserted farms (mid-16th c.)

Harvest statistics: some provinces (1861), the whole country (1871)

Tithes (mid-16th c.) Tree-rings (pre-11th century) –

Grain import (1738) and export (1810) Food prices: Helsinki (1813), whole country (1920)

Swedish consumer and grain prices (1290) Deserted farms (mid-16th c.) Climate Observations (1829) Tree-rings (pre-11th century) The year in parenthesis indicates the first year from which the time series are available

2009, 6). Whether food crises and famine events initially result from a production failure or an unequal distribution of food is a matter of debate (see e.g. Sen 1981; Fogel 1992; Pfister 2010). Nevertheless, the key characteristics of the outcome are widely agreed upon: increased mortality due to scarcity of food. Statistics on population and food availability can therefore be used to identify and quantify subsistence crises and famines. However, reliable and comprehensive statistics on population and food supply in Finland are available only for the most recent centuries (see Table 3.1). In order to identify and study pre-industrial subsistence crises, we have to rely on indirect indicators of famine. Lack of written sources poses a considerable challenge for studying medieval food systems in Finland. Yet, tree-ring data may indicate harvest fluctuations and food availability (Huhtamaa and Helama 2017). The source availability changes for the mid-sixteenth century with the regime of Gustav Vasa, when the emerging state started to keep detailed annual accounts in order to make the taxation system more efficient. Various accountants of the crown kept records on the holdings owned and taxes paid (Retsö and Söderberg 2015, 4). The next shift in data availability occurs in the eighteenth century when the state started to keep official statistics, e.g. on population and trade. Population statistics are available from 1749 onwards, whereas reliable statistics on food production, distribution and trade can be found mainly from the mid-nineteenth century onwards (see Table 3.1). In this article, first the feasibility of proxy time series to study past crop failures and subsistence crises will be examined by comparing statistical time series of food production, prices and population from the 1860s famine period to the corresponding proxy time series from the 1690s and 1601 crises. Second, new information on the frequency of subsistence crises during the little studied

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“hunger-ridden” turn of the century will be provided by compiling the proxy time series from the turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and by comparing these time series to the better-known famine periods of the 1690s and 1860s. The time series for the two latter famine events are explored over a 10-year period (1689–1698 and 1861–1870), whereas the lesser known turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is studied over a 30-year period (1590–1619).

Tree-Ring Evidence on Climate and Harvest Fluctuations Pre-industrial crop cultivation in Finland was exposed to risk caused by cool climate, as the country is situated at the northern limit of successful agriculture. Fluctuations of the onset, length and thermal conditions of the growing season largely dictated harvest success (Mukula and Rantanen 1987, 8; Huhtamaa et al. 2015, 716). However, as continuous meteorological observations are not available before the 19th century (Tuomenvirta 2004, 13), information on past climate fluctuations must be attained from climate proxies—measurable parameters that capture certain climatic signals. Climate proxies can be found, for example, in tree rings, ice cores and sediment varves. In Finland, climate proxies from tree-ring data, and from maximum latewood density (MXD) in particular, have been proven to indicate warm season temperature fluctuations with high accuracy and precision (Briffa et al. 2002, 754–755). Tree-ring data can be dated to exact calendar years, which enables comparisons between tree-ring time series and written sources. Moreover, the relationships between tree-ring and instrumental climate data can be statistically explored and quantified over a calibration period—when the two time series overlap (Fritts 1976, 2–4). Such analyses have shown that reconstructions derived from Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) MXD chronologies can serve to explain approximately 60% of the instrumentally measured thermal growing season4 variability in Finland (Matskovsky and Helama 2014; Helama et al. 2014). Here, two MXD chronologies have been averaged in order to estimate temperature fluctuations over larger parts of the country (Fig. 3.1). The MXD data originates from Lapland (Matskovsky and Helama 2014) and south-eastern Finland (Helama et al. 2014). Because the MXD parameter and the crop yield (the ratio of harvest to seed) respond to the same limiting climatic factors, primarily the length and temperature of the thermal growing season, the MXD chronologies may be used as surrogate data to estimate past crop yield fluctuations and to date years of crop failure (Huhtamaa et al. 2015, 718–719). Consequently, MXD data has been successfully used to reconstruct climate-mediated yield ratio fluctuations (Huhtamaa and Helama 2017). Yield ratio is one of the most commonly used indices for long-term

4

The growing season lasts from May to September in the southern parts and from June to August in the northern parts of the country.

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Fig. 3.1 Spatial synchrony between the MXD data and the documented yield ratios (shaded) and instrumentally measured May–September mean temperature. The correspondence between the proxy and statistical data is given in percentages, which have been derived by calculating the square of the Pearson correlation coefficient (r2) between the MXD and yield ratio (over the period from 1866 to 1921) and May–September mean temperature (over the period from 1850 to 2000). The circles indicate the approximate sampling sites of the MXD data. Sources MXD data— Matskovsky and Helama (2014), and Helama et al. (2014); Yield data—Huhtamaa and Helama (2017); May–September temperature field data—Cowtan and Way (2014)

studies of food production (see e.g. Slicher van Bath 1963; Campbell 2000; Leijonhufvud 2001). Using yield ratio instead of the absolute harvest quantities (volume or mass) reduces the bias caused by variations in the area of cultivation, intensity of planting and population size (Hayward et al. 2012, 4166). Similar to climate reconstructions, when using tree-ring data as a yield ratio proxy, the relationship between tree-ring parameter and yield ratio time series have to be statistically explored over a common period. In doing so, the MXD based yield ratio

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reconstruction explains approximately 50% of the variance in documented yield in central and northern Finland (c. above 62° N, Huhtamaa and Helama 2017). In order to identify years of possible production failures, however, other evidence on annual harvest fluctuations should be gathered, considering that the reconstruction (see Fig. 3.1) can only explain half of the documented yield ratios and does not cover southern Finland.

Proxies of Population and Food Supply Similar to natural proxy data, a variety of different indirect man-made sources can be used to explore pre-industrial food supply. Food supply is dictated by the prevailing food system, which consists of the components of food availability (production, distribution and exchange), food access (affordability, allocation, preference) and food utilization (nutritional and social value and food safety) (Gregory et al. 2005, 2141). With the exception of some sporadic time series found in early modern manorial accounts (Tornberg 1989, 66–78), continuous quantitative series of harvest and sowing in Finland are only available from 1861 onwards (Suomen virallinen tilasto 1868, 1875). When yield ratio series are not available, tithe records can serve as proxy data for harvest fluctuations (see, e.g., Leijonhuvfud 2001; Edvinsson 2009; Campbell 2010). Tithe accounts related to annual harvest fluctuations, however, are available only for some regions and periods. In Finland two tithe systems existed simultaneously. The tithes could be paid either as grain tithes or as “fixed tithes”. In the latter system, fixed amounts of certain grain and other products were to be paid every year. Thus, the collected tithes were not dictated by harvest success (Seppälä 2009, 48, 255–256). The amount of collected grain tithes, on the other hand, could be dependent on the quantity of the sown or harvested grain crops. Grain tithes were collected primarily in western and southern Finland. Whereas the amount of collected tithes was based on harvest everywhere in these areas during the sixteenth century (Seppälä 2009, 48, 102), a century later the collected tithes were based on the quantity of seed in most parts of the grain tithe area (Muroma 1991, 15). The quantity of seed was fixed for each farm, so that the tithes cannot reflect any annual fluctuations. Only in Ostrobothnia in western Finland (see map on Fig. 3.4), the tithes were based on annual harvest fluctuations over the entirety of the early modern period. Estimating food distribution, exchange, affordability and allocation constitutes the biggest challenge for the study of pre-industrial food systems in Finland. As the majority of the population gained their livelihood from subsistence farming, written sources of food prices, trade and reserves are extremely rare prior to the nineteenth century. Grain and consumer prices as well as import and export quantities are commonly used to indicate variations in food availability and access (see e.g. Campbell 2009; Edvinsson 2009; Seppel 2015). Annual grain and consumer prices are available for Sweden (Edvinsson and Söderberg 2010), which Finland was part

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of until 1809. Yet, the series may not indicate Finnish price variability accurately, as only a small fraction of the medieval data were derived from Finland and the early modern data originated almost solely form Stockholm (Edvinsson and Söderberg 2010, 11, 421, 425–426). First continuous rye price series (rye was the main component of Finnish peasant diet before the industrialization) are available for Finland from the early nineteenth century onwards (Vattula 1983) and annual import statistics for Sweden and Finland are available from 1732 and 1738 onwards (Statistiska Central-Byrån 1972), respectively. Information about the nutritional and social value of food as well as dietary preferences and food safety prior to the nineteenth century can be found primarily from narrative sources. In most cases, however, distinguishing and quantifying the short-term variations from the narrative sources and compiling time series with an annual resolution—which is the temporal scope of the analysis here—is impossible. Therefore, neither the nutritional and social value, nor preferences and safety, are examined in this article. Although the world’s longest continuous population statistics are found in Sweden and Finland, these are available only from the 1749 onwards (Uttersröm 2008, 523–525). Prior to the time of official statistics, ecclesiastical registers of baptisms and burials provide additional information on population changes in Finland from the late seventeenth century onwards (Muroma 1991, 31–50). For the medieval and the early modern period, indicators of population crises have been derived from administrative registers of deserted farms (Jutikkala 1981, 117–120), as the crown kept registers of inhabited and deserted farms for tax purposes. Before the modern era, the majority of the farm holdings in Finland were owned by peasants. The peasant lost his ownership and heritance of the holding if he failed to pay taxes for three successive years (Seppälä 2009, 209–210). In such case the holding was marked as “deserted”, öde, in the cadastres, releasing the farm for sale. Although the number of deserted farms has been shown to correspond to the mortality rates, as they did for example during the 1690s famine (Mäntylä 1988, 25–49), the registers should be used with caution as a population proxy. In the registers the term öde was applied irrespective of whether a whole household had perished from starvation or if they “only” had failed to pay taxes. As nationwide population and food supply data are available only from the eighteenth century onwards, research on food crises dating before the eighteenth century focuses on the southern parts of the province of Ostrobothnia (see map on Fig. 3.4). This was the only province where tithe records were based on annual harvest fluctuations from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, allowing comparisons between the two early modern famine periods of 1590–1619 and the 1690s). Due to the data availability and different registration practices and changing units—like collected tithe and deserted farm data—the time series had to be adjusted before analysis. The adjustment procedures for both proxy series are detailed in the appendix. For the purpose of this study, the proxies of food production and affordability (MXD, tithe, yield ratio and price time series) were standardized to enable a rough comparison between the different famine periods.

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The deserted farm data for the periods from 1590 to 1619 and 1689 to 1698 are given in percentages of inhabited farms. The demographic data for the periods from 1689 to 98 and 1861 to 1870 are presented as natural population changes, listing the difference between the number of births and deaths. Finally, the statistics of international trade for 1861 until 1870 are given as net import, the difference between import and export. All time series indicate the fluctuations of the harvest year, and not, for example the consumption or taxation year.

Climate, Frost and Crop Failure The advantage of tree-ring data is that the time series can be calibrated against instrumental temperature measurements and official harvest reports, in order to explore the relationship between the proxy and temperature or crop yield statistically. Such comparisons have shown that in large parts of Finland, pre-industrial rye and barley yields were largely dictated by April through August temperatures (Huhtamaa et al. 2015, 714). However, summer season (especially harvest-time) night-frosts, not spring or summer temperatures, have been named—almost without an exception—as the principal cause for large-scale crop failures and famines in Finland (see, e.g., Manninen 1860, 33; Mukula and Rantanen 1987, 6; Myllyntaus 2009, 77–78). Night-frost is a short-term weather phenomenon, lasting only a couple of hours during the night. If such an acute weather phenomenon was indeed the main cause of large-scale crop failures, what can explain the strong correspondence between the April through August mean temperature, the MXD parameter and the yield ratio (Fig. 3.2)?

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Fig. 3.2 Yield ratio, MXD and April through August mean temperature time series (averaged from three stations: Helsinki, Kuopio, and Oulu) for Finland over the period from 1861 to 1910. Sources Yield data—Huhtamaa et al. (2015); MXD data— Matskovsky and Helama (2014), and Helama et al. (2014); April through August temperature data— Tuomenvirta (2004)

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During the Little Ice Age, peasants in Finland were well aware of the fact that night-frost could occur every year. They aimed to minimize frost damage by cultivating fields at different locations—as the topography of the land affects their frost prevalence—and by favouring autumn sown rye that ripened earlier than the spring sown varieties. Therefore, frost damage was usually local and did not affect the entirety of the harvest, although night-frosts destroyed crops on some fields almost every year (Lappalainen 2012, 61). In addition, winter conditions and drought or excessive precipitation caused yield damages almost annually (Manninen 1860, 14–32; Mukula and Rantanen 1987, 4–8, 16).These damages, however, remained mostly local, as in Finland precipitation trends show a lesser degree of spatial synchrony than temperature trends (Holopainen and Helama 2009, 221–222). To put it simply, if the onset of the growing season was delayed and summer remained cold in one part of Finland, the situation was most likely the same all over the country. Yet, if excessive rainfall destroyed the harvest in one location, the precipitation conditions might have been more beneficial for the yields in another region. Cool spring and summer temperature anomalies delayed the ripening of the crops everywhere in the country to a period when the risk of night-frost was increased. In such years, not only frost-exposed fields and later ripening crops were at risk, but every field in every part of the country. If the weather conditions were favourable for night-frost to occur on such years, frost could swipe over the whole country and cause large-scale yield losses during a couple of hours. This explains the strong correspondence between spring and summer temperature, the MXD parameter (indicating both the temperature and harvest fluctuations) and the yield ratio. The examples of the 1695 and 1867 crop failures clearly demonstrate this causal relationship between temperatures and frost damages. On these years the extent and severity of the frost damage on crop yield was dictated by the preceding exceptionally cold spring and/or summer temperatures (Chernavskaya 1996, 1060; Jantunen and Ruosteenoja 2000, 70).

The Little Ice Age and Frequency of Crop Failures As the length and temperatures of the growing season mediated the crop yields and determined the extent and severity of the annual crop yield loss in Finland, distinct phases can be statistically identified from the MXD data, when climate prevailed favourable or unfavourable for the crop yields (Huhtamaa and Helama 2017; Fig. 3.3). The climate was the most favourable for crop cultivation until the twelfth century and after the 1920s. The yield ratio reconstruction suggests that temperature limitations for crop cultivation were similar during the eleventh century and the latter half of the twentieth century. In the latter half of the twentieth century, severe night-frosts and related crop losses have occurred less frequently than during the early twentieth century (Mukula and Rantanen 1987, 6). Most likely, large-scale crop failures were therefore almost as rare in the eleventh century as they are

3 Combining Written and Tree-Ring Evidence 3

Climate-mediated yield ratio (z-scores)

Fig. 3.3 Reconstructed climate meditated yield ratio (z-scores) 1000–2000. The black line shows statistically significant shifts in the reconstructed values. Source Huhtamaa and Helama 2016

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today.5 With the onset of the LIA (c. 1450 in Finland) yield ratios decreased. Although it is impossible to prove that famines were more frequent in Finland during the LIA than, for example, during the Middle Ages due to the scarcity of older sources, the yield ratio reconstruction suggests that the frequency of climate-driven crop failures was much higher during the LIA than during the previous and following centuries. Over the past millennium, the climatic conditions were the most unfavourable for crop cultivation in Finland from 1695 to 1911 (Fig. 3.2). Nevertheless, the reconstructed yield ratios suggests that large-scale production failures occurred less frequently in early modern Finland than it has been previously anticipated (Gadd 1785; Weckström 1850; Melander and Melander 1924; Keränen 1931; Myllyntaus 2009). The reconstruction does not support the hypothesis of severe crop failure taking place twice in the decade. In addition to climatic conditions during the harvest year, the quality and quantity of seed grain affected harvest success (Huhtamaa and Helama 2017). In the Finnish subsistence agriculture, the peasant’s yield was determined by his previous year’s fields. As only a part (if any) of the fields could be sown after a year of crop failure due to lack of seed grain, the next harvest was most likely poor as well (Jutikkala 2003, 293). These back-to-back harvest failures resulting from the lack of seed grain are not visible in the MXD data. In addition, the availability of seed grain in the storages was not only determined by the previous year’s yield; human action also greatly affected the amount of grain reserves. The smaller grain reserves a peasant possessed, the more vulnerable the crop cultivation became to climate and weather. Wartime, for example, and related tax increase, raised the sensitivity of crop cultivation to climate and weather 5

Over the last thirty years (1986–2015), only one year (1987) has been considered as a year of nation-wide crop failure.

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disturbances as well. During times of heavy tax burden, peasants could not save enough for “rainy days”. In addition to higher taxes, wartime brought the burden of the borgläger.6 Under the borgläger-system, peasants were obligated to provide maintenance and provisions for the troops passing through. On some occasions, soldiers could even levy their wages directly from the peasants’ food reserves (Ylikangas 1991, 85). As a result, peasants were left with less grain for seed and consumption. This, in turn, made their crop cultivation more sensitive to climate and weather disturbances. When the sensitivity of crop cultivation was increased, even minor disturbances in climate and weather patterns could entail severe consequences. As climate sensitivity altered due to storage reserves—which were, in turn, partly meditated by administrative practices—no threshold value for crop failure events can be established in the MXD series. To define such values, the impact of possible preceding crop failures and non-climatic factors (e.g. taxation and other burdens) on grain reserves should be evaluated and quantified.

Man-Made Proxies of Food Crises The key challenge with the sixteenth and seventeenth century proxies of data on population (deserted farms) and food production (grain tithes) is that the time series do not extend to times when statistical data are available. Thus, the proxy series cannot be calibrated and verified against observed and measured population and crop yield statistics. This creates a source of uncertainty in the attempt to quantify the human consequences of early and late seventeenth century food crises. Nevertheless, when compared visually, the proxy (Fig. 3.4a, b) and statistical data (Fig. 3.4c) indicate a rather similar course of events for the years of subsistence crises (onset in 1601, 1695 and 1867). Following a year of cool growing season temperatures the harvest was poor. This is indicated by the low values of the MXD, tithe and yield ratio data. The proxy data (deserted farms and ecclesiastical registers of baptized and buried) and statistical data on population change indicate a population decline taking place one or two years after the crop failure. Previously, grain prices have been used successfully to identify Nordic famines (Dribe et al. 2015) and Swedish harvest fluctuations (Edvinsson 2009). The grain prices in seventeenth and eighteenth century Finland, too, mostly followed grain availability. During the first studied period (1590–1619) the highest peak in prices occurred in 1598. As discussed above, the data for this period originates mostly from Stockholm, thus local food availability might have distorted the prices. Coinciding with the price peak of 1598, a civil war troubled the Swedish kingdom, as King Sigismund and Duke Charles fought over the throne (Lappalainen 2009, 207–239). The civil war might have had a decisive impact on grain prices in Stockholm. The

6

Also known as burglager system in English (Ylikangas 1991, 85).

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Fig. 3.4 Food supply and population time series over the two “proxy periods” (1590–1619 and 1689–1698) and over the period with corresponding statistical data (1861–1870). For all the time series (except the price series), low values indicate potential food crises. The y-axis on the left side indicates population variations: the percentage of inhabited farms (dashed grey line) and the difference between births and deaths (solid black line). The y-axis on the right side indicates food production (the MXD, tithe and yield ratio times series, bars) and price variability (lines with markers), both in z-scores. The year 1601 has been included in the figure (bar with white shading), although treated as a missing value when calculating the tithe time series (see Appendix). In the harvest year 1601 the peasants were exempted from paying tithes due to total crop failure (see below). Source see Appendix

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city was the centre of the kingdom, after all, although the bloodiest battles of the civil war were fought far away. In Ostrobothnia, the paid tithes were somehow low from 1597 through 1599, yet the farm ratio series do not indicate notable hardships in Finland. Although the evidence for Finnish food crises provided by price data is not as unambiguous as the tithe and deserted farm time series, the price time series suggest that rising grain prices were the consequence of—rather than the cause for—subsistence crises, as the price peaks commonly lagged behind the crop failures by one or two years. Although the tithe series identify the onset of the known subsistence crises over the two “proxy periods” (triggered by large-scale crop failures in 1601 and 1695) accurately, due to the missing tithe registers, dating past crop failure events solely with the tithe series remains problematic. For example, Ostrobothnia tithe records are not available for the years 1595 and 1596. The years 1595–1598 have been considered as crop failure years in previous research (Melander and Melander 1924; Myllyntaus 2009). Therefore, crop failure might explain the missing registers, like they did in 1601 (see below), so that missing data might be interpreted as an indicator of subsistence crises. The years of the missing records, however, coincided with a peasant uprising,7 which originated in Ostrobothnia and raged in Finland during those years (Katajala 2002, 184–191). In fact, the bailiff’s accounts for Ostrobothnia are missing altogether over these years (see Appendix). It is therefore quite likely, that social distress and related difficulties to keep annual accounts, rather than a food crisis, explain the missing registers over these years. Nevertheless, the tithe time series can provide an insight into the non-climatic factors of food availability. As discussed above, severe crop failure can negatively affect the yields for a couple of succeeding years due to the lack of seed grain. Whereas the effect of poor quantity and quality of seed grain is not visible in the yield ratio reconstruction derived from the MXD data, the tithe records may provide additional information on the quantity of the grain reserves. If the granaries were empty, the peasants could neither pay their tithes nor sow the fields. Early-seventeenth century data supports this assumption, as the amount of paid tithes remained low for some years after the crop failure events in 1601 and 1614, although the MXD data suggest that the climatic conditions would have supported higher yields in 1602 and 1615.8 On the other hand, the tithe series started to show higher values for 1605, when the MXD values remained low. This might indicate a fast adaptive capacity of the peasants. Although the temperatures remained low, the ascending tithe records suggest that the farmers found a strategy to gain sufficient harvest under deteriorating conditions. In further research, combining evidence from tithe and MXD series may provide insight into signs of storage reserves and coping capacity in a year-to-year resolution.

7

The Club War (also known as the Cudgel War). A similar course of events can be seen for 1868, when the MXD data indicates climatic conditions favourable for high yields, but the statistical crop yield data indicates moderate harvest (Fig. 3.4c).

8

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The two population series over the famine period of the 1690s—the farm ratio and the difference between baptisms and burials—indicate a similar course of events. The peak in mortality came two years after the crop failure. Similarly, the percentage of inhabited farms from the early 1600s indicates that the peak in mortality followed two years after the total crop failure of 1601. As discussed earlier, however, the farm ratio should be used with caution as a population proxy. New holdings and resettled farms do not appear in the data, as new farms were exempted from taxes for several years (Jutikkala 1981, 119). As the farm registers were based on tax-paying ability, the registers of deserted farms can still be used as an indicator not just for population variations, but also for fluctuations of wealth and impoverishment and thus food affordability. The similarity of the trends evidenced in the food supply and population series over the two “proxy periods” (1590–1619 and 1689–1698) and over the period with corresponding statistical data (1861–1870) suggests that proxy time series with annual resolution might provide valuable information on the characteristics of pre-modern subsistence crises in Finland. Moreover, if seventeenth and nineteenth century food crises shared similar trends, the import and export statistics from the 1860s can provide a starting point to reflect on the significance of trade during the food crises of the seventeenth century, as only cursory remarks on the matter are found in written seventeenth century sources. During the famine of the 1860s, quite surprisingly, the net import did not increase (Fig. 3.5), which raises questions as to the reliability of the import and export statistics as sources for identifying subsistence crises in pre-industrial Finland. However, the main route for grain imports in the 1860s was through Russia, which also suffered from severe crop failure in 1867 (Kahan 1968, 374). Thus, the low net import in 1867 and 1868 might simply result from difficulties at

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Fig. 3.5 Net import (in tons), population change and yield ratio in Finland 1861–1870 (Source see Appendix)

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the port of export. Indeed, in 1862, when crop failure had struck Finland but not Russia, the import to Finland increased (Fig. 3.5). Although statistical, or proxy, data on annual import quantities is not available for earlier famine periods, narrative sources provide evidence that the authorities arranged additional grain aid to Finland in 1602 and 1697 (Lappalainen 2012, 215; 2014, 49). Yet, the additional grain shippings were modest (Seppel 2015, 230) and did little to help the rural peasants, who constituted the vast majority of the Finnish population, as poor roads and great need in towns hindered the distribution of the imported grain to rural areas. The country lacked functioning grain distribution systems from the coast to the inland and from the south to the north until the latter half of the nineteenth century (Ikonen 1991, 85). From the early sixteenth century onwards, the peasant’s duty was to cultivate land and provide grain to the crown (Lappalainen 2012, 57–59). Establishing a grain import and distribution system across Finland might have therefore been an alien idea for the authorities. It can be argued that the early modern Finnish subsistence crises were not crises of failed import or distribution, as there was simply no working system in place—perhaps not even in the 1860s (Ikonen 1991, 85)—that could have failed.

Identifying and Quantifying Famines from Proxy Data? The proxy time series of climate, food production and population, derived from tree-ring data and registers of tithes and deserted farms, appear to be promising material for identifying subsistence crises in pre-industrial Finland. The MXD and the tithe series supplement each other as harvest proxies, as tree-ring data captures the climatic signal, whereas the tithe series include the human component (like storage reserves), both important factors dictating harvest fluctuations. Over more steady periods, like in the early 1590s and 1690s, the MXD data and tithe series indicate rather similar evidence of annual harvest fluctuations (Fig. 3.4). Yet, when social distress affected the food system, the reliability and comparability of these series are weaker. Although the climatic conditions supported high yields in 1598 and 1599, for example, the paid tithes indicate that the harvest remained rather poor during these years. This was most likely due to internal distress like the repercussions of the unsuccessful peasant uprising and the power struggle between King Sigmund and Duke Charles. Overall, Finland was in turmoil for a couple of decades after the onset of the peasant uprising in 1596. Plundering soldiers, increased taxes, additional payments and arbitrary bailiffs, among others, could take a greater toll on the harvest than the unsettled weather (Lappalainen 2014, 51). Over these periods, the ability of MXD data to estimate past harvest fluctuations is weaker than during peaceful times, whereas the tithe time series can indicate the “hidden” component of the effects of human actions.

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The tithe and deserted farm records suggest that the little known food crisis of 1601 could have been as severe as the 1690s famine. In fact, tithes were not collected at all in1602, as frost had killed the crops all over the country in the previous year.9 The consequences of the 1601 crop failure are evident in the proxy time series at least until the year 1603. After the crisis of 1601–1603, the proxy data suggest the years 1614–1615 as being the most severe over the period from 1590 to 1619. The MXD data indicates the year 1614 as being the coldest one over a 30-year period. In addition, the amount of tithes collected in Ostrobothnia was the lowest in 1614 since the 1601–1603 crisis and the number of inhabited farms decreased notably in 1615. Additionally, rising grain prices followed the year 1614, quite similar to 1601–1603. As the years 1614/1615 have previously not been considered as years of crop failure or hunger, it can be argued that proxy time series may provide an insight on past food crises that are, for one reason or another, not mentioned in other sources and therefore overlooked by historians. Considering the period of “chronic crop failure” of the late 1590s, the proxy time series of climate, food production and population quite interestingly do not indicate a single year of crisis. Yet, the tithe and deserted farm data has been gathered solely from Ostrobothnia. Therefore the situation may have been different in other parts of the county. The highest grain price peak over a 30-year period was in 1598, although this might have resulted from the civil war, as discussed above. Nevertheless, it is striking that the proxy time series barely agree with the existing chronologies of Finnish crop failures and famines. Over a 30-year period, the proxy data suggests food crisis occurring in Ostrobothnia from 1601 to 1603 and in 1614/1615, whereas previous research has dated major crop failures taking place from 1595 to 1598, in 1600/1601 and 1609 (Myllyntaus 2009, 83). The period between the 1590s and the early 1600s was a time of constant power struggle between King Sigismund and Duke Charles. The peasant uprising in 1596/1597 and the civil war in 1598/1599 were interwoven in this battle. Hunger was one of the reasons (or excuses) for the contemporaries—and later an explanation for historians—for the peasants taking up arms (Ylikangas 2005, 15), which is why narratives of hunger and agony during these years were written down and preserved. Whether the scarcity of food resulted from a crop failure or heavy taxes, and whether the misery was real or exaggerated, might not be possible to discern from the narrative sources. Nevertheless, these descriptions have found their way into the existing crop failure chronologies. Where and when food crises may not have been considered worth writing down, proxy time series of climate, food production and population might provide new material for identifying crop failure and food crisis events in Finland.

9 National Archives of Finland (NAF), Bailiff’s accounts of Ostrobothnia 4827 (1602). Here, the tithe time series have been calibrated to correspond to the harvest year. The remark in the 1602 tithe registers indicates the harvest year of 1601.

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Summary During the Little Ice Age, harvest success in Finland was largely mediated by climate. Crop cultivation was limited to a couple of grain crops tolerating the shortness of the growing season at the northern margin of crop cultivation. Due to the rather simple food system, pre-industrial Finland is an optimal case study for exploring whether past subsistence crises can be identified from proxy evidence. Time series derived from tree-ring data as well as tithe and farm registers are promising material for identifying large-scale crop failures and subsistence crises. On the other hand, data on prices and import quantities, which have been successfully used in many other European regions for studying past subsistence crises, may not indicate accurately crises of food supply in a society, where the majority of the population gained its livelihood from subsistence agriculture, where taxes were largely paid in kind and grain trade and distribution was marginal. Due to the availability of data, different registration practices and changing units—all of which varied both temporally and spatially—adjustment and standardization of the time series prior to the analysis was necessary. This enabled a coarse comparison between the three famine periods under examination. Although harvest fluctuations were largely mediated by climate, subsistence crises were never solely “natural disasters”. Therefore, by compiling and comparing proxy evidence from natural and written sources, subsistence crises can successfully be identified. However, whether a crisis may have been “just” a severe crop failure or a catastrophic famine is difficult to distinguish without accurate population data. Here, for periods when population data are not available, the inhabited farm ratio time series were used as an indirect indicator for population fluctuations. Farm ratio proxies, however, might more accurately indicate tax paying ability than population variations. The MXD and tithe records supplement each other as harvest proxies. MXD data provides new material for identifying climate-induced crop failures. The tithe series, on the other hand, suggest that storage reserves were a decisive factor determining the consequences of climate and weather on the crop yields. Taxes and other burdens of the state, in turn, affected the storage capacity. To better understand how —and with what limitations—climate proxy data could be used in historical research, the impact of human actions on food production sensitivity to climate and weather should be carefully identified and quantified in further research. Natural and man-made proxy data provide useful material for historians to explore past subsistence crises. These data can even challenge established histories and chronologies, like the example of late-sixteenth century Ostrobothnia demonstrates. Consequently, proxy data can help us to contemplate why we know of some subsistence crises while others have been forgotten.

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Table 3.2 Missing data by harvest year Study period

1590–1619

1689–1698

Tithes 1594, 1595, 1601, 1617 1693, 1694 Deserted and inhabited 1594, 1595, 1597, 1604, 1610, 1617, 1689, 1693, farms 1619 1694 Note No explanation was given for the missing accounts, except for the harvest year 1601 when the tithes were not paid due to severe crop failure (NAF 4827)

Appendix Annual registers for tithes and deserted farms in Finland can be found in bailiff’s accounts up until 1634 and provincial accounts from 1635 onwards (National Archives of Finland, NAF). The accounts hold, inter alia, annual tax, land and tithe registers. The smallest unit in the accounts is the individual farm, which is grouped by villages and further by parishes. Some data were missing from the accounts, which are detailed in Table 3.2. With the exception of the deserted farm data for 1689–1698, which was derived from literature (Mäntylä 1988), the data for tithe and deserted farms time series was collected from the primary sources. The parish tithes in Ostrobothnia were recorded by a measure of volume, which was commonly a barrel (146.35 L). Registers that marked the tithes in another measure of volume (mainly the 16th century registers), have been converted into barrels. In addition to the missing annual registers (Table 3.2), some sporadic parish accounts were missing from the registers over the period from 1590 to 1619, without any explanation given. The missing records might have resulted from crop failure, changes in local administrations (parishes could have been divided or joined together) or simply the result of a clerk’s mistake. These matters pose a challenge for calculating the tithe time series. The parish series could not be summed up due to missing records. Moreover, the series could not be averaged due to the varying numbers and sizes of the parishes.10 Thus, the annual tithe time series (Ti ) was calculated as the weighted sum of the paid tithes (in barrels B) per parish (BP ) as: Ti ¼

X

BP
wP ;

ð3:1Þ

P2Parish

where the weights (wP ) are the ratio Pbetween the parish tithes and all the recorded paid tithes in this year, wP ¼ BP P BP . To enable interproxy comparisons and coarse comparison between the different study periods, the tithe time series (Ti ) was standardized (z-scores) as: zi ¼ ðTi  lÞ=r;

10

ð3:2Þ

Although the studied land area is constant over the 16th and 17th centuries, the number of parishes rose from 12 to 18 between 1590 and 1614.

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where l is the sample mean of the tithe time series and r is the sample standard deviation of the series during the study period. The recorded units in the deserted farm registers varied over the 16th and 17th centuries. On some years the number of the deserted farms were given as mantals (a taxation unit), on some years as number of peasant farms. The relation between mantal and peasant farm varied over time. In the mid-16th century one mantal more or less equaled one peasant farm, but in the early 17th century ½ and ¼ mantal farms were common in the land registers (Seppälä 2009, 63–68). Thus, to avoid bias due to changes in the recorded units, the deserted farm ratio for year i (Fi ) between the number of deserted farms (FD ) and the total number of farms (FT ) of the same unit (mantal or peasant farm) was determined as Fi ¼ FD =FT :

ð3:3Þ

To enable visual comparison between the deserted farm time series and population change data (see below), the deserted farm time series are presented in inhabited farm ratios in the illustrations (see Fig. 3.4). The ratio of inhabited farms for a year i is given by 1  Fi . The farm ratios are given in percentages. Provincial population data form Ostrobothnia for the period 1689–1698 was derived from literature (Muroma 1991) and national data for the period 1869–1870 from the Official Statistics of Finland database. From these time series, an annual series of the natural population change (the difference between the number of live births and deaths) was calculated. Provincial data on seed and harvest for both grains—rye and barley—were derived from the official statistical reports (Suomen virallinen tilasto 1868, 1875). The yield ratio time series were calculated as a weighted average of rye and barley yield ratios for each year as Yi ¼ wR
YR þ wB
YB ;

ð3:4Þ

where the weights are the fractions of harvested rye and barley, respectively. The grain specific yield ratios YR and YB were themselves calculated as weighted averages of the provincial yield ratios (the weights being the fractions of harvested rye and barley from a province compared to the total rye or barley harvest from all provinces). To enable comparison with the tithe series, yield ratio series were transformed into z-scores (cf. Eq. 3.2). The data on Swedish nominal grain prices and Helsinki rye prices was derived from literature (Edvinsson and Söderberg 2010; Vattula 1983, respectively). The adjustment procedures of these series are presented in the original publications. Also the price series were transformed into z-scores (cf. Eq. 3.2). The statistics for import and export for the period from 1869 to 1870 were derived from literature (Vattula 1983). Here, the net import, the difference between import and export, was calculated. The annual net import is given in tons. And last, the tree-ring (MXD) data originated from Lapland and northern Finland (Matskovsky and Helama 2014) and southern Finland (Helama et al. 2014).

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For the purpose of indicating annual temperature and yield ratio fluctuations over a larger part of Finland, the two time series were combined by normalizing the records into z-scores (cf. Eq. 3.2) and by averaging the normalized data into a mean MXD record.

References Archival Sources Bailiff’s accounts: Helsinki, National Archives of Finland (NAF). Accounts of Ostrobothnia, vol. 4792–4927. Helsinki, National Archives of Finland (NAF). General documents (Finland’s tithe register), vol. 312–321. Provincial accounts: Helsinki, National Archives of Finland (NAF). Accounts of Ostrobothnia, vol. 9198–9218.

Online Databases Official Statistics of Finland – Births. Helsinki: Statistics Finland. http://tilastokeskus.fi/til/synt/ index_en.html. Accessed 1 November 2015. Official Statistics of Finland – Deaths. Helsinki: Statistics Finland. http://tilastokeskus.fi/til/kuol/ index_en.html. Accessed 1 November 2015.

Printed Sources and Literature Briffa, Keith R., Timothy J. Osborn, Fritz H. Schweigruber, Philip D. Jones, Stepan G. Shiyatov, and Eugene A. Vaganov. 2002. Tree-ring width and density data around the Northern Hemisphere: Part 1, local and regional climate signals. The Holocene 12,6: 737–757. Campbell, Bruce M.S. 2000. English seigniorial agriculture, 1250–1450. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Campbell, Bruce M.S. 2009. Four famines and a pestilence: harvest, price, and wage variations in England, 13th to 19th centuries. In Agrarhistoria på manga sätt: 28 studier om människan och jorden, ed. Britt Liljewall et.al., 23–56. Stockholm: Kungliga Skogs- och Lantbruksakademien. Campbell, Bruce M.S. 2010. Nature as historical protagonist: environment and society in pre‐ industrial England. The Economic History Review 63: 281–314. Chernavskaya, Margarita. Weather conditions of 1695–96 in European Russia. Journal of Applied Meteorology 35: 1059–1062. Cowtan, Kevin, and Robert G. Way. 2014. Coverage bias in the HadCRUT4 temperature series and its impact on recent temperature trends. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society 140: 1935–1944. Dribe, Martin, Mats Olsson, and Patrick Svensson. 2015. Famines in the Nordic countries AD 536–1875. Lund Papers in Economic History 138: 1–41. Edvisson, Rodney. 2009. Swedish harvests 1665–1820: Early Modern Growth in the Periphery of European Economy. Scandinavian Economic History Review 57: 2–25.

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Edvinsson, Rodney, and Johan Söderberg. 2010. The evolution of Swedish consumer prices 1290– 2008. In Historical Monetary and Financial Statistics for Sweden, Volume I: Exchange rates, prices, and wages, 1277–2008, eds. Rodney Edvinsson, Tor Jacobson and Daniel Waldenström. Stockholm: Sveriges Riksbank. Fogel, Robert W. 1992. Second thoughts on the European escape from hunger: Famines, chronic malnutrition and mortality rates. In Nutrition and poverty, ed. Siddiqur Rahman Osmani, 243– 286. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Fritts, Harold C. 1976. Tree rings and climate. London: Academic Press. Gadd, Pehr Adrian. 1785. Afhandling, om medel til allmogens bärgning under säd- och foderbrist; jämte upgift af enskilta och allmänna anstalter, som därtil fordras. Turku: Tryckt hos K. Acad. boktr. J. C. Frenckells enka. Gregory, Peter J., John S.I. Ingram, and Michael Brklacich. 2005. Climate change and food security. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences 360: 2139–2148. Haywars, Adam D., Jari Holopainen, Jenni E. Pettay, and Virpi Lummaa. 2012. Food and fitness: associations between crop yields and life-history traits in a longitudinally monitored pre-industrial human population. Proceedings of the Royal Society, B: Biological Sciences 279: 4165–4173. Helama, Samuli, Jouko Meriläinen, and Heikki Tuomenvirta. 2009. Multicentennial megadrought in northern Europe coincided with a global El Niño–Southern Oscillation drought pattern during the Medieval Climate Anomaly. Geology 37: 175–178. Helama, Samuli, Matti Vartiainen, Jari Holopainen, Hanna M. Mäkelä, Taneli Kolström, and Jouko Meriläinen. 2014. A palaeotemperature record for the Finnish Lakeland based on microdensitometric variations in tree rings. Geochronometria 41: 265–277. Hollins, Philip. D., Peter S. Kettlewell, Pirjo Peltonen-Sainio, and Mark D. Atkinson. 2004. Relationships between climate and winter cereal grain quality in Finland and their potential for forecasting. Agricultural and Food Science 13: 295–308. Holopainen, Jari, and Samuli Helama. 2009. Little Ice Age farming in Finland: Preindustrial agriculture on the edge of the grim reaper’s scythe. Human Ecology 37: 213–25. Huhtamaa, Heli, Samuli Helama, Jari Holopainen, Carolin Rethorn, and Christian Rohr. 2015. Crop yield responses to temperature fluctuations in 19th century Finland: provincial variation in relation to climate and tree-rings. Boreal Environment Research 20: 707–723. Huhtamaa, Heli, and Samuli Helama. 2017. Reconstructing crop yield variability in Finland: long-term perspective on the cultivation history in the agricultural periphery since 760 AD. The Holocene, 27: 3–11. Hustich, Ilmari. 1947. On variations in climate, in crop cereals and in growth of pine in Northern Finland 1890–1939. Fennia 70: 1–23. Häkkilä, Matti. 2002. Farms of northern Finland. Fennia 180: 199–211. Ikonen, Vappu. 1991. “On syöty kaikkea, joka vain on ollut kiveä pehmeämpää” – Ravintokysymys 1860-luvulla. In Kun halla nälän tuskan toi, eds. Antti Häkkinen, Vappu Ikonen, Kari Pitkänen and Hannu Soikkanen, 207–223. Helsinki: WSOY. Kahan, Arcadius. 1968. Natural calamities and their effect upon the food supply in Russia (an introduction to a catalogue). Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas 16,3: 353–377. Katajala, Kimmo. 2002. Suomalainen kapina: talonpoikaislevottomuudet ja poliittisen kulttuurin muutos Ruotsin ajalla (n. 1150–1800). Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura. Keränen, Jaakko. 1931. Kasvukauden säiden ja vuodentulon keskinäisestä riippuvaisuudesta maassamme vuosina 1921–1928. Helsinki: Taloudellinen neuvottelukunta. Jantunen, Juha, and Kimmo Ruosteenoja. 2000. Weather conditions in northern Europe in the exceptionally cold spring season of the Famine Year 1867. Geophysica 36: 69–84. Jutikkala, Eino. 1981. The way up. In Desertion and colonization in the Nordic Countries c. 1300– 1600, eds. Svend Gissel, Eino Jutikkala, Eva Österberg, Jørn Sandnes and Björnd Teitsson. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International.

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Jutikkala, Eino. 2003. Halla aina uhkana. In Suomen maatalouden historia. Osa 1: Perinteisen maatalouden aika: esihistoriasta 1870 -luvulle, eds. Viljo Rasila, Eino Jutikkala and Anneli Mäkelä-Alitalo, 292–299. Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura. Lappalainen, Mirkka. 2009. Susimessu: 1590-luvun sisällissota Ruotsissa ja Suomessa. Helsinki: Siltala. Lappalainen, Mirkka. 2012. Jumalan vihan ruoska: Suuri nälänhätä Suomessa 1695–1697. Helsinki: Siltala. Lappalainen, Mirkka. 2014. Pohjolan leijona: Kustaa II Adolf ja Suomi 1611–1632. Helsinki: Siltala. Leijonhufvud, Lotta. 2001. Grain tithes and manorial yields in early modern Sweden: trends and patterns of production and productivity c. 1540–1680. Uppsala: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Luoto, Tomi P., and Samuli Helama. 2010. Palaeoclimatological and palaeolimnological records from fossil midges and tree-rings: the role of the North Atlantic Oscillation in eastern Finland through the Medieval Climate Anomaly and Little Ice Age. Quaternary Science Reviews 29: 2411–2423. Manninen, Antti. 1860. Mietteitä katovuosista Suomessa. Kuopi: Ashcan. Matskovsky Vladimir V., and Samuli Helama. 2014. Testing long-term summer temperature reconstruction based on maximum density chronologies obtained by reanalysis of tree-ring data sets from northernmost Sweden and Finland. Climate of the Past 10: 1473–1487. Melander, Kurt Reinhold, and Gustaf Melander. 1924. Katovuosista Suomessa. In Oma maa V., ed. Ernst Gustaf Palmén, 350–359, Porvoo: WSOY. Mikola, Peitsa. 1950. Katovuodet ja metsien kasvu. Metsätalouden Aikakauskirja 6: 204–205. Mukula, Jaakko, and Olli Rantanen. 1987. Climatic risks to the yield and quality of field crops in Finland: I. Basic facts about Finnish field crops production. Annales Agriculturae Fenniae 26: 1–18. Muroma, Seppo. 1991. Suurten kuolonvuosien (1696–1697) väestönmenetys Suomessa. Helsinki: Suomen Historiallinen Seura. Myllyntaus, Timo. 2009. Summer frost. A natural hazard with fatal consequences in pre-industrial Finland. In Natural disasters and cultural responses: case studies toward a global environmental history, eds. Cristof Mauch and Christian Pfister, 77–102. Lanham: Lexington Books. Mäntylä, Ilkka. 1988. Kruunu ja alamaisen nälkä: 1690-luvun katovuosien verotulojen vähennys Pohjanmaalla ja esivallan vastatoimenpiteet. Oulu: Oulun historiaseura. Ó Gráda, Cormac. 2009. Famine: a short history. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press. Pfister, Christian. 2010. The vulnerability of past societies to climatic variation: a new focus for historical climatology in the twenty-first century. Climatic change 100: 25–31. Pitkänen, Kari. 1991. “Ruumiita kuin puita pinossa”: Kuoleman satoisat vuodet. In Kun halla nälän tuskan toi, eds. Antti Häkkinen, Vappu Ikonen, Kari Pitkänen and Hannu Soikkanen, 207–223. Helsinki: WSOY. Rasila, Viljo. 2004. Overview of the history of Finnish agriculture: From prehistory to the 21st century. In Suomen maatalouden historia. Osa 3: Suurten muutosten aika: Jälleenrakennuskaudesta EU-Suomeen, ed. Pirjo Markkola, 490–507. Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura. Retsö, Dag, and Johan Söderberg. 2015. The late-medieval crisis quantified. Scandinavian Journal of History 40: 1–24. Sen, Amartya. 1981. Poverty and famines: an essay on entitlement and deprivation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seppel, Marten. 2015. Feeding the motherland: grain exports from the Swedish Baltic provinces during the Great Famine of 1696–1697. Scandinavian Economic History Review 3: 215–234. Seppälä, Suvianna. 2009. Viljana, nahkoina, kapakalana: Talonpoikien maksamat kruununverot Suomessa vuosina 1539–1609. Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura. Slicher van Bath, and Bernard Hendric. 1963. Yield ratios, 810–1820. Wegeningen: Afdeling Agrarische Geschiedenis Landbouwhogeschool.

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Part III

Socionatural Entanglements

Chapter 4

Two Decades of Crisis: Famine and Dearth During the 1480s and 1490s in Western and Central Europe Chantal Camenisch

Abstract During the 1480s and 1490s, parts of Western and Central Europe were hit by subsistence crises. This paper examines both crises by analysing narrative sources, sources derived from administrative processes, and grain price series. During both crises, the Low Countries were affected the most severely; the Holy Roman Empire and parts of modern Switzerland suffered less, even though the dearth was evident there as well. In both cases, the subsistence crises were followed by epidemic diseases. Several factors caused the crises, which can be attributed either to food availability decline (FAD) theories, such as back-to-back harvest failures, or food entitlement decline (FED) theories, amongst them market failures or the unequal distribution of goods within society. The crises of the 1480s and 1490s show characteristics that belong to both the FAD and the FED theories.










Keywords Subsistence crisis Climate impacts on society Grain prices Middle Ages

Introduction The onset of the Little Ice Age not only brought lower temperatures and more humid weather conditions on average but also a number of subsistence crises that were linked to back-to-back harvest failures (e.g. Campbell 2009, 43–46). During the last quarter of the fifteenth century, a prolonged period of crisis occurred. Regarding the food supply situation in many parts of Europe, two major crises can be identified. In the Low Countries, the Holy Roman Empire and France, the first crisis occurred during the first years of the 1480s, and the second crisis occurred between the last years of the same decade and the first years of the 1490s, with a short recovery around 1490. These crises did not reach the magnitude of the Great Famine in 1315–1322 or the cruel famines of the sixteenth and seventeenth C. Camenisch (&) University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland e-mail: [email protected] © Springer International Publishing AG 2018 D. Collet and M. Schuh (eds.), Famines During the ‘Little Ice Age’ (1300–1800), DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54337-6_4

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centuries. Nonetheless, they had a considerable impact on society, and this is why it is worth discussing the sequence of events, the reasons for the crises, the consequences of the crises and the actions of the people during the 1480s and 1490s. Therefore, this paper aims to answer the following questions: What were the characteristics of these two subsistence crises during the last quarter of the fifteenth century? What were the reasons for the crises, and what kinds of factors have to be taken into account? What coping strategies were used by the people and the authorities? What were the economic and social consequences of the crises? In order to answer these questions, different sources provide answers. For this paper, a number of narrative sources, mainly chronicles from the area of modern Switzerland, France, the Low Countries and the Holy Roman Empire, have been examined. Also, price series from the Low Countries and from a few places in the Empire have been included in the paper. Furthermore, sources derived from different administrative processes, mainly in Berne, complete the source sample. Subsistence crises during the fifteenth century have not yet been examined in depth. The reason for this is most probably the fact that a number of famines before and after that period were more severe and are already better known, such as the great famine at the beginning of the fourteenth century (Kershaw 1973; Jordan 1996; Jordan 2010) or the famine of the 1570s (e.g. Behringer 2003; Landsteiner 2005). Most recently, amongst those subsistence crises that occurred during the fifteenth century, the crisis of the 1430s attracted more attention from the research community (Jörg 2008; Camenisch 2012, 2015a; van Schaïk 2013; Camenisch et al. 2016). The second half of the fifteenth century is only scarcely researched regarding subsistence crises, and the few results have only a local focus (Morgenthaler 1921; Camenisch 2012, 2015a, 2016; van Schaïk 2013). Bruce Campbell and Cormac Ó Gráda examined the famines and subsistence crises of the Late Middle Ages in the context of economic development (e.g. Campbell 2009, 2010b; Campbell and Ó Gráda 2011). The research of Léopold Genicot, which focusses on the agrarian production in Northern France, needs to be mentioned as well (Genicot 1970). Most recently, Heli Huhtamaa (2015) analysed the climatic anomalies and subsistence crises in Novgorod and Ladoga during the Late Middle Ages.

Subsistence Crises During the Little Ice Age: Definitions, Approaches and Factors There are many possible definitions of famine, subsistence crisis, dearth or dearness. Daniel Krämer presents a broad range of definitions in his thesis (2015, 100– 104). He proposes a clear distinction between the intensities that are linked to the different expressions. For example, a situation could be described as a food shortage when the diversity of available (or affordable) food declines. People’s comfort level diminishes even though individual health is not affected. On the other hand, dearth means that due to the limited resources, the health of people is

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endangered. During a subsistence crisis or famine, the food supply system fails (production, distribution and consumption). Food becomes extremely expensive, and the availability of food is strongly restricted, which threatens the lives of the people involved. The reasons for subsistence crises are the subject of ongoing debates, which is why several approaches exist in research. It is possible to distinguish them roughly into two main directions. The first focuses on the reduced food production (i.e. food availability decline [FAD] theories); whereas, the second emphasises economic reasons such as market failure and the distribution of food within a society (food entitlement decline [FED] theories). The latter was strongly influenced by the thoughts of Amartya Sen (Krämer 2015, 121–138, 153–157). Amongst the FAD theories, the simplified climate-society interaction model developed by Krämer needs to be mentioned (e.g. Krämer 2015, 89; Luterbacher and Pfister 2015). Krämer describes how weather anomalies or natural hazards first influence primary production (e.g. quality and quantity of the grain harvest). In order to reduce these effects, people invest in the diversification of planted crops and use land parcels with different exposures. As a second level of impact, the prices of the biomass increase and epidemics and epizootics run rampant, which cause the third level of impact, namely malnutrition, which has an influence on demographic growth as well as on social conflicts. On these two levels (second and third order impact) interactions with grain supply and migration or market interventions and expansion of trade routes take place. Crisis interpretation, cultural memory and learning processes belong to the fourth level of impact. They themselves influence religious rituals, legislation and adaptation strategies. Furthermore, vulnerability to subsistence crises plays an important role in the whole process. The concept of vulnerability is an approach that is used in historical climatology and in the field of historical natural hazard research. The concept analyses what factors expose societies, households or even individuals to subsistence crises and on the other hand, what factors make them resilient (Krämer 2015, 202–207; for further reading see Collet 2012; Collet et al. 2012; Krämer 2012). In regard to famines during the preindustrial time, it is useful to remember that Ernest Labrousse describes the development of the crise type ancien (Labrousse 1944, 173–181). In this model, a crop failure (for instance caused by weather anomalies) leads to increasing food prices. Due to these rising prices, people need to spend more money in order to secure their subsistence, which means that they do not have the means to buy other products or services such as dispensable types of food, clothes etc. Thus, the providers of such products lose their income, which makes it difficult for them to buy the necessities for their own subsistence. A subsistence crisis is not a problem that the rich had to cope with. Predominantly less wealthy people and those who were dependent on market prices were struck by such crises because they did not possess the necessary means to stock up on necessities when a harvest failure became apparent (Buszello 2007, 35). Often malnutrition in general and famine as a result of an acute culmination of malnutrition in a broader segment of the population were linked to disease. Many examples in history show the simultaneous appearance of famine and disease

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(e.g. Appleby 1980; Campbell 2009, 41, 2010a). Malnutrition even seems to abet the spreading of epidemic diseases (Behringer 2010, 112–113). One of the reasons for this link was that famines caused major migration movements, and due to wandering people and the lack of hygiene in temporary camps, diseases could disseminate (Persson 2010, 44). In cases of food shortage, dearth or subsistence crisis the authorities as well as individuals had in the past and still have a variety of instruments they can use in order to improve the situation. Amongst them are measures to influence the supply as well as the demand (for further reading see Huhn 1987; Krämer 2015, 148). This paper follows mainly the simplified climate-society interaction model presented by Daniel Krämer and Ernest Labrousse’s approach on crises type ancien even though the other shortly introduced approaches play an important role in order to interpret the information in the sources. The High Middle Ages in Europe were marked by the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA), which is characterized by rather high summer temperatures on the average and only occasional severe winters and cold wet summers. Around 1300, these favourable climatic conditions came to an end with a period of transition towards the onset of the Little Ice Age (LIA) (Rohr et al. 2016). During this period, the average temperatures became considerably colder, and the growing season was shortened by about three weeks. Due to glacier advances, sinking snow lines and the lower temperatures the altitude limit of crop cultivation and tree growth fell by 200 m. In this period, the vineyards in England were relinquished due to the climate change and further reasons. In the North—for instance in the Scottish Highlands—crop cultivation became difficult or even disappeared as in Norway above Trondheim (Aberth 2013, 49). It is necessary to emphasise that even though the climate was colder and wetter than during the MCA, this does not mean that the weather conditions were constantly adverse. Between wet and cold years there were always episodes of bright and warm seasons; although, the weather conditions were more variable and stormy (Aberth 2013, 49). The weather conditions during the 1480s and 1490s were influenced by the Spörer Minimum, a period of reduced solar activity that began around 1420 (Camenisch et al. 2016; Kappas 2009, 262) and possibly by volcanic activities (Camenisch 2015b). During this period of transition to the beginning of the Little Ice Age and the following two centuries, Europe experienced a number of dramatic subsistence crises and famines. The first crisis—which reached an apocalyptic magnitude— struck Europe in the second decade of the fourteenth century. This crisis caused a cruel demographic decline (e.g. Campbell 2009, 42–43; Hoffmann 2014, 324). The famine occurred during a period of relative overpopulation, when the supply situation was stressed anyway. In the middle of the fourteenth century, an additional disaster afflicted Europe’s population. The greater crisis is attributed to the Black Death, but almost simultaneously, a back-to-back harvest failure also caused a subsistence crisis, at least in England and in parts of continental Europe (Campbell 2009, 43–46). Since so many people died of the Black Death in those years neither the contemporary chroniclers nor the modern scientists pay much attention to the subsistence crisis.

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Sequences of wet and cold weather conditions occurred repeatedly during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and in a number of cases, these weather conditions led to considerable harvest failures. Such harvest failures occurred especially in the years from 1363 to1371, in 1408/09, from 1437 to 1440 and in 1481/82 (Aberth 2013, 50). Nevertheless, harvest failures do not necessarily lead to widespread famines. Many other factors such as the demographic developments, the grade of market integration or the political events played an important role, too. The harvest failures during the second half of the 1430s led to famine on the European continent (e.g. Fagan 2000, 83–84; Jörg 2008; Camenisch et al. 2016); however, due to low demographic pressure and high real wages, England and parts of continental Europe suffered much less (Campbell 2009, 46, 49–50). Towards the end of the fifteenth century, two further crises occurred, which shall be discussed in the following chapters.

The Crisis at the Beginning of the 1480s From the first years of the 1480s onwards, strong price increases occurred in different parts of Europe, including the Low Countries, France, and parts of the Holy Roman Empire, including the area that is today’s Switzerland. In most regions, prices peaked in 1482 and decreased a year later. The reasons for the crisis were complex. Weather conditions, economic reasons as well as political troubles need to be considered in this context. The first isolated reports on rising food prices in the Low Countries date to the year 1479 (Vlaamsche Kronyk 1879, 247; Kroniek van het Fraterhuis te Doesburg 1974, 56; see also Camenisch 2015a, 410–417; Camenisch 2012, 2016). Already in the subsequent year, the number of reports on the scarce supply of food and expensive prices was growing. Particularly chroniclers from the monastery of Kamp (at the border of the Lower Rhine not far from the town of Wesel), from Antwerp, and from the Flemish Coast give accounts of the scarcity and rising food prices (Chronicon monasterii Campensis 1869, 336; Chronijck der Stadt Antwerpen 1879, 46–47; Adrien de But 1870, 568). Rising grain prices are also documented in Hamburg. It seems that these increased prices were linked to the rising demand among Dutch merchants, who bought large amounts of grain there (Gerhard and Engel 2006, 324). In 1481, food was expensive in the Low Countries (Jehan Aubrion 1857, 130; Dietrich Westhoff 1887, 345; Cronijcke van den Lande ende Graefscepe van Vlaenderen 1840, 207, 210). Obviously, in the eyes of numerous chroniclers, the situation was dramatic enough to call it a famine in the area of the Low Countries, France and Lorraine. In addition to the dearth, an epidemic disease raged and caused increasing mortality (Philippe de Vigneulles 1932, 80; Annalium Flandriae post Jacobum Meyerum 1876, 505; Chronijck der Stadt Antwerpen 1879, 34; Chronijcke van Nederlant van den jaere 1027 tot den jaere 1525 1879, 46). In Douai, in Artois, the grain prices in 1481 and 1482 were extremely elevated as Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie depicts (Ladurie 2004, 141). Also in 1482, the

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Fig. 4.1 Rye prices 1476–1486. The height of the bars shows how many times the peak price was higher than the lowest price. On the top of the bar, the peak year is indicated, and at the bottom of the bar, the year with the lowest prices is indicated (Camenisch 2015a, 413)

chroniclers mention hunger and high food prices as well as a disease with symptoms described as a fever and strong headache (Kroniek van het Fraterhuis te Doesburg 1974, 58; Philippe de Vigneulles 1932, 87).1 Humans were not the only ones affected by disease: A cattle plague also diminished livestock (Kroniek van het Fraterhuis te Doesburg 1974, 56). Figure 4.1 shows the magnitude of price increases at different places in Western and Central Europe. The height of the bars represents how many times the prices of the peak year (indicated on the top of the bars) were higher in comparison to the year with the lowest prices (given on the bottom of the bars) in a certain period (in the case of Fig. 4.1, from 1476 to 1486). Clear differences in the magnitude of the crisis are visible. Whereas the towns in the Holy Roman Empire, such as Nördlingen, Heilsbronn or Nürnberg, did not suffer that much under the food shortage, the prices increased in the towns of the Low Countries, especially those situated at the coast. This method of showing price movements has the enormous

1

1482. […] Was oek grote pestilenz etlicher orde und durung. […] Ist ein grote pestilenz, daran die lude unsinnig geworden, neben dem groten hunger gewesen, und sin den minschen worme im hovet gewesen und vil umbkommen (Dietrich Westhoff 1887, 346‒347).

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advantage of illustrating tendencies without the necessity of converting the different currencies into gold or silver equivalents. Furthermore, the different local measures of capacity used in the Late Middle Ages can be disregarded. Previously, Wilhelm Abel used this method to express the spatial dimension of price movement (e.g. Abel 1974, 47; Camenisch 2015a, 69). Also in the area of today’s Switzerland, the crisis was clearly perceptible. In contrast to the Low Countries, the first signs of rising food prices and a dearth were already mentioned in the years 1476, 1477 and 1478 (e.g. Diebold Schilling 1901, 57, 94). The Bernese chronicler Diebold Schilling described the economic situation as follows: In the year 1477 there was a dearth of grain in the town of Berne and everywhere in the Bernese countryside. The rich and wealthy did not want to sell their grain, neither in the town nor on the countryside. This was the reason why the people from the Highlands approached the town council several times in order to ask for help since they and their wives and children suffered from the dearth. Many of them did not eat bread for months, and they could not find grain for their money.2 During these years the prices in Berne stayed clearly below the level of the second half of the 1430s. Nonetheless, the situation was alarming enough to provoke the authorities to impose export bans for grain and to buy a considerable amount of grain in allied Strasbourg (Morgenthaler 1921, 10–12). In the years 1477–1479, the Berne area suffered from a cockchafer grub pest, which apparently caused considerable damages to crops (Chène 1995, 61–77). The same area was again struck in the first years after 1480 by food shortage and rising food prices. In 1481, the Bernese Valerius Anshelm tells about a terrible famine in France where many people died of hunger. When the famine reached the Swiss Confederacy, the authorities of Berne took measures against the rising food prices.3 In 1482, hunger and dearth were also mentioned in Fribourg. Furthermore, a terrible disease killed people cruelly and quickly. The same or another disease was already reported in 1479 and 1480 (Franz Rudella 2007, 357, 362). In Basel, the spelt prices found in the accounts of the hospital peaked in 1482, too. The increase was a considerable one because the prices in 1482 were double those of 1481 and triple those of 1480. Rye, oats, wheat, barley and other grains showed similar price movements (von Tscharner-Aue 1983, 187–190, 330–331, 389).

2

In dem jare, da man zalt von der gebúrt Cristi tusent vierhundert sibenzig und siben iare wart in der stat Bern und in allen iren landen und gebieten ein grosse túre an korn […]. Und kam darzuͦ, das die fromen lúte vom Oberlande, von Hassle und anderswo har me dann einmal fúr einen rat zuͦ Bern kament und sich gar vast erclagtent, das si und ir wib und kind grossen mangel muͤsten haben und etlich under inen, der gar vil was, in zwei oder drin monaten kein brot hatten gessen, noch korn umb ir gelt moͤgen finden (Diebold Schilling 1901, 177). 3 Nachdem ouch in disem ja russ tuͤre aller fruͤchten an vil enden, sunders in Frankrich, vil hungers gestorben und vil also erhungert, dass von verstrupfung ire magen und geder, wenn man inen z’essen gab, si die spis nit me moͤchten verschlîssen; und als die tuͤre ouch ein Eidgnoschaft beschwert, liessend gmein Eidgnossen versehen, dass man kein anken, korn und win usser iren landen soͤlte fieren (Valerius Anshelm 1884, 188).

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In England, the supply situation was obviously much better. Bruce Campbell showed that grain yield decreased in the first years of the 1480s compared to the average, correspondingly the tithe receipts. But the poor harvest was clearly far from the magnitude of the second decade of the fourteenth century or even of the 1430s. The grain prices also rose in the 1480s (the peak year was 1483 when the prices reached 189% of the 25-year moving average), but the prices rose less than in the two previously mentioned cases. The back-to-back harvest failure was severe, but since the real wages of the time were much higher than in the beginning of the fourteenth century and did not decrease dramatically during the relevant years, a major mortality crisis was avoided in England (Campbell 2009, 44, 46). Already, the earlier food shortage of the years 1477 and 1478 in the area of modern Switzerland was apparently caused by very unfavourable weather conditions such as an extremely cold winter that led to the freezing of Lake Thun—a very uncommon phenomenon—and political reasons that will be discussed in the following chapter. The extremely low winter temperatures caused widespread damage to the winter seed in that area. Therefore the fields had to be ploughed and sowed again in spring. The summer of 1477, especially in July, was marked by a series of thunderstorms in the Bernese area, which destroyed a large amount of ripening grain in the fields (Morgenthaler 1921, 8–9). Apparently, in the year 1479 the weather conditions were very promising for agricultural production. In the summer, it was very warm in Lorraine (Jehan Aubrion 1857, 103–104. For a more in-depth discussion of the weather conditions in the Low Countries and the surrounding areas, see as well Camenisch 2012, 2015a, 2016). In Bern, the year was fertile (Morgenthaler 1921, 22). The heat was not favourable everywhere for grain growing. Apparently in Soest, grain growing was hampered by the high temperatures (Auszüge aus den Soester Stadtbüchern 1895, 60). In the following year, 1480, the climatic conditions changed. Temperatures during the spring season were very low, and the growth of vegetation was clearly delayed into May.4 In the same month around the 11th, cold and a period of frost were reported in the Low Countries and Lorraine (Adrien de But 1870, 567; Camenisch 2015a, 414).5 The summer season was marked by very wet weather conditions and low temperatures in an extended area. Damages to crops were the consequence of heavy rainfalls during July and August. The wet conditions lasted until autumn and caused floods in many parts of Europe (Philippe de Vigneulles 1932, 77–78; Jehan Aubrion 1857, 107, 110– 114; Dietrich Westhoff 1887, 343; Buisman 1998, 158; Le Roy Ladurie 2004, 142– 143). During the summer, the Aare and the Sarine rivers left their beds and flooded the lower parts of the towns of Berne and Fribourg. In Fribourg, the pont de millieu, granaries, a chapel and further buildings were washed away. In the meantime, there 4

1480 […] Item, le temps estoit tousiours froit, tellement que, le premie jor de may, on ne véoit encor nulles verdeurs en vigne. Touteffois, il vint un peu de challores qui duroit x jours; par quoy les vignes et aultres biens encommensoient fort à croistre; mais tantost le temps se rechaingeoit, et vint une froide plue qui duroit jusques au mey may (Jehan Aubrion 1857, 106). 5 Mil iiiic iiiixx. […] fit ancor en ce tamps sy grant froideur et gellé que touttes les vignes du Vaulx de Mets et de plusieurs aultres lieu furent à peu près toutte engellées (Philippe de Vigneulles 1932, 74).

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was also a flooding of the Rhine, which caused heavy damage to bridges, buildings, fruit and crops (Valerius Anshelm 1884, 167; Peter von Molsheim 1914, 224–225; Franz Rudella 2007, 358–359). The subsequent winter season 1480/81 was extremely cold (Le Roy Ladurie 2004, 143–144). All over Western and Central Europe, rivers such as the Meuse, Scheldt, Rhine, Seine, Rhone, Marne, Yonne and Gironde froze as well as the shores of the North Sea. Moreover, the severe frost period that lasted until the month of March damaged fruit trees, vineyards and livestock. In Metz, the wine froze in the cellars and the water in the flagons. Even in April and May, the temperatures stayed low and repeated periods of frost occurred (Weikinn 1958, 429; Adrien de But 1870, 504; Philippe de Vigneulles 1932, 80; Adrien d’Oudenbosch 1902, 264; Chronicon monasterii Campensis 1869, 336).6 These low temperatures interfered with the growing of plants, which is why the fruit trees did not bloom before the beginning of May (Adrien d’Oudenbosch 1902, 262; Philippe de Vigneulles 1932, 81–82; Kroniek van het Fraterhuis te Doesburg 1974, 56).7 The summer season of 1481 did not give reasons for optimism because it was outstandingly cold and wet again. In June, the low temperatures caused damage to the fruit. The growing and ripening of all vegetation was delayed. In June and also partially in July and August, the weather was so wet that in Fribourg the Sarine River flooded a second time after the summer of 1480. Again the pont de millieu was damaged, and many gardens and meadows in the lower areas of the town were flooded. As a consequence of the wet weather, the grain harvest in Liege did not start before 8 September (according to the Gregorian calendar, it was even later: 17 September), which is an outstandingly late date (Philippe de Vigneulles 1932, 84; Jehan Aubrion 1857, 121–123; Adrien d’Oudenbosch 1902, 264; Buisman 1998, 165; Weikinn 1958, 432; Peter von Molsheim 1914, 228–229). A further reason for very high food prices in the area of modern Switzerland at the beginning of the 1480s might have been the food shortage a few years before. Christian Jörg describes the same phenomenon for the 1430s when in the Holy Roman Empire the stocks in many towns were already exhausted due to minor shortages in the first half of the decade. When the severe harvest failure occurred during the second half of the 1430s, the town did not have enough time to establish new stocks and were much more vulnerable to the new threat (Jörg 2008, 32). In the Low Countries, the food supply situation was worsened by the fact that the Teutonic Order stopped the export of Baltic grain for the period between 1480 and March 1483, which was crucial for the subsistence of the populous cities in the Low Countries (Tits-Dieuaide 1975, 229). Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie describes the crisis in 1481 and 1482 as purely climatic since there were no wars during that time (Le Roy Ladurie 2004, 142). This 1480 […] Item, il fit ung fort yvert. La gellée vint ij jours devant Noel, et durait jusques à la Chadeleur; et gelloit sy fort que les arbres fendoient aux champs; et (l’eau) gelloit en lez puxe, et lez vins en lez celliés (Jehan Aubrion 1857, 116). 7 1481 […] Item, il fit fort froit tout le mois d’apvril, tellement que, le premier jour de may, ons avoit encore bien poc de fleurs d’a(r)bres (Jehan Aubrion 1857, 118‒119). 6

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might be correct in regard to the French territory. The direct neighbours of France did not share the same luck. In the western part of modern Switzerland, the second half of the 1470s stood out due to the political implications of the Burgundian Wars and the tensions within the Swiss Confederacy concerning the inclusion of Fribourg and Solothurn into the Confederacy. In particular, the expansion of the Bernese and their allies prior to the battles of Grandson and Morat (both 1476) caused widespread devastation in the Western part of today’s Switzerland (Maissen 2010, 59–62; Reinhardt 2013, 123– 124). These turbulences were a further very plausible reason for the food shortage in the years 1477 and 1478 along with the fact that many of these confederate combatants were absent from the field work, which possibly caused delays and losses in harvest (Morgenthaler 1921, 8). Indeed, these political turbulences are closely linked to the situation in the Low Countries, where the unexpected death of Charles the Bold in front of the walls of Nancy caused military actions between Louis XI, on the one hand, and Mary, the heiress of Burgundy in alliance with her (later) husband Maximilian, the son of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, on the other hand (Erbe 1993, 70–75; Kendall 1975, 463–486). Mary’s early and unexpected death after a riding accident in 1482 caused further political and military turbulences. Mary’s and Maximillian’s three-year-old son Philipp was the heir of the Burgundian Low Countries. Since the boy was too young for governance, his father took the regency in his name. This unpopular regency led to repeated uprisings in the Low Countries in the years from 1482 to 1492. The uprisings and the war against Louis XI were the reasons for a considerable drop in the agrarian production of the time (Gunn et al. 2007, 12; Prevenier and Blockmans 1986, 56). The impact of the war on agrarian production and economic development was severe since the French troops systematically devastated the borderlands between France and the Low Countries during the last quarter of the century. The Artois, which served as a bread basket for the metropoles of the Low Countries, also belonged to these borderlands (Prevenier and Blockmans 1986, 56; Nicholas 1992, 360. For a more detailed description of the link between war and agrarian crisis in general but also during the 1480s, see Camenisch 2015a, 416–417). People and the authorities coped with the rising food prices. In Berne, the authorities had already bought a considerable amount of grain in Strasbourg in 1477. Apparently, even transport was difficult and very expensive. Besides this, the authorities in Berne imposed decrees that forced grain producers in the hinterland to offer their products at the town market. Since this policy did not work well, the producers had to present their stocks to town clerks in order to estimate the entire available grain in the Bernese area of influence (Morgenthaler 1921, 10–15). A few years later, in 1481, the stocks were surveyed again by the authorities (Morgenthaler 1921, 26). In this context, the prohibition of any speculation on food prices in 1479 needs to be considered (Rechtsquellen des Kantons Bern 1966, 1/VIII/1, 9). Valerius Anshelm mentions in his chronicle that no food—neither fruit nor cattle or milk—shall be sold

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outside the official market.8 Furthermore the town’s bakers were affected by the policy of the authorities and the way how they produced their bread (Morgenthaler 1921, 17– 19). In 1481, the Bernese authorities again prohibited any speculation on the prices of butter, grain or wine, and they imposed an export ban on the same agricultural products (Valerius Anshelm 1884, 188).9 This export ban was caused by the Burgundians and others who bought large amounts of grain in the Bernese countryside. Some neighbours were still allowed to purchase grain in the Bernese area, but allies such as Fribourg were also asked to follow the Bernese politics in that matter. The export ban was communicated several times during the year 1481 (Morgenthaler 1921, 24–25). Another policy of the Bernese authorities was to expel foreign beggars and vagrants from their territory in 1481 as Valerius Anshelm describes.10 Moreover, from 1477 until 1479, the area suffered from a cockchafer grub pest. The problem was severe enough for the Bishop of Lausanne to conduct a spiritual lawsuit against the cockchafer grub and to excommunicate them (Chène 1995, 61–77). Valerius Anshelm describes how the cockchafer grubs were banned. Despite this punishment, they continued to proliferate and caused much damage.11 A Christian society in the late Middle Ages disposed of several strategies which were linked to religion or religious ideas. Amongst them were prayers, pilgrimages or the adoration of (patron) saints. In 1479, a new form of prayer was established due to the plague and dearth at that time. During the prayer, which consisted of five Lord’s Prayers and five Hail Marys, the people had to kneel down while the bells were ringing (Valerius Anshelm 1884, 149). Prayer as a remedy for hunger and disease was not an exception in the 1480s in Bern. There are several examples of prayers used as a remedy in other places and other crises (e.g. Behringer 2003, 116). Processions were often organised in order to safeguard the population. This occurred 8

Diss jars hat eine fuͤrsichtige stat Bern strenge gebot zuͦ mermalen bi hochen buͦssen in all ire gepiet lassen […]. Item und wider den untruͤwen, schaͤdlichen fuͤrkouf den koͤuferen und ver koͤuferen 10 pfund pfenning buͦss ufgelegt, und zuͦ guͦt und hilf einer gmeind und gmeinen maͤrkten geboten, dass all aͦssige ding, frucht, vich, molken, nit bi hus ider sust bestekt oder verkouft, sunder alles uf ofne, frie maͤrktstaͤt soͤllen gefuͤert und verkouft werden (Valerius Anshelm 1884, 150). 9 Uf das, so hat ein firsichtig stat Bern in all irer herschaft bi gsazter buͦss verboten, weder anken, korn, noch win uf fuͤrkouf, noch uss ir land zuͦ verkoufen […] (Valerius Anshelm 1884, 188). 10 Nuzlich gebot, zerer und fremd varend volk, landstricher und betler hinweg zuͦ fergen. Item, allen amptluͤten geboten, die unnuͤzen, miessigen zerer uss den wirtshuͤseren heim, und all fremd husierer, landstricher und betler uss iren gebieten z’fergen, und ouch die rechten pilger fuͤrz’wissen, damit sich de inlaͤndigen armen dester bass moͤchten enthalten (Valerius Anshelm 1884, 189–190). 11 Von einem wunderlichen, abergloͤubigen rechtshandel, die inger, kaͤfer und wuͤrm zuͦ verbannen und zuͦ vertriben. Es hat einen wise stat Bern, von iren geistlichen beredt, irem harzuͦ beratnen und geneigten statschriber, Thuͤring Frickern, der rechten doctor, uf den 22. tag Meien, einen wolussgespizten, latinischen, volmaͤchtigen gwaltsbrief under irem sigel geben, die schadhaften, reubischen inger, kaͤfer und wirm, mit geistlichs rechtens, an ordentlichem gricht zuͦ Losan erlangten und ussgekuͤnten ban, verluͤten und verschiessung […] uss all iren gepieten und landen ze vertriben. Und wie will die inger, als contumaces und violenti raptores et occupatores, das recht, […] verluren und heftig gebannet wurden, dennocht, ungeirret des grossen bannes, blibens in irer gewerd und possession so stark, […] (Valerius Anshelm 1884, 148–149).

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for instance in 1480 when the Bernese brought reliquaries and sacramental bread in a procession to the Marzili district next to the border of the Aare when the river threatened to flood the settled area (Valerius Anshelm 1884, 167). Furthermore, scapegoats for the crisis were found. Laurent Litzenburger shows the increasing number of witch trials in Metz in 1481 and links the hunt for witches in that area with the famine of the first years of the 1480s. Litzenburger further discusses the social, cultural and religious mechanisms that are behind this phenomenon (Litzenburger 2015, 429–444).

The Crisis at the End of the 1480s and at the Beginning of the 1490s From the last years of the 1480s until the first years of the 1490s, parts of Europe were again hit by subsistence crisis. In the Late Middle Ages, there is no other example of the occurrence of two crises within so few years. This later crisis is marked by a short time of release at some places around 1490 before food prices increased sharply again. In other places, this phenomenon was not observed. In Fribourg, the chronicle of Franz Rudella mentions a solar eclipse in 1485, which was interpreted by the chronicler as an omen for the years of dearth that followed soon after. Rudella does not give further details (Franz Rudella 2007, 365). The second crisis occurred in the years between the end of the 1480s until the first years of the 1490s. This crisis did not reach the same magnitude all over Europe. The Low Countries were hit severely. In Bruges, the prices for grain and other food already started to rise in 1488. This development continued in 1489 (Vlaamsche Kronyk 1879, 264–268. For the Low Countries, see also Camenisch 2012; van Schaïk 2013; Camenisch 2015a, 410–417, 2016). In the meantime, the Low Countries suffered from an epidemic disease that claimed a high death toll. In Leuven 20,000, in Brussels 25,000 (or even more than 33,000) and in Gent about 40,000 people were reported in chronicles to have perished.12 Also, the years between 1490 and 1493 were described as very expensive times. In consequence,

12 Anno Domini M CCCC LXXXIX […] Eodem anno in augusto, pestis gravissima Lovanii et Bruxelle inhorruit ex qua Bruxella ferebantur ultra XXV M hominum fuisse extincta. Similiter Lovanii circiter XX millia (Chronique du règne de Jean de Horne 1913, 385). Anno 1489.— Quamper soo grooten sterffte te Loven ende daer ontrent, maer bovenal te Brussel, soo dat daer dickmael waren op eenen dagh drij hondert lijcken, ende ten minsten 200 somma; daer storven meer dan xxxiij duysent ende ontrent vijc menschen, soo datter veel huysen tot Brussel bleven leegh staen ende tot Loven storven meer dan xx duysent. In dit selve jaer, soo storven tot Ghendt van de peste meer dan xxxx duysent persoonen, soo jonck als out (Chronijck der Stadt Antwerpen 1879, 53).

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the people in the towns and in the countryside suffered from hunger and dearth (Chronijk der landen van Overmaas 1870, 75‒76; Vlaamsche Kronyk 1879, 274; Het boek van al `t gene datter geschiedt is binnen Brugghe, 1859, 434; Chronique du règne de Jean de Horne 1913, 449‒450; Peter van Os 1997, 267; Kroniek van het Fraterhuis te Doesburg 1974, 65; Jehan Aubrion 1857, 271, 276‒277; Philippe de Vigneulles 1932, 226, 229, 233; Dietrich Westhoff 1887, 355‒356; Chronica van der hilliger stat von Coellen 1877, 881). Not only the price of grain increased but also the prices of meat, dairy products and fish (Chronique du règne de Jean de Horne 1913, 449–456, 460–468; Kroniek van het Fraterhuis te Doesburg 1974, 65‒ 66; Chronicon monasterii Campensis 1869, 346; Dietrich Westhoff 1887, 356; Jehan Aubrion 1857, 291‒292). Again, in 1492, hunger and misery were reported in many places (Chronijk der landen van Overmaas 1870, 75‒76; Chronicon monasterii Campensis 1869, 346). In other places, the situation apparently improved, as in Dortmund or Lüttich, where abundant harvest yields are mentioned (Annotations sur les années 1401 à 1506 1931, 271; Dietrich Westhoff 1887, 357). On the other hand, in Flanders, the epidemic disease first reported in 1491 continued and did not abate until 1494 (Romboudt de Doppere 1892, 30, 33, 38; Jehan Aubrion 1857, 320–321, 331; Kroniek van het Fraterhuis te Doesburg 1974, 68–69; Memorieboek der stad Ghent 1852, 367). In 1493, the food prices finally started to decrease and the crisis ended in Europe (Philippe de Vigneulles 1932, 303; Chronica van der hilliger stat von Coellen 1877, 887). As Fig. 4.2 shows, rye prices increased most in the Low Countries, whereas the prices in the towns of Nördlingen, Nürnberg and Heilsbronn doubled. The most affected were the metropoles at the coast, Bruges and Antwerp, where the rye prices in the peak years were six times higher than the prices in the nadir of the crisis. This situation is rather similar to the previously discussed case of the first years of the 1480s. However, there is a noticeable difference. At the beginning of the 1480s, the picture was clearly more consistent with the peak years in 1482 (with Nordwijkerhout as the only exception in 1481), while the situation at the beginning of the 1490s was obviously more heterogeneous. Peak years occurred in 1488, 1489, 1490 and 1491 in the Low Countries. This finding is surprising since the rye prices of that area show clear patterns of an integrated market (Camenisch 2015a, 386). A certain inconsistency might derive from the fact that the prices were calculated from several sources that followed different accounting years, but this fails to explain this variance of four years. In the three towns of the Holy Roman Empire shown on the map, the picture is more homogeneous. All prices peaked in 1491. The lowest prices are found either in the year 1487 or 1495. In Basel, all grain prices in the accounts of the hospital showed a second peak after 1482 in 1491. Only the rye prices did not increase to the same extent as the prices of the other grains. In this case, the peak is clearly visible (von Tscharner-Aue 1983, 187–190, 330–331, 389). Obviously the prices in Basel show the same pattern as the prices in Nördlingen, Heilsbronn and Nürnberg. Valerius Anshelm writes that 1489 was a terrible year for the Swiss Confederacy in regard to weather, dearth, slaughter and uprisings (The slaughtering and uprising mentioned by Valerius Anselm mainly occurred in the North East of the Swiss

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Fig. 4.2 Rye prices 1486–1496. The height of the bars shows how many times the peak price was higher than the lowest price. On the top of the bar, the peak year is indicated, and the bottom of the bar shows the year with the lowest prices (Camenisch 2015a, 419)

Confederacy (Zurich, Appenzell and St Gallen). For further reading see Reinhardt 2013 and Maissen 2010).13 In Berne, the elevated prices and the problems that were caused by them lasted until 1491 (Morgenthaler 1921, 40). The weather conditions of the years between 1488 and 1493 were noteworthy and give a good explanation of why harvest failures occurred in large and widespread areas. Early in the spring of 1488, around the time when summer grain was sown, the weather was fair. In the middle of March, the temperatures dropped and the growing of plants was delayed. The weather conditions did not improve when the summer began; it stayed cold and rainy. The consequences for the vine production were terrible. Since the growing of the grapes was significantly delayed, the people doubted if the vine would ripen this year (Philippe de Vigneulles 1932, 130, 132; Jehan Aubrion 1857, 200–201. For the weather conditions in the Low Countries and the surrounding areas, see also Camenisch 2012, 2015a, 410–417, 2016).

13

Als nun dis jar mit ungwitter, tuͤre, todschlag, mort und ufruͦr vast unfuͦrsam was, machtend gmein Eidgnossen und iedes ort besunder nach sinem guͦtdunken, etlichs vor oder nach ergangnem schaden, ordnung […] (Valerius Anshelm 1884, 334).

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Autumn began with mild and dry weather, but again the weather conditions turned worse. The vine harvest in Metz was not finished before 1 November (10 November on the Gregorian calendar), a very late date. The quality of the wine was low, but the winegrowers sold it without difficulties because there was such a small amount available. Afterwards, temperatures were so chilly that in November the first drifting ice appeared on the Meuse and in the harbour of Rotterdam (Jehan Aubrion 1857, 204–205; Philippe de Vigneulles 1932, 130–134; Buisman 1998, 188). The weather conditions in March 1489 were bright, but in late April, frost damaged the vines (Jehan Aubrion 1857, 209).14 The summer was rather cold, and in July and in the first two weeks of August, the temperatures were remarkably low. In addition, the summer and the autumn season were marked by long rainy periods from June to August and again in November. As a consequence of the elevated precipitation, floods were mentioned on the Ijssel and Berkel rivers around Zutphen several times during the summer. Widespread floods at different places in Europe were also reported in November, during the second wet period (Chronique du règne de Jean de Horne 1913, 379; Jehan Aubrion 1857, 216–217, 222; Philippe de Vigneulles 1932, 138, 140–141; Buisman 1998, 190–191). The winter of 1489/90 was rather mild and with little frost in the Low Countries and the surrounding areas. The weather conditions of the following year stayed moderate and rather favourable for agricultural production (Chronique du règne de Jean de Horne 1913, 379; Jehan Aubrion 1857, 224, 230, 250, 252, 268; Buisman 1998, 192; Philippe de Vigneulles 1932, 165, 167, 190). This change in the weather conditions is perhaps one reason for the short-term decrease in food prices, which was observed at a number of places. Unfortunately, in 1491 the terrible weather conditions returned. Again the winter of 1490/91 was marked by icy temperatures, which led to the freezing of water bodies at many places. The Rhine, for instance, was frozen at several places, and there was a thick ice shield on the Meuse, which was capable of bearing horses and carriages (Kroniek van het Fraterhuis te Doesburg 1974, 65; Chronica van der hilliger stat von Coellen 1877, 879; Chronicon monasterii Campensis 1869, 346; Weikinn 1958, 443–445).15 In addition, Lake Zurich was covered with ice. Furthermore, 1490/91 was one of the rare winters when the Venetian Lagoon froze (Brunner 2004, 72; Camuffo 1987, 46). These examples show the enormous spatial extent of the cold weather conditions, which were described in many sources from places all over the Low Countries and the Holy Roman Empire (Peter van Os 1997, 267; Chronique du règne de Jean de Horne 1913, 449–450; Vlaamsche Kronyk 1879, 275; Jehan Aubrion 1857, 268,

14

Anno Domini M CCCC LXXXIX […] Vicesima sexta aprilis (5 May according to the Gregorian calendar), circa horam septimam, urgente frigore et nebula brumali, congelate sunt penitus vinee, et circa horam sequentem sole lucescente, quicquid vinee tactum est frigore repertum est combustus tanquam ab igne (Chronique du règne de Jean de Horne 1913, 379). 15 1491. […] Disse vurb durung erwos uet den vorigen harden kalden winter, der also strenge und kalt was, dat nicht alleine verltwetere stonden, sunder ouch weldige vleitende rivier als Rijn, Ruer, Lippe, Emscher, ja ouch, dat nicht vil belevet, die putte hart to und dicke gevroren, dat iderman daraver konde varn, riden und gaen (Dietrich Westhoff 1887, 356).

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270, 286–287; Philippe de Vigneulles 1932, 209, 212). The damage caused by this cold and frost should not be underestimated, since people perished from the cold (and hunger which were mentioned together). Fields, trees and vineyards were destroyed (Romboudt de Doppere 1892, 21; Chronique du règne de Jean de Horne 1913, 449–450; Jehan Aubrion 1857, 270–271; Vlaamsche Kronyk 1879, 275).16 Agricultural production was also of hindered during spring, when frost periods in March and April led to damage of vine and fruit. Again, frost is mentioned in May, which hampered the growing of vegetation. As a consequence of this extremely late frost, trees and vines lost their leaves, and the grain seed did not even sprout in May (Auszüge aus den Soester Stadtbüchern 1895, 81; Philippe de Vigneulles 1932, 229; Romboudt de Doppere 1892, 3; Chronica van der hilliger stat von Coellen 1877, 880; Chronique du règne de Jean de Horne 1913, 455–456).17 Since the weather conditions of the summer were terrible as well, the vegetation could not compensate for the delay or the losses. Once more, Western and Central Europe were hit by heavy rainfall and widespread floods. Meadows and fields were flooded. Rain and humidity hampered the ripening of grain. The grain that could be harvested rotted in the barns due to the wetness (Chronicon monasterii Campensis 1869, 346; Kroniek van het Fraterhuis te Doesburg. 1974, 65–66; Chronique du règne de Jean de Horne 1913, 449–450, 465, 467; Dietrich Westhoff 1887, 355; Romboudt de Doppere 1892, 8–9; Jehan Aubrion 1857, 275; Buisman 1998, 201; Weikinn 1958, 448–453). The temperatures at that time were chilly (Chronicon monasterii Campensis 1869, 346; Chronique du règne de Jean de Horne 1913, 460–461). Unfortunately the weather conditions did not change in autumn. The rain and low temperatures continued (Jehan Aubrion 1857, 276; Dietrich Westhoff 1887, 356). The year 1491 was obviously what is called “a year without summer.” The continuous precipitation was the reason why the winter seed could not be sown in many places. Elsewhere, it could be sown but only with a considerable delay. Therefore, the prices for grain rose again (Jehan Aubrion 1857, 276–277; Philippe de Vigneulles 1932, 233; Dietrich Westhoff 1887, 356; Chronicon monasterii Campensis 1869, 346). Due to the rain and the resulting floods, many roads were impassable. Furthermore, a storm surge affected Frisia, the North of Flanders and the North West of the German coast (Philippe de Vigneulles 1932, 242; Romboudt de Doppere 1892, 12; Buisman 1998, 203). The weather conditions of 1492 were not as terrible as in 1491, but nonetheless, a number of weather events and weather conditions disturbed either agricultural production or the trade routes. Frost in February and March delayed the ploughing of the fields in Lorraine and the following sowing of the summer seed. Fishing was disrupted due to the ice cover on many water bodies. Drifting ice on rivers also disturbed the shipping traffic in the Low Countries (Jehan Aubrion 1857, 291–292; Buisman 1998, 207–208). 16

1491. […] Disse kulde und vorst was ouch so strenge, dat dadurch eikelbome, bokern, linden und ander bome gespletten und toretten sein worden (Dietrich Westhoff 1887, 356). 17 1491 […] Item, la vegille de la Snt George, le jour et le lendemain, et bien x jours aprez [1 May– 9 May according to the Gregorian calendar], fist fort froit; dont on dobtoit bien des vignes et des fruits des arbres (Jehan Aubrion 1857, 272‒273).

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The weather conditions in the summer of 1492 were hot and very dry. It rained only a little between May and September. As a consequence of the lack of precipitation, ponds and rivers had low water levels or even dried out. Grain could not be processed into flour since the operation of mills had to be stopped (Chronijck der Stadt Antwerpen 1879, 55; Chronique du règne de Jean de Horne 1913, 480; Philippe de Vigneulles 1932, 299; Annotations sur les années 1401 à 1506 1931, 271; Buisman 1998, 208; Dietrich Westhoff 1887, 357). Another reason for the dearth was the fact that not only grain was affected but also cattle, which were decimated by starvation (Lièges) and an epizootic disease (e.g. more than 1000 dairy cows perished in the area of Dortmund), reducing the availability of milk and dairy products (Chronique du règne de Jean de Horne 1913, 449– 456, 460–468; Kroniek van het Fraterhuis te Doesburg 1974, 65–66; Chronicon monasterii Campensis 1869, 346; Dietrich Westhoff 1887, 356). Additional cattle died due to rotten feed (Chronica van der hilliger stat von Coellen 1877, 885). Furthermore, due to frozen water bodies of all sizes, it was almost impossible to catch fish, which led to rising fish prices (Jehan Aubrion 1857, 291–292). The drifting ice (mainly between December 1491 and March 1492) also had an impact on ship traffic on different rivers of the Low Countries (Buisman 1998, 207–208). Moreover, due to the extremely humid weather conditions in the summer of 1491, roads became muddy and impassable. It can be assumed that towpaths alongside the rivers were also affected. Therefore many trade routes could not be used for the transport of food. Even grain imports, mainly from the Baltic, were hampered or interrupted between May 1491 and June 1492 (Tits-Dieuaide 1975, 234–235). The political situation stayed tense in the Low Countries during the last years of the 1480s and the early 1490s. The reason for this tension was still the struggle for power between Maximilian as regent and his subjects there. The cities of Bruges and Gent were in open revolt against him. This conflict reached a climax when Maximilian, who was now elected Emperor, was imprisoned by the citizens of Bruges in 1488. In the meantime the imperial troops besieged Gent. Many people left Flanders due to the war and fled to Brabant. Only in 1492 the political situation became more peaceful in the Low Countries (van der Wee 1963, 97–98). In many places, the measures against the dearth are similar to the crisis in the beginning of the 1480s. For example, in Berne there were export bans and market restrictions and also laws against speculation and price regulations. Furthermore, the number of pigs was restricted, and again the authorities acted against the poor: the non-locals were simply expelled. The authorities allowed the own inhabitants with debts to pay back their outstanding obligations at a later time. Moreover, the monasteries were forced to offer a part of their stocks for sale at the town market (Morgenthaler 1921, 43–55). Once more, the town authorities in Berne renewed the prohibition of (grain) trade outside the official markets in 1488. As in the previously mentioned cases during the early 1480s, this policy was meant to avoid speculation on food (Valerius Anshelm 1884, 331). In the Low Countries, the situation was more dramatic due to epidemic disease and military turbulences. In Bruges, for instance, the people suffered so much from hunger that many families left the city while others sold all their belongings such as

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clothes and dishes. They begged during the night on the streets in order to feed their children (Romboudt de Doppere 1892, 3, 6, 15). In Liège it was not much better, and many left the town and fled to France. Those who stayed were desperate enough to attack the bakers, since they were held responsible for the scarcity of bread. Others stole unripe grain in the fields and tried to dry it in ovens. The dearth was so terrible that even the cattle died of starvation (Chronique du règne de Jean de Horne 1913, 449–456, 460–468). During the crisis of the 1490s, it becomes more obvious that assumed witches were held responsible for the bad weather conditions and possibly also for the diseases, which were linked to the precarious food supply situation. In 1486 the witch hammer —a handbook for the successful witch hunter—written by the Dominican Heinrich Kramer was published. Kramer’s book was based on his own experiences during the witch trials in the years from 1482 until 1484 in the area of modern south-western Germany, west Austria, Switzerland and Alsace (Behringer 2004, 71–72). Witch trials also occurred during and after the crisis of the end of the 1480s and the beginning 1490s as the examples of Metz and Nuremberg show (Behringer 2004, 76; Litzenburger 2015, 440–444). Wolfgang Behringer argues that assumed witches replaced the Jews during the fifteenth century in the role of scapegoats during crises (Behringer 2010, 128. For further reading on the mechanisms of witches as scapegoats and their function during a crisis, see Behringer 2003, 2004).

Conclusion During the last quarter of the fifteenth century, two remarkable subsistence crises occurred in Europe: during the first years of the 1480s and from the last years of the same decade until the first years of the 1490s. The magnitude of these crises was not the same everywhere. In both cases, the Low Countries were affected most, whereas the towns of the Holy Roman Empire did not suffer as much. In the area of the Swiss Confederacy both crises were documented even though there is a chronological deviation compared to the Low Countries. The reasons for the crises were various. The weather conditions during both crises were noteworthy. Extremely cold winters coincided with wet and cold spring or summer seasons and frost periods in May, which was very late. These adverse weather conditions caused back-to-back harvest failures, which led to food shortages and rising food prices followed by epidemic diseases killing humans and cattle. This development is described in detail in the sources which were used for this paper. Thereby the sequence of the events follows the simplified climate-society interaction model developed by Daniel Krämer. This means that both crises show many characteristics that belong to the FAD theories. However both crises show in addition characteristics that fit to FED theories, such as export bans in different places. Political as well as military turbulences aggravated the food supply situation. In order to cope with the dearth, authorities pursued a number of policies during both crises. Amongst them were long distant

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grain imports, inspection and sequestration of stocks and export bans of their own grain in order to elevate the amount of available grain (other types of food as well). Market and price regulations also played an important role. Furthermore, foreign beggar and vagrants were expelled. During the 1480s, new types of prayers were also established and processions were organised to avert the worsening conditions. At several places during both examined decades, assumed witches made ideal scapegoats for the bad weather conditions and crises.

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Chapter 5

Climate and Famines in the Czech Lands Prior to AD 1500: Possible Interconnections in a European Context Rudolf Brázdil, Oldřich Kotyza and Martin Bauch

Abstract This paper addresses the three most disastrous famine episodes in the Czech Lands before AD 1500—the 1280s, 1310s and 1430s—and analyses them in both meteorological and socio-political terms. Adverse weather anomalies with harmful hydro-meteorological extremes and difficult socio-economic conditions were prerequisites for famine episodes, just as in the rest of Europe. Although times of famine occurrence and the states of the societies vary from country to country, a cascade of key phenomena are generally common to all: (a) complicated sociopolitical situations (including wars); (b) accumulation of adverse weather patterns influencing agricultural production; (c) severe-to-catastrophic failures of key agricultural crops (particularly grain) for at least two successive years; (d) direct consequences (dramatic increases in the prices of key foodstuffs; famine; consumption of poor-quality substitute diets and thus increases in vulnerability to illness; spread of disease; sharp rises in human mortality; villages abandoned; severe increases in crime).










Keywords Famine Climate Hydrometeorological extreme Society Socio-economic impact Late Middle Ages Central Europe Czech Lands













R. Brázdil (&) Institute of Geography, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic e-mail: [email protected] R. Brázdil Global Change Research Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic O. Kotyza Regional Museum, Litoměřice, Czech Republic M. Bauch Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO), Leipzig, Germany © Springer International Publishing AG 2018 D. Collet and M. Schuh (eds.), Famines During the ‘Little Ice Age’ (1300–1800), DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54337-6_5

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Introduction Among the most important topics addressed by historical climatology is the study of the impacts of past climate and natural extremes, especially the meteorological and hydrological, on society (Brázdil et al. 2005). A considerable number of authors have analysed various aspects of the highly complicated relationships involved. For example, Hoffmann (1973) addressed warfare, weather and the rural economy with respect to the Wrocław duchy (Silesia) in the mid-fifteenth century. Pfister (2010) discussed the vulnerability of past societies to climate variations as a new focus for historical climatology. Alfani (2010) studied the relationship between population and resources in Northern Italy against the background of climatic conditions from 1450 until 1800. Dybdahl (2012) concentrated on climatic and demographic crises in Norway in medieval and early modern times. Jörg (2012) investigated the impacts of weather and hydrometeorological extremes in Europe for the year 1438, the “Year of Hunger”. Engler (2012) developed a “Famine Vulnerability Analysis Model”, based largely on the famines of the Little Ice Age, in order to answer questions as to “what drives famines, the direct impacts they have on affected groups or societies, and how they cope and adapt”. Gerrard and Petley (2013) discussed environmental hazards, risk and resilience in the societies of the later Middle Ages in Europe. Lee et al. (2013) studied associations between the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and violent conflicts in Europe from 1400 to 1995 and found a positive correlation, particularly in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean. The connection between inclement weather and bad harvests that has often been recorded by contemporary chroniclers has recently been called into question by economic historians (Palermo 1984, 2012, 2013, 2014; Savy 2011), on the basis of theories developed for modern societies (Drèze and Sen 1989, 46): Famine is, by its very nature, a social phenomenon (it involves the inability of large groups of people to establish command over food in the society in which they live), but the forces influencing such occurrences may well include, inter alia, developments in physical nature (such as climate and weather) in addition to social processes.

The ongoing conflict between climate-based and socio-deterministic approaches to explain hunger crises (e.g. Collet 2012, 13–15) will certainly not be resolved by this contribution. However, it can examine particular periods of climatic instability and famine in the medieval history of the Czech Lands and attempt to put them into the context of what we know about neighbouring regions, or even the larger European context. If similar patterns of meteorological extreme events are visible beyond Czech borders, it may be assumed, that the usual first stage of a famine in a limited as well as a larger region—a bad harvest—might reasonably be associated with transcontinental weather conditions (Ó Gráda 2004, 69). Most of the systematic studies that relate to pre-industrial periods come from Britain. For example, Campbell (2009) studied four famines and a pestilence dated between the thirteenth and the nineteenth centuries based on harvests, prices and wage variations. In further studies, he concentrated on the crisis of the fourteenth century (Campbell 2010b) and the role of the natural surroundings in the

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development of society (Campbell 2010a). Development of grain prices for some English demesnes after the Black Death was the topic of a paper (Campbell 2012). A recent French monograph by Litzenburger (2015) on the climate history of Metz from 1400 to 1530 took a comprehensive approach to a city and its surroundings for the first time, taking into account a rich variety of sources. Camenisch (2015) confirmed impressively the connection of weather conditions and grain prices for the Burgundian Netherlands in the fifteenth century. In Italy, research on the Early Modern period has established clear proof of connection between excessive precipitation and harvest shortfalls (Finzi and Lo Vecchio 1989), although a bad harvest is obviously not an indicator for extreme rainfall (Finzi 2002, 563). For the Czech Lands (today’s Czech Republic), Brázdil and Kotyza (1995) published a comprehensive study dealing largely with documentary data before 1500 in terms of climate and hydrometeorological extremes. However, they devoted less attention to the impacts on society described in detail by many Czech historians. These were studied by Bláhová (1992a, 1998) who centred her contributions around the famine of 1282. The entire period of this particular famine was addressed in detail by Dvořáčková-Malá (2005) who, expanding upon Bláhová, used not only narrative sources but also other medieval documents (particularly ecclesiastical lists describing the lack of food in the cloistered communities, increases in robberies and other adverse social events) and tracked the consequences of the famine to the beginning of the 1290s. More recently, Žemlička (2005, 2014) further developed this research in the context of the medieval transformation in the Czech Lands (for the medieval transformation, see Klápště 2012). The second decade of the fourteenth century in the Czech Lands was investigated in detail in a monograph by Bobková (2003). For the 1430s, several basic studies addressing the topic of the social, political and economic situation in the Czech Lands in terms of weather anomalies were performed by Čornej (1987a, b, 1992, 2000). The purpose of this contribution is to analyse the possible impacts of climate and weather extremes on the occurrence of some of the most critical famines to afflict the Czech Lands—in the famines of the 1280s, the second decade of the fourteenth century, and of the 1430s—using documentary sources prior to 1500. The term Czech Lands will be used to refer to the territories of Bohemia and Moravia, the core provinces of the former Kingdom of Bohemia, which constituted an important territorial and political unit in late medieval Europe. The primary documentary data available will briefly be summarised before we address the three famines in detail, discussing their possible European context as well as some general features of medieval famines in the Czech Lands.

Documentary Data The earliest historically credible source of documentary data for the history of the Czech Lands is the Chronica Bohemorum (Bretholz 1923) by the Prague canon Cosmas (ca. 1045–1128). This narration was followed by considerable numbers of

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Fig. 5.1 The territories of Bohemia and Moravia

other chronicles describing and reporting the political and social situation in the Czech Lands, also including information about significant weather anomalies and extremes that had consequences for everyday life (for a summary of Czech medieval literature, including chronicles written in Latin, see e.g. Nechutová 2007). Two sources in particular provide information on the crisis of the 1280s: the “Second Continuation of Cosmas”,1 more exactly the last passages of this compilation of annals known as “The Narratives of the Bad Years after the Death of King Přemysl Otakar II” (Vypravování o zlých létech po smrti krále Přemysla Otakara II) (Emler 1874), and the Chronicle of Henry of Heimburg (Emler 1882). The first source is the work of an anonymous canon of the Cathedral of St. Vitus in Prague (Fig. 5.1). The original manuscript has not survived, and copies from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries contain several errors of dating. To mitigate these, we used Emler’s (1874) edition and as well as a reconstruction of the chronicle archetype by Bláhová and Fiala (1974; for more detail on the chronicle, see Bláhová 1974, 1992b, 2009). Henry of Heimburg, the author of the second source, was born in Hainburg (Austria) in 1242 and died sometime after 1300. As an educated man, he was inspired by the twelfth-century writer Honorius Augustodunensis and Henry’s chronicle, covering the period of 861–1300, is based on various Czech, Austrian and Empire annals, as well as historical traditions and his own cognition (Bláhová 2009). With a certain degree of caution, further material can be employed, specifically the secondary reports made by John of Marignolli, chronicler to King Charles IV

This continues the Chronica Bohemorum by Cosmas (Bretholz 1923) up to 1125, and the first of those to extend the chronicle of Cosmas, the Monk of Sázava (Mnich sázavský) and the Canon of Vyšehrad (Kanovník vyšehradský) (Emler 1874).

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(Emler 1884), and the notes from the limited annals compiled by so-called Beneš Minorita from the mid-fifteenth century (Dušek 1993). However, very little substantial information can be derived from them, since they are based on the Second Continuation of Cosmas, although Beneš Minorita derived some information from the annals of the Minorite order, which are now lost. The monk Henricus Sculptor, from the Žďár nad Sázavou monastery, makes some interesting additions in verse in his chronicle, which was probably finished in 1300 (Ludvíkovský et al. 1964). The situation in Bohemia during the second decade of the fourteenth century is best described in Chronicon Aulae regiae (Emler 1884), by Peter of Zittau, a monk who became the abbot of the Zbraslav monastery (nowadays Prague-Zbraslav) in 1316. He started with reports by Abbot Otto in 1306 and took them further to 1338. His descriptions of events are coloured by the glorification of the ruling king and his monastery’s history, but he also recorded everyday life and natural events associated with it, such as precipitation and animal diseases (for more information see e.g. Charvátová 1991, 2002; Spěváček 1993; Bláhová 2003; Albrecht 2013). The manuscript of the verse chronicle displays some minor additions written in Czech during the second decade of the fourteenth century by so-called Dalimil, probably a cleric (Daňhelka et al. 1988). Francis of Prague, chronicler to King Charles IV, writing before the middle of the fourteenth century, and his successor Beneš Krabice of Weitmile (both chronicles published by Emler 1884), accept the reports of Peter of Zittau only in reduced form. The basic source of documentary data relating to the 1430s is a compilation of 33 manuscripts known as the Old Czech Annals (Staré letopisy české) assembled by František Palacký in 1829. They were critically analysed by Čornej (1988), Černá et al. (2003). Closest to the archetype of these annals are probably the Latin records of an anonymous citizen of the Old Town of Prague, who reworked the Annals and continued them until 1439; his work was later translated into Czech. The Old Czech Annals are well complemented by the Chronicle of Bartošek of Drahonice (Emler et al. 1893), written in Latin by a retired soldier living in Karlštejn Castle (for more details see Hlaváček 1981). Other additions to the previous sources appear in lesser contributions in Latin, mostly originating in Prague, like the Chronicon veteris collegiati Pragensis (Emler, n.d.), probably kept by someone at the University of Prague: and the Chronicon Palatinum (Emler n.d.), written by a Prague university graduate. The Chronicon, Chronicon Bohemiae, Chronicon breve Regni Bohemiae and Annales Pragenses breves are other small compilation annals (von Höfler 1856, 1865; Emler n.d.). Looking beyond Prague, reports worthy of mentioning are the ones written by the Utraquist priest John Gaudencius from Litoměřice (Gaudencius n.d.; Boldan 2016), the records kept by an anonymous writer from southern Bohemia (also known as the Chronicon Rosenbergicum; von Höfler 1865) and further anonymous reports from western Bohemia (von Höfler 1856). These contemporary records originated during the 1430s. Further sources from the Czech Lands (see Brázdil and Kotyza 1995; Nechutová 2007 for more details) and Central Europe (e.g. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Fontes Rerum Austriacarum, Chroniken der deutsche Städte) relating to the 1280s,

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the second decade of the fourteenth century and the 1430s are used here to verify or extend knowledge derived from the Czech chronicles described above. Curschmann’s monograph (1900) on famines in the Middle Ages between the eighth and early fourteenth centuries proved to be particularly useful for this purpose.

Climate and Famines in the Czech Lands Prior to 1500 Three famines in the Czech Lands before 1500 are described with respect to the general socio-political situation prevailing in the country, the occurrence and effects of adverse weather events and climate phenomena, the societal responses to bad harvests and subsequent famines, as well as to any socio-political phenomena that contributed to the alleviation of the crisis.2

The Famine of the 1280s The socio-political development in the Czech Lands during the 1280s was significantly influenced by the Battle of Marchfeld, near Dürnkrut (Austria), on 26 August 1278, during which Rudolf I of Habsburg, King of the Holy Roman Empire, defeated Přemysl Otakar II, the king of Bohemia, who died in the conflict. This heralded a period of civil war and subjugation of the Czechs by both domestic and foreign armies. The difficult situation was exacerbated by a highly exploitative state administration under Protector Otto of Brandenburg, who squeezed all he possibly could from the country entrusted to him (Dvořáčková-Malá 2005). It is hardly surprising that this period became known to chroniclers as “The Bad Years after the Death of Přemysl Otakar II”. A series of severe weather events began on 23 June 1280 when, after torrential rain, the river Vltava flooded and caused great damage in Prague (“sailors could take to their boats [on the Vltava] as if they were on the Tiber or the Danube”).3 The waters rose so far that they washed away the stores of grain of the Church of St. Peter set aside for the eventuality of war (Emler 1874, 341–342). The following autumn was warm, but little or no seed was sown in a countryside ravaged by

2

The Great Famine of 1043, noted in Chronica Bohemorum by Cosmas (Bretholz 1923, 100), is not included among the famines studied here, because no data is available to relate it directly to weather and climate. In fact, this disaster may have arisen out of the aftermath of the war between the Czech prince Břetislav I and the King of the Holy Roman Empire Henry III, when grain reserves and crops in the fields were destroyed in the course of invasions of Bohemia (Krzemieńska 1999). 3 Latin original: quod nave tanquam in Tiberi vel Danubio possent a nautis deduci.

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continual warfare. Hunger was rife and deadly famine broke out among the underprivileged (Emler 1874, 340; Dušek 1993, 366–367). Extreme precipitation, floods and famine outbreaks as well as dread of dearth were reported from Alsace and Bavaria alike (Curschmann 1900, 191). Even south of the Alps, after a record harvest, the river Po and its tributaries flooded Northern Italy heavily (Bonazzi 1902, 37; Bertoni and Vicini 1908, 44). The following winter of 1280/1281 was very harsh and lasted until 25 March with large quantities of snow, when it ended in a 20-day flood severe enough to destroy water-mills (Emler 1874, 340). The chronicle from Bohemia reports that people took to the mountains, woods and elsewhere to hide from marauding soldiers and robbers. However, they were betrayed by their tracks in the snow, and their oppressors “caught them like forest beasts, robbed them of their goods, deprived them of their clothes and forced them with brutal torture to buy them back with money” (Emler 1874, 350).4 A similar situation prevailed in Moravia (Emler 1882, 319). Shortage of foodstuffs and very high prices emerged in Bohemia, and people died of starvation (Emler 1874, 340, 360). Beneš Minorita mentions that the ongoing war meant that little or no seed was sown in Bohemia and Moravia and only a small proportion of what was sown germinated (Dušek 1993, 367). The bad year of 1281 ended in a severe windstorm on 3 December demolishing residential houses and business property (e.g. a windmill in Prague-Strahov), as well as uprooting and damaging trees (Emler 1874, 342–343). The tragic situation of 1281 in Bohemia was also reported by sources from neighbouring countries. The Chronicon Bavaricum records: “and the Czechs, anywhere you turned, were perishing of hunger and pestilence” (Waitz 1879, 224, 225).5 A monk from Henryków monastery in Poland mentions “great hunger”6 in Bohemia and Silesia, when “countless Czechs and many others died” (Bielowski 1878, 702).7 Widespread and numerous cattle deaths were reported from Austria (Pertz 1851, 712), and Eastern Croatia endured a severe winter in 1280/1281 (Kiss 2014, 40). The winter of 1281/1282 increased mortality in the Czech Lands even further with its continual severe frosts (Emler 1874, 360–361). Famine and mortality peaked in 1282, for which many accompanying phenomena are reported. The numbers of people forced to beg for sustenance, already high in 1281, grew significantly, to the point at which the better-off were unable to help them. Moreover, craftspeople began to number among the beggars, together with “workers at various trades” who had lost everything in their efforts to stave off hunger. Finally, poverty-related theft rose to the point that poor people were prohibited to enter houses and stay in them overnight. At the same time, there was an increase in robberies and murder (Emler 1874, 356–360). Some people, desperate for food,

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Latin original: capti rebus exspoliantur, vestibus denudantur, gravibus tormentis, ut se pecunia redimant, afficiuntur. 5 Latin original: et Bohemi quocumque divertebant, fame et pestilencia interibant. 6 Latin original: fames valida. 7 Latin original: per quam Bohemi infiniti et alii multi perierunt.

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The reports also include further examples of cannibalism (ibid., 362). The source reports extremely high mortality in Prague, where eight large pits were dug to bury the dead. People had to be paid to do this, since there were not sufficient survivors to bury their own (ibid., 361–362). The chronicler reports, in a tone of criticism, that even the priests failed in their duties to the dead (ibid., 361), or were simply unable to cope with the numbers. The famine of 1281–1282 also appears in a commemorative entry copied into the introduction of the urbarium (urbář) of the monastery of Augustinian Canons Regular (augustiniáni-kanovníci) at the Church of the Virgin Mary at Roudnice nad Labem in 1338 (Emler 1881, 8–9): at that time the poor people of the kingdom did not sow because of the war […], great hunger arose, due to which only a third of people remained alive and nearly two-thirds died of starvation […]. And many villages of the entitled kingdom were abandoned because of the devastating war […].9

Reports from Bohemia are supported by an entry made by Henry of Heimburg: when hunger [struck] and the number of murders rose, such a quantity of wretched people died in Moravia that not all of them could be buried, that corpses found in fields and villages were thrown into large pits, and when these were finally full, they were covered with soil (Emler 1882, 319).10

A similar situation is reported by the monk Henricus Sculptor from the monastery at Žďár nad Sázavou (Ludvíkovský et al. 1964, 208, 210). This great famine in Bohemia is also evident from many sources beyond the Czech Lands. A chronicle from Colmar (France) for example reports a high number of deaths and cannibalism in Bohemia (Pertz 1861, 209), but also mentions floods, landslides and deep snow during the winter in Alsace (ibid., 207–208). According to one Viennese keeper of records, dead people “were driven on wagons like hay from the field” (Pertz 1851, 712).11 Accounts from Silesia report Fuit mortalitas Bohemorum (“There was mortality among Czechs”) (Bielowski 1878, 688).

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Latin original: devorabant cadavera iumentorum, pecorum et quorumlibet animalium, mortuorum canum … quod quidam more canum latrantium homines perimendo in huius miseriae naufragio pro sustentaculo corporis devorabant. Quidam autem suspensos patibulo nocte furtim ablatos … comedere non formidabant … 9 Latin original: cum igitur pauperes prefati regni seminare propter gwerras huiusmodi nequivissent, ecce fames valida … est suborta, ita quod vix tercia pars hominum remanserat et due forsitan mortue fuerant propter famen. … Et cum ville prefati regni nonnulle propter disturbia gwerrarum predictarum fuissent desertare. 10 Latin original: fame invalescente et spoliis ingravescentibus tanta multitudo pauperum mortua est in Moravia, ita ut eciam omnes sepeliri non possent, set effossis in altum puteis corpora mortuorum in campis vel in vicis inventa, in ipsos puteos proiecta, tandem repletis puteis terra obruebantur. 11 Latin original: velud fenum in curribus ad agros ducebantur.

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Another source from Vienna speaks of high mortality not only in Bohemia and Moravia, but also in Austria (Pertz 1851, 731). Famine oppressed Poland as well (Bielowski 1872, 815, 847, 848) and people were forced to migrate to Russia and Hungary (Curschmann 1900, 196). In Northern Italy both winters, 1280/1281 and 1281/1282, proved cold and snowy, while food prices escalated wildly and forced cities to import grain (Bonazzi 1902, 38, 40; Savy 2011, 204). Austria and Bavaria also appear to have been hit by flooding and famine (Curschmann 1900, 191–192), although less severely than the Czech Lands. The situation became so intolerable in the Kingdom of Bohemia that in 1282 a land administration was established, which continued negotiations, opened in May 1281, with Otto IV, Margrave of Brandenburg, and King Rudolf I of Habsburg for the release 12-year-old King Václav II (Wenceslas) from imprisonment at the hands of Otto IV. When he returned to Bohemia on 23 May 1283, the political situation in the country calmed down somewhat, bringing to an end a power vacuum that had lasted for almost five years. However, full stabilisation of the situation and a return to rule of the law in the Kingdom of Bohemia were not achieved until the early 1290s (Šusta 1935; Dvořáčková-Malá 2005; Žemlička 2009; Jan 2015). For 1283, the Prague chronicler reports that the spring was entirely dry, with severe frost even on 12 May which did particularly heavy damage to fruit trees and vineyards, so they yielded nothing. Moreover, frost also harmed winter and spring wheat, rye, barley, peas and other grain throughout Bohemia [so] that in many places it was necessary to limit sowing, because it would probably provide only a very small yield, or none at all, for the benefit of the people (Emler 1874, 367).12

Despite this, no records of hunger or price increases appear further afield in the Czech Lands or in the neighbouring regions (Curschmann 1900, 196–197).

The Famine of the Second Decade of the Fourteenth Century An intense struggle over the succession followed the violent death of King Václav III in 1306. In 1310, King John of Bohemia (Jan Lucemburský) came to the Czech throne and began his rule by trying to restore royal property that had fallen into the hands of the Czech nobility. John faced strong opposition from the nobility and found himself in conflict with two competing groups, unified in basic principles, but different in immediate goals. Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia and the Bishop of Prague also opposed the king. Such tension in the country eventually resulted in a civil war in 1316/1317 (see e.g. Bobková 2003; Šmahel and Bobková 2012). 12 Latin original: laesit etiam segetes frumenti hiemales et aestivales per totam Bohemiam tritici, siliginis, ordei, pisae ceterorumque seminum, ita quod in plurimis locis defalcatae sunt propter suam infructuositatem, quia nutrimenta parva vel nulla humanis usibus conferre videbantur.

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Adverse weather exacerbated the situation. The chronicler Peter of Zittau reports particular damage done by flooding of the river Elbe after a severe drought around 25 July 1315: flooded stables, a granary swept away and broken water-mills (Emler 1884, 224). While there is no record of hunger and high prices in Bohemia in 1315 —nor in most of Southern Germany (Curschmann 1900, 208)—there are such reports for this year for Northern Germany in particular (for example, Wyttenbach and Müller 1838, 235; Pertz 1859, 424, 737; Pertz 1861, 565; more in Curschmann 1900, 208–211) and Polish sources (for example Bielowski 1878, 44, 228). For 1316, Peter of Zittau reports repeated spells of continuous rain in the summer accompanied by floods and great damage: buildings, walls and castles were destroyed in many places. He speaks of disastrous floods of the Elbe in Saxony, as well as in the Meissen region, Poland, Austria and Hungary. Lowlands and valleys were flooded, hay and crops were destroyed and water carried away much material. High human mortality followed, with the dead buried together in deep pits as if they were “carcases”. As a consequence there were shortages of grain, hay and other products resulting in famine, further human fatalities, and livestock loss (horses, pigs, cows, sheep and all kinds of game); he speaks of a thousand sheep lost to the Zbraslav monastery (Emler 1884, 232). However, according to Newfield (2009, 161, 174) and Slavin (2010, 2012), a livestock panzootic in Bohemia was already raging between 1314 and 1316 (possibly originating further east in Eurasia). It then spread to other European countries located to the north-west, right up to the British Isles, but also to Italy (Bauch 2017). Peter of Zittau’s report of summer floods and famine in Bohemia is confirmed by other sources from Germany, Austria and Poland (for floods see e.g. Pertz 1851, 511, 666, 822; 1859, 45; 1864, 706; Waitz 1879, 62; for famine e.g. Pertz 1859, 45; von Hegel 1869, 182; Bielowski 1878, 188; Holder-Egger 1896, 651; for more examples of both see also Curschmann 1900, 211–215). An inscription from a mass grave outside the city walls of Erfurt (Thuringia) commemorates almost 8000 victims of the famine (Erthel 2009). This indicates that the conditions were a part of the Great European Famine dated from 1315 to 1321 (Jordan 1996; Campbell 2010b, 14), possibly even extending to Northern and Central Italy (Savy 2011, 205; Bauch 2017). A further record from Peter of Zittau describes the severe winter that followed (Emler 1884, 232–233): After this summer [1316], rich in water, not at all in yield, a severe winter [1316/1317] immediately followed with large quantities of snow and severe frosts. During this winter, from the holiday of St. Andrew the Apostle [30 November 1316] to Palm Sunday [27 March 1317] the river Vltava remained so heavily frozen that people crossed on its icy surface daily without a care and walked about as if [they were] in a dry place. This long winter meant that people were troubled by very severe hunger and there was not enough feed for cattle. […] All over the kingdom, property was incessantly plundered, particularly that of the monks.13

Latin original: Estatem hanc fluminibus non fructibus fertilem hiemps aspera subsequitur, adducens nivis copiam, frigorisque rigorem. In hac hieme a festo beati Andree apostoli usque ad diem Palmarum, qui videlicet quinto kalendas Aprilis fuerat, Multauia fluvius in tantum

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The hard winter is also confirmed by a report from Zwettl in Austria (Pertz 1851, 666). Monasteries suffering acute economic and social pressure were common throughout the Habsburg Empire (Jordan 1996, 65–67). As a result of a bad harvest, the rigours of civil war, prolonged political negotiations, robbery, and social fragmentation, the famine in Bohemia continued into 1317. Once more, Peter of Zittau describes disaster (Emler 1884, 248): [such] highly extended and exceeding misery of hunger that during that single year, as I relate from my own experience, we buried thirty thousand people at Sedlec Gateway. And a similar plague afflicted all the towns, townships and villages and the entire land. Pits were dug everywhere and filled with the bodies of the dead. Starvation from crop failure together with the [growing] cruelty of feuding people became so widespread that, with the shortage of food and increasing hardships, some peasants, with their wives, abandoned their dwellings, took refuge in woods, killed people that they met, fed upon them, and by this means, survived.14

A similar account of the situation in Bohemia is given by the commentator known as Dalimil, who estimated the number of dead at a third of the population of Bohemia (Emler 1882, 297; Daňhelka et al. 1988, 569). The famine of 1317 was also reported from Zwettl in Austria (Pertz 1851, 666), Henryków in Silesia (Bielowski 1878, 703), Lübeck in Germany (Pertz 1859, 426) and from Poland (Bielowski 1872, 883)—basically from most parts of what at the time were the “German-speaking lands” (Curschmann 1900, 215–217), as a memorial plaque to the extraordinarily high price of bread in Oppenheim on the river Rhine (Düll 1984, No. 7, Fig. 2) recalls. Some hints can be found in the somewhat scant documentation of grain prices for the German-speaking lands (Hoffmann 1981). The north of Italy suffered from famine in the first half of the year (Bonazzi 1902, 150; Savy 2011, 205). Political reconciliation between the feuding parties in Bohemia was achieved in Domažlice (23 April 1318) where conventions confirmed the privileges of the Czech aristocracy, which they had obtained from King John of Bohemia after complicated negotiations at his ascension to the throne in 1310. In fact, this constituted a codification of the previous state in the country (dualism of monarchical authority, position of the aristocracy and its possessions, etc.). King John, however, was constantly in breach of these privileges, or trying to circumvent them, which (Footnote 13 continued) congelatus permanserat, quod in ipsius glaciali superficie sine omni interpolacione cottidie quasi super aridam populus transiens ambulabat. Ex hac diutina hieme acriori fame premebatur populus et pabula animalibus defecerunt; … quia regnum ubilibet et maxime religiosorum possessio assidue spoliator. 14 Latin original: nam tali … nimia famis prevaluit miseria, ita quod infra unius anni spacium, ut experimento didici, in porta Scedelicensi triginta milia hominum sunt sepulta. Consimilis quoque pestilencia in omnibus civitatibus, oppidis et villis exstitit et in universa terra. In omnibus locis fovee fodiebantur, que mortuorum cadaveribus replebantur. In tantum namque prevaluerat fames, tam ex sterilitate quam ex discordancium austeritate, quod iam deficientibus alimentis et malis invalescentibus quidam rustici cum uxoribus suis domicilia sua deserunt, silvas petunt, homines, quos inveniunt, occidunt, comedunt, sic se pascunt.

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gave rise to much dispute. The Domažlice reconciliation was in fact a capitulation on the part of King John of Bohemia as the Czech ruler. The powerful Lord Henry of Lipá took over control of the country and from then on King John was seldom seen in Bohemia thereafter (Bobková 2003; Šmahel and Bobková 2012). This reconciliation was reflected by falling grain prices, as Peter of Zittau says (Emler 1884, 248): grain, which has been far too expensive, is now sold more cheaply”15 while he had previously explained the dearth as a combination of natural and political factors: prevaluerat fames, tam ex sterilitate quam ex discordancium austeritate. By 1318 there is no direct mention of famine in the Czech Lands or in neighbouring countries. Instead, the autumn of 1318 was reported as extremely rainy in Italy, causing floods that destroyed infrastructure and killed people both north and south of the Alps. Landslides and severe erosion forced people in the mountainous hinterland of Siena to abandon their villages (Lisini and Iacometti 1939, 114–115). During the second decade of the fourteenth century, massive erosion was also an issue in Central Europe—although less so than during the infamous flood of St. Magdalene’s Day in July 1342 (Bauch 2014). It has been the subject of geomorphological research (Bork et al. 1998; Bork and Dotterweich 2007). For the following year of 1319, Peter of Zittau confirms a significant improvement of the situation in Bohemia (Emler 1884, 255): “This year was […] highly productive of wine and grain […]. In many places a measure of rye was on sale for [only] one Prague Groschen.”16 At the same time in 1318, after a bad harvest in the previous year (1317) and before the new harvest (1318), prices in Prague stood at 30 Prague Groschen (per 2.5 bushels). For 1320, Chronicon Aulae regiae adds (Emler 1884, 255): This year, like the previous one, is blessed by the Lord because the natural human requirements for low prices and the basics of life may be obtained at market. The stricken nation has revived and exults, because [just] three years ago the roads were littered with those who had died of hunger.17

The Famine of the 1430s At the beginning of the 1430s, the Czech Lands were still recovering from the protracted Hussite wars of the previous decade (Šmahel 1993, 2002; Čornej 2000). In addition to this, significant weather anomalies and extremes—especially a series

15

Latin original: statim annona, que nimis preciosa fuerat, levius venditur. Latin original: nostri uberrimus in vino et blado fuit … in pluribus locis mensura siliginis pro uno grosso Pragensi denario vendebatur. 17 Latin original: Annus iste ut preteritus benedictus est a Domino, quia humane nature necessaria de levi habentur precio, et bona comparabilia sunt de foro. Revixit gens misera et exultat, que ante annos tres in via hinc inde passim emortua pre fame iacebat, … 16

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of extremely cold winters after 1431 and subsequent famines with a peak in 1437/1438—complicated the general socio-economic situation in Central Europe, France, the British Isles, and also the Iberian Peninsula (Jörg 2008, 83–111). In Italy, the years 1431/1432 proved particularly difficult with regard to meteorological conditions (Bauch 2015, 203–204). All this indicates that the results for the Czech Lands outlined below are not unique, but obviously part of larger meteorological patterns (cf. Camenisch et al. 2016). The first incident of adverse weather in 1431 in Bohemia was a disastrous flash flood in Kouřim after heavy torrential rain on the night of 10 June, according to the priest Antoch of Přelouč. A fish-cultivation pond (a substantial body of water usually retained by an earth wall) burst; many people drowned and great damage was done (Bartoš 1934, 108). The weather also had a negative influence on military matters. The Hussite field troops known as the “Orphans” (sirotci) were on campaign in late September–October in what was then Upper Hungary, now Slovakia (Šmahel 1993, 2002; Čornej 2000). They took the town of Nitra, but were forced into hasty retreat under pressure from Hungarian cavalry, suffering “hunger, thirst and cold spells” (Černá et al. 2003, 46, 47).18 Further on, “roads were impassable because of continuous rain”.19 Matters came to a head in the battle at the river Váh around 11 November, where they were defeated and their wagons, overloaded with loot, bogged down in the mud (Emler n.d., 34). The rainy autumn also afflicted Bohemia and Moravia (Černá et al. 2003, 48, 49), as well as Poland (Przeździecki 1877, 452–453). However, after the rain “from St. Catherine’s [25 November] the snow started to fall and such intense frost set in that snow and deep winter continued for 13 weeks […]” (Černá et al. 2003, 46, 47).20 Other Czech sources place the onset of winter differently. The priest John Gaudencius, in Litoměřice, records “very frosty and persistent winter”21 starting on 22 November (Gaudencius n.d., fol. 2v). Bartošek of Drahonice even speaks of 11 November: “Many of the orphans perished in frosts because at that time, starting from the holiday of St. Martin [11 November], very severe frost was continuous” (Emler et al. 1893, 606).22 This last entry may be supported by an anonymous record from Western Bohemia (Černá et al. 2003, 209): in the night of St. Othmar [15/16 November] a quantity snow fell that was very deep and unusual, and it lay until the holiday of St. Matthew the Apostle [24 February 1432], growing mightily all these weeks.23 18

Latin original: famen, sitim atque frigus intensum sustinentes. Latin original: propter frequentes pluvias ita aggravata est via. 20 Latin original: Post pluvias a festo beate Katherine virginis cepit ningere et gelare intentissime; sicque nix maxima erat et frigus quasi intentissimum ad 13 septimanas. 21 Latin original: hiemps magna frigida et continua. 22 Latin original: Orfanorum sunt mortui frigore, quia tunc erat incipiendo a festo sancti Martini continuum et intensissimum frigus. 23 Latin original: Eodem anno nocte Othmari nix magna descendit, que fuit in profunditate maxima et inaudita et iacuit usque ad festum sancti Mathie apostoli et fere omni ebdomada augmentabatur permaxime. 19

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The orphans, thoroughly impoverished, returned to Bohemia in December, all the while plagued by severe frosts (e.g. Černá et al. 2003, 48, 49; Gaudencius n.d., fol. 2v). After the onset of frosts in November, the very severe winter continued until the beginning of March 1432 (windstorm with damage on 25 January). Reports from Northern Italy indicate a very frosty first two months for 1432: grapes, olive-trees and fruit trees died (Bauch 2015, 203) and the Venetian lagoon froze over (Camuffo 1987, 46, 54, 59). In the general thaw that followed, snow-melt and ice-floes on the rivers led to a damaging flood. The River Vltava floodwater reached the Church of the Virgin Mary at Louže and nearly got to the Church of St. Nicholas in the Malá Strana quarter of Prague. Such a heavy flood had not occurred since 5 December 1392 (Černá et al. 2003, 50–51). The severity of this event, a consequence of nearly ceaseless snow in Bohemia and elsewhere, was confirmed by Bartošek of Drahonice reporting it, as did the previous source, as the largest flood in 40 years of folk-memory (Emler et al. 1893, 606). Similar floods of the winter type were also recorded for several other parts of Central Europe: on the Elbe (reports from Dresden-Kaditz and Wittenberg—see Brázdil et al. 2006; Kotyza 2006), the Rhine (report from Cologne—von Hegel 1876, 166), the Pegnitz (report from Nuremberg —von Hegel 1862, 384), the Danube (reports from Diessen and Niederaltaich— Pertz 1861, 327, 424) and rivers in Île-de-France (Le Roy Ladurie 2004). Very hot weather set in from 23 June onwards, so intense that a number of people working in the fields collapsed and died (Černá et al. 2003, 50, 51). Migrating salmon in the river Vltava died (Emler n.d., 20). Bartošek of Drahonice mentions “a very bad summer”24 because there was virtually no precipitation between 23 April and 20 July—it rained only once, moderately (Emler et al. 1893, 607–608). However, very heavy rain started on 20 July and continued for two days, swiftly leading to flooding of the Vltava at Prague on 21 July. Houses, water-mills, roofs, timber and further material were carried away, while people and animals drowned (Černá et al. 2003, 50, 51, 52, 53). Water streamed through the streets of Prague and boats were in use on Old Town Square (Staroměstské náměstí) (Černá et al. 2003, 73). The flood subsided after a week, although rainy weather continued for the two following weeks (Emler n.d., 20). Damaged bridges were reported in Southern Bohemia, from Český Krumlov (Horčička 1899, 466) and Písek (Palacký 1941, 85). A third flood of the Vltava in 1432 was recorded for Prague on 6 December (Emler et al. 1893, 609; Černá et al. 2003, 50, 51). The summer 1432 flood was also noted for the Danube (Pertz 1851, 525; Lhotsky 1952, 15), for the Elbe in Germany (Pertz 1859, 47; von Hegel 1869, 380; Emler et al. 1893, 608), on the Lausitzer Neisse (Köhler 1851, 363) and on other rivers as well. This agrees with the Chronicon Rosenbergicum, which states that “there was a big flood in Bohemia, Moravia, Austria and Hungary [that] devastated villages and towns, and in Prague demolished a bridge and mills”

24

Latin original: estas fuit multum gravis.

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Table 5.1 Crop prices in Karlštejn and Prague (expressed in Prague Groschen per 2.5 bushels; Groschen/Heller; *—Prague) Year

Place

Rye

Wheat

Barley

1429 Karlštejn 4/7 5 5 1430 Karlštejn 6/7 5 4 1431 Karlštejn 6 5 6 1432 Prague 30 30 – 1433 Prague 34 – – 1433 Prague 50 30–40 30 1434 Prague 64 – – 1442 Prague 2 3–3.5 – Compiled from various sources by Brázdil and Kotyza (1995,

Oat 2 (3)* 3/7 – – 5 – – 254)

Remark Before the harvest After the harvest Before the harvest After the harvest Before the harvest After the harvest Before the harvest Before the harvest

(von Höfler 1865, 77).25 Brázdil et al. (2006) discussed the disastrous flood of July 1432 in comparison with a more recent catastrophic event in August 2002. In many places, the loss of crops due to flooding led to very high prices in Bohemia (Emler n.d., 23). For example, grain prices after harvest rose five-fold or six-fold compared to those of 1431 (Table 5.1). John Gaudencius spoke of four disasters (Gaudencius n.d., fol. 2v): “firstly flood […], secondly great war, thirdly plague, [and] fourthly high prices.”26 Very heavy snowfall (flank-deep to horses) and frosts (people frozen to death on the roads) occurred in Bohemia from January to mid-February 1433 (Emler et al. 1893, 609). On 11 and 12 January, such a quantity of snow fell that villagers were unable to go to the market, while bread and other essentials in Prague became highly expensive (Černá et al. 2003, 93, 116, 150). The river Vistula in Poland froze in January (Przeździecki 1877, 516), and there is a report from Cologne in Germany of a severe winter there as well (von Hegel 1876, 167). In Northern Italy, only one source tells of heavy frost and snow (Pasini 1931, 52). Periods of heavy rain after mid-June in Western Bohemia led to six separate floods in June and July (particularly on 23 and 24 June) with great damage to water-mills, crops as well as seeded fields and meadows (von Höfler 1856, 101; Emler et al. 1893, 610), in addition to deepening shortages and high prices for agricultural crops. Periods of rain and floods were also reported by sources from Nuremberg (von Hegel 1862, 388), Altzelle (Pertz 1859, 47) and Mainz (Altmann 1893, 346). The floods were generally attributed to a solar eclipse (von Hegel 1862, 388; Emler et al. 1893, 610). Continuous rain from April to June is reported from Bologna, although it was probably locally limited. Nonetheless, the problem was “solved” by miraculous

25 Latin original: fuit diluvium maximum in Boemia, Moravia, Austria, Ungaria feria secunda ante Mariae Magdalenae et destruxit villas, civitates et in Praga destruxit pontem et molendinum. 26 Latin original: Scilicet inundacio aquarum …, secundo bella magna, tercio pestilencia, quarto cariscia.

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intervention arising out of a procession with an icon of the Virgin Mary; fair weather returned, and a tradition was born that lives on to the present day (Bauch 2015). In the Czech Lands, particular mention is made of extensive damage done by June floods in the Plzeň region (von Höfler 1856, 101). The Hussites started to besiege the Catholic town of Plzeň on 14 July 1433 (Čornej 2000). Hilarius of Litoměřice records that the people of Plzeň, informed about the upcoming onslaught in advance, harvested unripe crops and dried green corn on the streets in the sunshine (Hejnic and Polívka 1987, 94, 96–97). The extended siege inflicted great suffering upon people in the wider surroundings of the town; the Hussites deprived them of their crops, cattle and other goods (Emler et al. 1893, 612; Černá et al. 2003, 152). Some of the peasants were driven to take up arms in defence of their field harvests and granaries (Černá et al. 2003, 152). The siege of Plzeň finally ended in failure after nine months and 23 days and contributed to increasing tensions in the country as well as within the Hussite movement (Čornej 2000). The bad harvest in 1433, the result of unfavourable rainy weather patterns, was followed by a further dramatic increase in the prices of grain (Table 5.1) and other foodstuffs, a rising number of impoverished who had to eat substitute foodstuffs such as oak-leaves and acorns in order to survive, and finally culminated in pestilencia magna (i.e. acute famine) in the autumn (Emler et al. 1893, 611; Emler n.d., 19, 34). High prices in Bohemia were exacerbated not only by bad harvests, but also by a continuing economic blockade, a country exhausted by war, a decrease in the nominal value of the Czech Groschen (Čornej 2000) and the speculation greed of merchants. Shortages and high prices were also reported from other countries, such as Silesia (e.g. Büsching 1813, 182, 183, 186; Wachter 1883, 51) and Germany (Hoffmann 1719, 355, 356; Köhler 1851, 365; Pertz 1861, 424; von Hegel 1862, 389; 1869, 380). To a more limited extent, this was also true for Italy (Bauch 2015, 205). For 1434, only Bartošek of Drahonice reports large quantities of snow (“to a pace deep”) which fell on 25 and 26 April (Emler et al. 1893, 612). This was followed by a wave of frosts with winter crops, fruit trees and vineyards frozen, also documented by various reports from Central Europe (see e.g. Pertz 1851, 518, 739; Zeibig 1853, 365; von Hegel 1866, 155; Przeździecki 1877, 526) and Northern Italy (Bauch 2015, 205). As Table 5.1 shows, prices of grain in Bohemia in 1434 continued to increase (see also Gaundencius n.d., fol. 2v; Čornej 2000). The Annales Pragenses breves report that “in this year [1434], there were very high prices and pestilence in Bohemia”27 (Emler n.d., 19), which means that people died of hunger. The desperate situation in the Czech Lands during that time was later aptly described by Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, who later became Pope Pius II, in his Historia Bohemica, written in 1458 (Hadravová et al. 1998, 156–157): There is no more unhappy human race than the Czechs, who have to live in camps all the time, to spend summer and winter under the open sky, to lie upon the hard earth, to pick up

27

Latin original: Eodem anno fuit magna caristia in Bohemia et pestilencia.

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a weapon upon an instant, immediately fight at home, or just beyond the borders, either to wage war or bear the fear of war. […] Czechs have had no peace, the kingdom is dogged by incessant disaster; it will perish if no help is forthcoming. Fields lie uncultivated, people and herds are steadily dying off.28

A deepening of the schism between the fundamentalist and moderate wings of the Hussites, as well as differences between the inhabitants of the countryside and towns, finally led to the battle of Lipany on 30 May 1434 and to defeat for the fundamentalist Hussites by the moderates and the Catholic nobility (Čornej 1992, 2000). Despite the fact that grain prices had reached an absolute high before the harvest (Table 5.1), data for high prices in Bohemia afterwards are absent, although sources from surrounding areas still mention continuing famine (see e.g. von Hegel 1862, 390–391 for Nuremberg in Germany and Büsching 1813, 183; Wachter 1883, 51 for Silesia).

Conclusions The three famine events described in this paper are among the most important to be found in documentary data from the Czech Lands prior to AD 1500. All these events, and in particular the Bohemian aspects of the Great European Famine (1315–1321), are associated with comparable weather conditions in neighbouring countries, even in quite distant places. Yet climatic patterns can explain only the preconditions for famine, while the cause of lack of food remains to be determined by socio-political structures. This can be seen most prominently in Italy, where well-developed food management in wealthy cities was often able to counter food shortages threatening urban populations (Pinto 1978). However, natural factors, especially recurring extreme events in interaction with political instability, war and fiscal difficulties, constituted conditions sine qua non for food shortages to escalate (Bauch 2015). Despite differing time intervals and various states of society in the Czech Lands, certain general features of these famines were more or less the same: (i) A complicated socio-political situation (weakening of political powers; internal problems; progressive collapse of any “policing” system; civil war and/or presence of foreign armies; impoverished inhabitants; very high proportion of poor people; craftsmen losing money and social status; deterioration of general moral standards). (ii) Accumulation of adverse weather patterns influencing agricultural production (problems with sowing and harvesting; livestock deaths).

28

Latin original: Nulum hominum genus infelicius esse Bohemis, quos semper in castris versari oportet, aestates atque hiemes sub divo agere, in duro iacere solo, arma in omnes horas versare, nunc civilibus bellis, nunc externis agitari, aut bellum geri, aut belli metum impedere. […] Bohemos hactenus expertes fuisse quietis, attritum assiduis calamitatibus regnum, periturum brevi, nisi occurratur. Incultos iacere agros, homines atque armenta sensim deficere.

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(iii) Severe to catastrophic failures of key agricultural crops (mainly grain) for at least two successive years. (iv) Consequences, largely in the form of dramatic increases in the prices of key foodstuffs; hunger; consumption of poor-quality substitutes for normal diet and thus increases in vulnerability to illness; spread of disease; sharp rises in human mortality; villages abandoned as the inhabitants took to begging in towns; severe increase in crime. (v) Consolidation (resolution of political tension in the country; re-establishment of internal patterns; improvements in supplies of essentials; decrease in prices of basic foodstuffs; good harvest in successive years leading relatively quickly to normalisation of social patterns). All this underlines that adverse meteorological conditions and their impacts on harvests lead to dearth and famine, when such repeated natural extreme events combined with long-term societal weakness arising out of political unrest and instability. This temporal dimension is absent from even recent models of climate impacts and societal reactions (Krämer 2015; Luterbacher and Pfister 2015), not to mention older models such as Kates (1985). In our Bohemian case studies, one might even consider whether political instability may have constituted a precondition to famine and dearth, actually creating the vulnerability of the Czech Lands to meteorological extreme events. In this way, such vulnerability could be understood more as a social process than as a static condition within a given society (Collet 2012). Acknowledgements R. Brázdil was supported by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic with grant no. 13-19831S and by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports within the National Sustainability Program I (NPU I), grant no. LO1415. Tony Long (Svinošice) helped to edit the English text and Ladislava Řezníčková (Brno) prepared Fig. 5.1.

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Chapter 6

Food Insecurity and Political Instability in the Southern Red Sea Region During the ‘Little Ice Age,’ 1650–1840 Steven Serels

Abstract The Southern Red Sea Region (SRSR) is an environmentally unified geographic area whose natural features historically supported a closely-linked, multifaceted socio-economic. The SRSR is currently divided between Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Somalia (Somaliland), Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan. In the seventeenth century, the SRSR entered a two-hundred-years-long mega-drought that precipitated a protracted food crisis. Since states traditionally played key roles in the redistribution of food resources in the SRSR, this food crisis resulted in a region-wide political crisis at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries. Centralized states in Sudan and Ethiopia collapsed. The Yemeni Imamate lost control of the rural countryside. In Arabia, the drought facilitated the first Saudi-Wahhabi military conquest of Ottoman territory, which resulted in the first period of Saudi-Wahhabi control over the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. This far reaching political crisis fundamentally changed the SRSR socio-economic system.




















Keywords Famine Drought Little Ice Age Red Sea Sudan Eritrea Ethiopia Sudan Saudi Arabia Yemen Somalia Indian Ocean world Grain trade Pastoralism Farming Economic history State collapse




























The Southern Red Sea Region (SRSR) is an environmentally unified geographic area whose natural features historically supported a closely-linked, multifaceted socio-economic system supported by a robust long distance trade in grain. This region is comprised of the littorals of the Red Sea south of the 19°N parallel and of the Gulf of Aden, as well as their respective hinterlands. This region is currently divided between Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Somalia (Somaliland), Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan. Historically, sufficient grain surpluses were produced in the SRSR to support a high degree of economic specialization and to allow for the

S. Serels (&) Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin, Germany e-mail: [email protected] © Springer International Publishing AG 2018 D. Collet and M. Schuh (eds.), Famines During the ‘Little Ice Age’ (1300–1800), DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54337-6_6

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development of complex states with unique material cultures. In the seventeenth century, the SRSR entered into a centuries-long dry period that led to a protracted decline in grain yields. The drying out of the region was a result of broader climatological shifts, which a number of scholars from a variety of disciplines have termed the ‘Little Ice Age.’ Recently, this term has come under attack, most notably by Morgan Kelly and Cormac Ó Gráda, who have shown that there is “little hard evidence to support the widely held belief that Europe experienced sustained falls in temperature between the fifteenth and the nineteenth century” (Kelly and Ó Gráda 2014, 57). However, Kelly and Ó Gráda’s analysis of the historical record for Europe shows only that the term ‘Little Ice Age’ may be slightly anachronistic. Though there may not be evidence of a sustained global drop in temperatures during this period, there is a preponderance of evidence that this period experienced an increased incidence of global multi-annual climatological anomalies, including a persistent two-hundred-year long dry period in the SRSR lasting from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century that is associated with climatological shifts in Europe and Asia. The ‘Little Ice Age’ dry period in the SRSR put the region’s socio-economic system under intense stress because it led to the failure of the normal allocation of entitlements. As a result, the SRSR was plagued by an endemic food crisis. In some sub-regions, this crisis produced a cycle of famines that further impoverished the population. Since governments traditionally played key roles in the redistribution of food resources in the SRSR, this endemic food crisis resulted in a region-wide political crisis at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century. Centralized power in Sudan and Ethiopia collapsed. The Yemeni Imamate lost control of the rural countryside. In Arabia, the drought facilitated the first Saudi-Wahhabi military conquest of Ottoman territory, which resulted in the first period of Saudi-Wahhabi control over the holy cities of Mecca and Medina (Fig. 6.1). The profound effects of the ‘Little Ice Age’ on the SRSR were the result of the extended duration of this climatological shift. The dry period lasted nearly two hundred years. Regarding this point, this study differs from other works that seek to attribute the cause for social, economic and political transformations to short-term environmental changes (e.g. Winchester 2003). In the SRSR, communities responded to the start of this dry period by making minimal adaptations designed to conserve existing practices. For example, communities in the Ethiopian highlands initially responded by migrating slowly up to higher elevations, where there would be more rainfall (Machado et al. 1998, 319). It was only several generations later that these communities turned to systematized violence to gain the resources needed for survival. The pattern of initially seeking out ways to conserve existing practices and then gradually adopting more radical responses can be found throughout the SRSR. As generation after generation struggled to meet their basic needs, incremental adaptations added up and new social, economic and political practices took root. This gradual evolution resulted in a fundamental transformation of the SRSR socio-economic system. Tragically, these transformations did not alleviate the endemic food crisis. To understand this failure, it is useful to read Amartya Sen in conjunction with E.

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Fig. 6.1 Map of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden showing contemporary political boundaries, aswell as the Nile and its two principle tributaries

P. Thompson. Sen observes that a person’s ability to secure food is based on his or her claim to entitlements—that is “what he owns, what exchange possibilities are offered to him, what is given to him free, and what is taken away from him” (Sen 1981, 154). The distribution of entitlements is not just a function of economic relations, but also of social and political relations. As a result, the distribution of entitlements should be seen as embedded within a moral economy, which Thompson defines as “grounded upon a consistent traditional view of social norms and obligations, of the proper economic function of several parties within the community” (Thompson 1971, 79). In the SRSR, as was the case in many parts of the world, states were expected by their subjects to offer protection from a food crisis. However, during the ‘Little Ice Age’, states in the SRSR lost the ability to regularly offer this protection. As generation after generation suffered, state power declined. The decline took time and the effects were not seen for decades after the onset of this prolonged dry period. Nonetheless, there was a direct connection between the endemic food crisis of the ‘Little Ice Age’ and the political transformation of the SRSR in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. The reordering of the SRSR towards the end of the dry period must therefore be seen as connected to, though out of sync from, the ‘Global Crisis’ that Geoffrey Parker identifies as triggered in large part by the ‘Little Ice Age.’ Parker demonstrates that climatological shifts at the beginning of the seventeenth century played a significant role in precipitating a set of famines, wars, rebellions and political crises in the Ottoman Empire, China, Russia, Central Europe, Scandinavia, Britain, Spain and the Portuguese Empire during which up to one third of the world’s population died. This global upheaval began with the onset of new, less favorable climatic

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conditions and, according to Parker, ended in the last decades of the seventeenth century. By then, Parker asserts, the decline in population had sufficiently alleviated the stress on regional food markets to usher in a new equilibrium (Parker 2013). In his otherwise thorough analysis, Parker assumes that the same must have been the case in parts of the SRSR. He notes that the repeated failures of the Nile flood indicate that “severe drought periodically afflicted the Ethiopian highlands, where the Nile rises, in the seventeenth century; yet the surviving record of the area, and of other regions of East Africa, mention no political unrest, social upheavals, or economic depression; of course, this may merely reflect absence of evidence” (Parker 2013, 470). The evidence is there, just the timing is off. The ‘Little Ice Age’ precipitated a crisis in the SRSR similar in nature and effect to those experienced elsewhere in the world. However, the full effects were delayed and only experienced a century after the ‘Global Crisis’ had abated.

The SRSR Grain System Before the ‘Little Ice Age’ Despite contemporary boundaries, the sea historically linked communities throughout the SRSR. Following Fernand Braudel’s central insight that human-environment interaction in the Mediterranean helped shape the material culture that defines the region’s complex societies (Braudel 1949), historians have demonstrated that large bodies of water lubricate the movement of people, goods and ideas, which historically facilitated the establishment of close social, cultural, political, and economic links between distant peoples (Campbell 2009, 170–196; Bose 2006; Chaudhuri 1985). As in the World of the Indian Ocean, maritime links in the greater Red Sea region were shaped by the patterns of winds that propelled traditional sail boats. South of the 19°N parallel, winds in the Red Sea are controlled by the Indian Ocean monsoons. The distinct seasonality of the winds facilitated communication between the African and Arabian littorals, as well as between the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. North of the 19°N parallel, winds in the Red Sea blow from the northwest throughout the year. Sailboats in this region must navigate along the coast in order to catch sea breezes. However, maritime communication was impeded because the coastline has numerous shoals and coral reefs that can beach ships. In the SRSR, maritime links were essential for some communities’ survival. For example, the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina are located in Western Arabia at the northeastern edge of the SRSR. These cities are situated in a generally unproductive desert. Less than 2% of modern day Saudi-Arabia is considered potentially arable. Outside of a small number of oasis and mountain valleys, there is insufficient surface water to support cultivation (Johany, Berne and Wilson Mixon 1986, 110). Nonetheless, Mecca and Medina historically were home to large populations. In the first half of the nineteenth century, the combined urban population of Western Arabia was approximately 75,000 people (Ochsenwald 1984, 17). This figure does not count the religious pilgrims that annually arrived from

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throughout the Muslim World. All Muslims are required, if they are able, to participate in the annual hajj to Mecca once in their lifetime and many pilgrims choose to also travel to Medina. As a result, the population of Western Arabia increases for a brief period every year. Since grain cannot be grown locally in sufficient quantities to meet this demand, both pilgrims and locals in Western Arabia had to depend on large maritime imports of grain. Western Arabia was not unique in this respect. There were many segments of SRSR society that historically did not directly cultivate their subsistence, such as some pastoralists, religious elites, merchants, seafarers, members of the nobility, and state officials, who had to depend on the grain surpluses produced by others. The ready demand for grain surpluses encouraged the adoption of cultivation techniques that maximized yields. Many of these techniques have been employed for centuries. In the Ethiopian and Eritrean highlands, where rainfed cultivation is possible, cultivators have been using ox-drawn ploughs to till fields for dry-farming since at least the first millennium BCE (McCann 1995, 39–40). In other parts of the SRSR, rainfall is insufficient for rainfed cultivation. As a result, cultivators adopted or developed sophisticated irrigation techniques that could use the limited surface water to bring the widest extent of arable land under crops. For centuries, Yemeni cultivators have used mud barrages and temporary dams to divert water from torrential rivers onto neighboring fields. These barrages allowed cultivators to submerge their fields in knee-deep water once per highland rainy season (Hehmeyer 2014, 43–54). In Northern Sudan, the ancient Roman rulers of Egypt introduced the use of large wooden irrigation waterwheels with earthenware pots. These waterwheels were used to draw water up from the Nile for millennia and their use only fell out of favor in the twentieth century when mechanical irrigation pumps became available (Adams 1977, 346–347; Serels 2013, 165–176). Grain surpluses produced locally within the SRSR were supplemented by regular imports of grain from India and Egypt. Between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, maritime trade links between India and the SRSR increased (Meloy 2010, 2). While historians have focused on the important role that Indian fabric came to play in clothing Red Sea communities (Machado 2008, 161–179), less attention has been given to the role that Indian grain played in feeding the region. Indian grain was a routine component of maritime cargos. Most of this grain was sent to Jeddah and was destined for Mecca and Medina. The movement of grain from India to Western Arabia was shaped in part by religious beliefs, and not simply by profit motives. Muslim rulers in India saw it as their pious duty to send charitable gifts, including grain, to the inhabitants of the Islamic holy cities (Pearson 1994, 175). These gifts of grain are even credited with transforming local dietary habits. In the seventeenth century, the Qutub Shahi rulers of the Indian kingdom of Golkonda began sending regular shipments of rice to be distributed as alms in the Islamic holy cities. At the time, rice was not commonly eaten in the Red Sea region, where communities preferred wheat and sorghum. However, these regular free gifts familiarized the population of Western Arabia to the preparation of rice, which in turn stimulated the demand for rice and opened the door to its regular commercial trade (Faroqhi 1994, 166).

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Ottoman officials also saw it as their pious obligation to support the populations of Mecca and Medina. By the fifteenth century, the keepers of the Islamic holy sites were granted the tax receipts from designated regions throughout the Ottoman Empire. In addition, the Ottoman government made regular annual gifts of money and grain to the inhabitants of Western Arabia (Faroqhi 1994, 76–77). Much of this grain came from the Nile Delta. Alan Mikhail has described eighteenth century Egypt as the ‘breadbasket’ of the Ottoman Empire. Surplus grain produced there was exported to Ottoman ports and urban centers in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea. In addition, this grain provisioned Ottoman forces stationed throughout the empire (Mikhail 2011, 83). The movement of grain from Lower Egypt to Western Arabia was very laborious The northern Red Sea was only navigable by small dhows. Until the fifteenth century, grain had to be shipped up the Nile by boat, transferred onto camel caravans, and taken across the Eastern Desert to the Red Sea port of ‘Aydhab and then shipped to Jeddah. The importance of the route via ‘Aydhab declined over the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries owing to instability in the port’s hinterland.1 Thereafter, grain had to be shipped primarily with the caravans that passed overland from the Nile valley through the Sinai desert to Western Arabia. In the seventeenth century, these overland caravans were comprised of between 800 and 1000 camels (Pearson 1994, 157). Religious obligation was not the only non-economic principle that shaped the allocation of food in the SRSR. The distribution of food was also shaped by collectively held beliefs in the proper relationship between the state and its subjects. Taxes were a legitimate means for states to appropriate some of the grain surpluses produced by subject populations. In turn, states were expected to redistribute some of their grain stocks. Under normal conditions, states granted grain to elites and to certain groups whose loyalty needed to be purchased. For example, the Yemeni Imamate routinely provided subventions of money and grain to the pastoral populations that controlled rural trade routes (al-‘Amri 1985, 57–59). During periods of dearth, food price spikes and famine, states were expected to ensure that their subjects received a minimum level of sustenance by distributing grain that had been stored in times of plenty (Dresch 1993, 208–209; Pankhurst 1985, 51–55). The non-economic principles that helped shape the distribution of food did not preclude the existence of a private trade in grain. Market-driven food distribution existed side by side with its non-market driven counterpart. Though grain was used to pay taxes and to provide gifts, grain was also bought and sold in markets. Private grain sales were a crucial part of the overall SRSR trade. This was even true of the trade between the African and Arabian sides of the SRSR. Despite the subventions from the state, communities in Western Arabia were dependent on grain imported by private merchants from elsewhere in the SRSR (Meloy 2010, 68; Pearson 1994, 173). Though this complex grain system ensured the distribution of grain resources to a diverse array of communities for centuries, it had a central vulnerability: It was based on fully exploiting a narrow ecological niche. In the SRSR, the quantity of

For a survey of the uncovered ruins of ‘Aydhab, see Peacock and Peacock (2008, 32–48).

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available surface freshwater is almost exclusively dependent on rainfall in just two regions. On the African side, this water comes from rains in the Ethiopian and Eritrean highlands. Rainfall in this region is a function of the annual shifts of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and of its interaction with the northeast trade winds and the southwest monsoons. Rain falls primarily from June until September, after which the southern shift of the ITCZ ushers in an extended dry period. During the rainy season, as much as 1500 mm of rain can fall in some highland regions. Rainfall in neighboring lowland regions is considerably less and its quantity decreases northward. In Sudan, Khartoum receives an annual rainfall of 200 mm and Wadi Halfa, located near the Egyptian border, receives virtually none (Wilson 1991, 193). On the Arabian side, rainfall is concentrated in the Yemeni mountains and occurs primarily during the biannual shift in the direction of the Indian Ocean Monsoons. As a result, there are two distinct rainy periods per year. The first occurs in April or May and the second in August. The southern mountains around Ibb receive the most rainfall, with as much as 1000 mm of rain falling per annum. The average rainfall decreases northward, with Sana‘a receiving on average just 200 mm per annum. Neighboring lowland regions receive considerably less than the highland maximum rainfalls. For example, the port of Aden on the Yemeni coast receives less than 50 mm of rain per annum (ESCWA 2005, 47). Nonetheless, lowland regions on both the African and Arabian sides of the SRSR benefit from the rainfall in neighboring higher elevations. Rain in the highlands collects in wadis and flows into the lowlands. This process is dramatically represented by the annual Nile flood, which is a function of rains in the Ethiopian and Eritrean highlands flowing into the Blue Nile and the Atbarar River. During the flood, the Blue Nile contributes 75% and the Atbara River 15% of the Nile’s water, up from 20% percent and virtually nothing, respectively, during the low Nile (Zaghloul, El-Moattassem and Rady 2007, 787–799). In addition, there are a number of other significant, annually flooding rivers that contain little or no water during the dry periods in the neighboring highlands. In some cases, these rivers disgorge during their floods into inland deltas, such as the Qash Delta and Tawkar Deltas in Eastern Sudan. As a result, all of the fresh water that can be used for cultivation over the entirety of the SRSR depends on a narrow set of ecological conditions in the highlands of Eritrea, Ethiopia and Yemen. The vulnerability inherent to a grain system based on exploiting these limited resources was exposed during the ‘Little Ice Age.’

The ‘Little Ice Age’ and the Collapse of the SRSR System In the seventeenth century, the SRSR entered into a protracted dry period that lasted for nearly two hundred years. The most complete contemporary recordings of meteorological conditions in the region are the records of the Cairo Nilometer. During its flood, 90% of the Nile’s waters originate in tributaries whose catchment basins are the Eritrean and Ethiopian highlands. As a result, the Cairo Nilometer

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measurements can serve as a proxy for general rainfall trends in the rainfed agriculture regions of Eritrea and northern Ethiopia. In addition, since the catchment basins for the Nile tributaries overlaps with the other torrential rivers that also flow down from these highlands, the Cairo Nilometer’s readings can serve as a proxy for the surface water available in the arid and semi-arid regions that surround these highlands. Between 1658 and 1840, the average maximum Nile flood as measured by the Cairo Nilometer was approximately 1050 cm. By contrast, for the period 1841–1890, the average maximum flood was approximately 1080 cm. Small differences in maximum Nile floods had large consequences. In Egypt, a Nile flood whose maximum was as little as 90 cm less than expected was considered a failure. Typically, the failure of the Nile flood resulted in widespread disruptions in cultivation and often led the government to suspend tax collection. Between 1658 and 1840, the Nile flood failed in 1713, 1766, 1782, 1783, 1784, 1794, 1826, 1833 and 1837. These failures were compounded by a lack of extraordinarily high floods. During this time period, an extraordinarily high flood was considered to be one that was 90 cm above average, which only occurred in 1738 and 1757. Extraordinarily high floods indicate the availability of enough surface water to produce superabundant surpluses that could be stored to compensate for short term droughts. Though it is not unusual for the Nile flood to fail, it is unusual for there to be so few extraordinary floods. For example, every Nile failure between 1841 and 1890, with the exception of that in 1853, was preceded or followed within two years by an extraordinary flood (Popper 1951, 174–178). Although there are no similar contemporaneous measurements of rainfall on the Arabian side of the SRSR during the ‘Little Ice Age,’ there are indications that this region also experienced a prolonged dry period. Rainfall in the Yemeni highlands is a function of the Indian Ocean Monsoon System. Scholars have shown that corals, ice-cores, ocean sediments and tree rings can serve as proxy records for this system. By analyzing this material, they have found that there were persistently weak monsoons from 1756 to 1768, corresponding with the ‘Strange Parallels’ drought that precipitated the fundamental social and political reorganization of Southeast Asia. There were also persistently weak monsoons from 1790 to 1796 that correspond with the East India drought that resulted in regional economic dislocation and severe famines (Cook et al. 2010, 486–489). Similarly, these periods of persistently weak monsoons would have disrupted rainfall patterns in Yemen and ushered in prolonged droughts with pernicious social, economic and political consequences. In addition, the failure of the monsoons also severed trade links between the Red Sea and the major grain producing regions of Western India. In the eighteenth century, Indian merchants withdrew from the Red Sea and concentrated their trading activities along the Swahili coast (Machado 2008, 170). By the end of the century there were only a handful of Indian merchants residing in Red Sea ports. The decline in Indian merchant activity was only temporary and revived over the course of the nineteenth century. With the revival came a renewed migration of Indian merchants to Red Sea ports. For example, the once significant Indian merchant population of Massawa shrunk with the decline in trade between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean world. By the start of the nineteenth century, there were just

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eighteen Indian merchants residing in Massawa and just two Indian ships called at the port annually. Nonetheless, these merchants controlled the majority of the port’s trade (Pankhurst 1974, 469–472). The Indian merchant population of the Red Sea reached its nadir in the first third of the nineteenth century, after which it began to recover. In Aden alone, the Indian population grew from just a few merchants at the start of the century to 350 in 1842 (Kumar 2012, 65). The rate of migration from India to Red Sea ports suddenly accelerated in the 1880s, and by 1930 there were approximately 5000 Indian merchants residing in the SRSR (Markovitz 2012, 27). The prolonged dry period and repeated failure of the Indian Ocean monsoons negatively impacted patterns of food production, distribution and consumption throughout the SRSR. In the Ethiopian highlands the long-term climatological shifts associated with the ‘Little Ice Age’ had profound socio-political consequences. Initially, communities in this region sought to adapt their agricultural practices to the new, drier conditions by migrating into marginal lands at higher elevations and on steeper slopes. This land was turned over to cultivation and grazing (Machado et al. 1998, 319). Unfortunately, these adaptations did not protect the communities from food crises. There was a dramatic grain price spike in 1668, during which prices in some markets increased by as much as 500%. In 1706, there was a widespread famine and the government was forced to provide food assistance for two months (Pankhurst 1974, 51). For many highland cultivators, part-time soldiering became an increasingly important mean of subsistence. At the start of the seventeenth century, Emperor Susenyos I emancipated the peasantry. As free men, male peasants were subject to regular levies to join the standing army’s expeditions. Participating in these expeditions ensured that peasants benefited from the armed force’s predatory practices (Caulk 1978, 461–466). Even this was not sufficient insurance against recurring food crises. In 1747/48, the Ethiopian highlands suffered a devastating drought that overlapped with a deadly famine. During this disaster, so many people perished that there were not enough people alive to bury the dead (Pankhurst 1985, 51–52). The 1747/48 famine further weakened the already declining power of the centralized Ethiopian state. As the authority of the Emperor in Gondar declined, rival Rases (lit. ‘head’, generally translated as prince) began competing for power. At the same time, shifta (outlaw bandits) in the countryside began to gain power by assembling militias and engaging in banditry. Unable to cope with the pressure, the power of the central Ethiopian state collapsed, ushering in a period typically referred to as Zemene Mesafint (the time of the princes), during which various factions competed for power. Conventional periodization of the Zemene Mesafint ascribes its beginning to the deposition of Emperor Iyoas in 1769 and its conclusion to the coronation of Emperor Tewodros II in 1855. By focusing on the political events, this periodization fails to capture the totality of the crisis. Political turmoil in Ethiopia was set off and, in turn, further propelled by a series of devastating famines that started before the deposition of Emperor Iyoas. Richard Pankhurst has identified famines in Ethiopia in 1752, 1772/73, 1788/89, 1796, 1812, 1828/29 and 1834 (Pankhurst 1985, 52–53). These famines both opened the opportunity for rival factions to gain ground and limited any party from gaining sufficient strength to control the entire Ethiopian

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Empire. This dynamic is exemplified in the efforts of Sahle Sellase to establish and expand his control over Shewa. Sahle Sellase seized the title of Ras of Shewa after the murder of his father in 1813. At the time, both Amhara and Oromo elites were seeking to reassert their independence from the Shewan administration. Over the next fifteen years, Sahle Sellase succeeded to establish his authority over all factions in Shewa (Abir 1968, 152–156). These efforts were upended in 1828, when Shewa was plunged into famine. The normal system for distributing entitlements to food broke down and people were unable to meet their basic subsistence needs. Crops failed, cattle died and cholera killed people in large numbers. Thousands of starving famine victims voluntarily offered to become the slaves of Sahle Sellase in order to make him responsible for their survival.2 When the acute crisis abated, resistance to Sahle Sellase’s rule returned and an Oromo uprising began. This uprising ended in 1835 after years of drought had killed off most domestic animals, precipitated another famine and created the conditions for a severe cholera epidemic. During this crisis, Sahle Sellase again assumed the responsibility for directly providing for his subjects, leaving them with the false choice of resisting his rule and starving or submitting and surviving (Abir 1968, 156–157). The dynamic of protracted drought setting off a crisis of entitlements that resulted in a collapse of long-established centralized power was not confined to the Ethiopian highlands. In the neighboring Funj Sultanate of Sinnar, which controlled much of contemporary central and northern Sudan, agricultural communities responded to poor Nile floods by increasingly seeking out loans from the expanding merchant community. The specific debt regime that developed in Nilotic Sudan during this period was known as sheil. Under this system, cultivators who could not produce enough food to meet their own needs would borrow grain from merchants during the lean periods before the next harvest. The merchants would set the value of these loans based on the high lean-period grain prices, but would demand payment after the harvest when prices were low. As a result, cultivators were required to pay back larger quantities of grain than they had borrowed. Despite the predatory nature of this system, cultivators could not object to the terms set by the merchants because doing so would cut them off from all forms of credit. As this practice became more widespread, tensions between cultivators and merchants increased. Nonetheless, the wealth and power of the merchants grew, thereby precluding state elites from intervening on behalf of cultivators saddled with crippling debt. Over the course of the eighteenth century, the power of these merchants eclipsed that of state elites, thus setting the stage for a series of rebellions

2

Once enslaved, these famine victims were formally treated like any other slaves belonging to the Negus. However, in practice their treatment was fundamentally different, as these famine-slaves did not occupy the same roles as slaves brought from distant lands. They remained in their homes and on their land. As slaves, their new and central obligation to Sahle Sellase was to provide three days labor every three months. Even this did not prove permanent. When the acute crisis abated, these famine-slaves no longer needed direct support from Sahle Sellase, so they began agitating for a return to the status quo ante. Ultimately, the Negus emancipated approximately 4700 of his enslaved subjects (Pankhurst 53–55).

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and civil wars that marked the decline of the Funj rulers and the collapse of centralized power (O’Fahey and Spaulding 1974, 84–104). Communities could not cope with the changing conditions and the region was plagued by devastating famines in 1770/71, 1791/92 and 1813 (Holt 1999, 20, 32, 63). The Yemeni Imamate also experienced a similar decline precipitated by the government’s inability to play its traditional role in shaping the redistribution of food resources. In the early decades of the dry period, state revenues from taxing local cultivation and from profiting from international trade passing through Red Sea ports declined. By the end of the eighteenth century, the state was no longer able to pay salaries and provide rations for troops. This created opportunities for state officials to break away and assert their own territorial autonomy. For example, Sharif Hamud seized the opportunity opened up by the weakness of the central government and established himself as an independent ruler over the region of the Tihama around Abu Arish. The British were also able to secure greater extraterritorial rights in the Yemeni port of Mocha in 1820 (Farah 2002, 2–3). In addition, the British were able to force Mushin bin Fadl, the Sultan of Lahej who was under the suzerainty of the Yemeni Imam, to cede the port of Aden in 1838. Declining state revenues also made it difficult for the Yemeni central government to give the annual stipends of grain and cash to pastoralist leaders. These stipends were crucial to ensuring the continued loyalty of the pastoral groups that controlled the trade routes. Failure to pay these stipends set off rebellions in 1779, 1780, 1793, 1795/96 and 1808. Following the 1808 rebellion, the government sought to meet expenditures by debasing locally minted currencies. This led already high market prices to rise even more, which in turn made members of the Jewish community particularly vulnerable because they both operated the state mint and were the principle grain merchants. In response, the state expelled the Jews. However, these actions did not address the underlying inability of the state to meet its redistributive obligations. As a result, regular rebellions continued to break out (al-‘Amri 1985, 39–59). Open rebellion was only one of a number of strategies employed by pastoralist groups throughout the region to cope with their increasingly precarious position. As pastures dried up, pastoralist communities were forced to seek out ways of ensuring access to the increasingly limited available grazing grounds and sources of fresh water. On the African side of the SRSR, pastoralist communities from drier, more northern regions sought to establish rights to torrential rivers and inland deltas further south. This led a large section of the Bisharin to migrate from the Atbai and establish itself permanently in the vicinity of the ‘Atbara River (Hjort af Ornäs and Dahl 1991). At around the same time, the Hadendowa migrated from northeastern Sudan to the high altitude fertile zone near Irkuwit and to the Qash Delta (Owen 1937, 188–189). Similarly, drought forced pastoralist groups that normally resided in central Arabia to migrate north to the borderlands between Syria and Iraq in search of pastures at the end of the eighteenth century. This migration was sufficiently extensive as to preclude effective local resistance to the Saudi-Wahhabi expansion. In the last quarter of the eighteenth century, a Saudi-Wahhabi Emirate expanded through conquest out of the food insecure desert town of Diriyah in central Arabia. This expansion was able to capitalize on the prevailing political and social dislocation caused, in part, by

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disruptions brought on by long-term climatological shifts associated with the ‘Little Ice Age.’ At the beginning of the nineteenth century, this Emirate drove the Ottoman Empire out of the Hijaz and, thereby, established its rule over the holy cities of Mecca and Medina (Rasheed 1991, 32–33). The government of Egypt also seized the opportunities opened up by the regional crisis and embarked on a successful campaign to conquer neighboring regions. The success of this campaign reflects, in part, the earlier success of government-led efforts to stop and reverse the negative consequences of persistent drier conditions. Cultivation in Egypt, like that in neighboring Northern Sudan, was dependent on the Nile. As a result, Egypt was similarly vulnerable to the negative effects of the ‘Little Ice Age’ climatological shift. Initially, Egypt followed the same pattern as elsewhere. Radical adaptations were forgone. Efforts were not even made to maximize the use of the decreased water in the Nile. Irrigation works fell into disrepair. As a result, crop yields were even less than their potential maximums (al-Sayyid-Marsot 1984, 156). These negative effects accumulated, ultimately leading to severe famines in 1785, 1790 and 1791 (Mikhail 2011, 218–219, 227– 229). The dislocation caused by these famines was exacerbated by the French conquest in 1798, the British invasion shortly thereafter, the withdrawal of the last European troops in 1803 and the subsequent fighting between the Ottoman force and the Mamluks. Nonetheless, Egypt experienced the early nineteenth century as a period of increasing crop yields. Under Muhammad Ali’s rule (1805–1848), irrigation works were fixed and expanded. The area under cultivation doubled and, in some areas, fields were able to be cultivated with up to three crops per year. In the first half of the nineteenth century, Egypt’s annual cereal yield rose by three to four times (al-Sayyid-Marsot 1984, 156). Large grain surpluses allowed Muhammad Ali to implement a number of other state reforms, including the expansion and modernization of the Egyptian Army. Muhammad Ali used this military force to drive the Saudi-Wahhabi Emirate back to its base in Diriyah. He also deployed it to invade Sudan, where resistance was limited as a result of the collapse of centralized power. By 1822, Muhammad Ali’s territory encircled much of the Red Sea, stretching from the northern border of Ethiopia, through Egypt and down the Arabian littoral to the northern edge of Yemen. Egyptian rule partially solved the endemic food crisis in the SRSR. Following his conquest of Mecca and Medina, Muhammad Ali expanded the annual subventions given by the ruler of Western Arabia to local elites as a sign of piety to include an annual gift of approximately 25 million kg of grain. This gift allowed the caretakers of the holy shrines to pay neighboring pastoralist communities for the safe passage of pilgrims (Kluzinger 1878, 272). However, persistent food insecurity continued to plague Sudan. From 1824 to 1826, the newly conquered regions of Sudan suffered from a devastating drought that was compounded by an outbreak of a deadly famine (Holt 1999, 106). Policies implemented by the new Egyptian rulers of Sudan further exacerbated the food crisis there. In the years following the conquest, Egyptian officials sought to turn a profit from colonizing Sudan and, therefore, compelled cultivators along the main Nile channel to turn their grain fields over to sugar and indigo. These policies further reduced the ability of local communities to meet their own subsistence

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needs. Conditions deteriorated quickly and in 1835 the region was plunged into a multi-year famine that threatened Egyptian rule (Bjørkelo 1989, 74). Ultimately, Egyptian officials were forced to abandon these efforts and cultivators were allowed to return to focusing on grain cultivation (Hill 1959, 74).

Conclusion The rise of Egypt in the first quarter of the nineteenth century was a direct consequence of the endemic food insecurity and widespread political instability that took hold in the SRSR during the ‘Little Ice Age.’ Nonetheless, Egypt’s expansion also demonstrates that environment is not destiny. The Nile flood in Egypt is controlled by rains in the Ethiopian and Eritrean highlands. As a result, the protracted dry period in the latter region resulted in a decrease in the water available for cultivation in the former. Despite this challenge, Egyptian officials were able to improve irrigation techniques and expand grain yields. Egypt’s power increased as the SRSR socio-economic system weakened. The crisis in the SRSR that opened the door to Egyptian territorial expansion was a slow moving one that unfolded over generations. The driving force of the crisis was a shift in the regional climate, which began in the seventeenth century. However, the full severity of the negative effects was not experienced immediately. Initially, communities just made small adaptations in their traditional practices in order to cope with the new environmental conditions. Unfortunately, these adaptions failed to protect these communities from the consequences of a centuries long dry period. As traditional practices and coping strategies failed, food insecurity became widespread in the SRSR, and some areas were plunged into a cycle of deadly famines. The crisis in the grain production and allocation system was also a political crisis. Political elites lost the ability to intervene in the grain system in ways that shielded their subjects from want and, as a result, states lost their legitimacy. Repeated rebellions broke out throughout the SRSR and long established states lost control over their territories. The combined, interrelated political-food crisis in the SRSR opened the door to Egyptian domination. Acknowledgments Researching and writing this chapter was made possible by grants from the Gerda Henkel Stiftung, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Volkswagen Stiftung, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and Harvard University’s Weatherhead Initiative on Global History.

References Abir, Merdechai. 1968. Ethiopia: The Era of the Princes; The Challenge of Islam and the Re-unification of the Christian Empire (1769–1855). London: Longmans. Adams, W. Y. 1977. Nubia: Corridor to Africa. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

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al-‘Amri, Husayn B. ‘Abdullah. 1985. The Yemen in the 18th and 19th Centuries: A Political and Intellectual History. UK: Ithaca Press. al-Rasheed, Madawi. 1991. Politics in an Arabian Oasis: The Rashidis of Saudi Arabia. London, New York: I B Tauris. al-Sayyid-Marsot, Afaf Lufti. 1984. Egypt in the Reign of Muhammad Ali. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bjørkelo, Anders. 1989. Prelude to the Mahdiyya: Peasants and Traders in the Shendi Region, 1821–1885. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bose, Sugata. 2006. A Hundred Horizons: The Indian Ocean in the Age of Global Empire. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Braudel, Fernand. 1949. La Méditerranée et le monde méditerranéen à l’époque de Philippe II. Paris: Colin. Campbell, Gwyn. 2009. The Role of Africa in the Emergence of the Indian Ocean World Global Economy. In Eyes across the Water: Navigating the Indian Ocean, eds. Pamila Gupta and Isabel Hofmeyr, 170–196. Pretoria: UNISA Press. Caulk, R. A. 1978. Soldiers and Peasants in Ethiopia c.1850–1935 The International Journal of African Historical Studies. 11,3: 461–6. Chaudhuri, K. N. 1985. Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean: An Economic History from the Rise of Islam to 1750. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Cook, Edward R., et al. 2010. Asian Monsoon Failure and Megadrought during the Last Millennium. Science 328: 486–489. Dresch, Paul. 1993. Tribes, Government and History in Yemen. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. 2005. ESCWA Water Development Report 1 (United Nations). Farah, Caesar E. 2002. The Sultan’s Yemen: Nineteenth-Century Challenges to Ottoman Rule. London, New York: I B Tauris. Faroqhi, Suraiya. 1994. Pilgrims and Sultans: The Hajj under the Ottomans 1517–1683. London, New York: I B Tauris. Hehmeyer, Ingrid. 2014. Water Engineering and Management Practices in South Arabia: Aspects of Continuity and Change from Ancient to Medieval and Modern Times. In Southwest Arabia across History: Essays to the Memory of Walter Dostal, eds. Andre Gingrich and Siegried Haas, 43–54. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Hill, Richard. 1959. Egypt in the Sudan, 1820–188. London: Oxford University Press. Hjort af Ornäs, Anders and Gurdun Dahl. 1991. Responsible Man; the Altmaan Beja of North-eastern Sudan. Uppsala: Stockholm Studies Anthropology. Holt, P. M. 1999. The Sudan of the Three Niles: The Funj Chronicles 910–1288/1504–1871. Leiden: Brill. Johany, Ali, Michel Berne and J. Wilson Mixon Jr. 1986. The Saudi Arabian Economy. London: Croom Helm. Kelly, Morgan and Cormac Ó Gráda. 2014. Debating the Little Ice Age. Journal of Interdisciplinary History 45, 1: 57. Kluzinger, C. B. 1878. Upper Egypt; its People and Products. London: Blackie and Son. Kumar, Kundan. 2012. Aspects of Indian Merchant Diaspora in the Arabian Peninsula during the British Period. In Indian Trade Diaspora in the Arabian Peninsula, eds. Parkash C. Jain and Kundan Kumar, 65–55. New Delhi: New Academic Publishers. Machado, Maria J., Alferdo Pérez-González and Gerardo Benito. 1998. Paleoenvironmental changes during the last 4 000 years in the Tifray, Northern Ethiopia. Quaternary Research, 49: 319. Machado, Pedro. 2008. Awash in a Sea of Cloth: Gujarat, Africa and the Western Indian Ocean, 1300–1800. In South Asian Textiles in the World, eds. Prasannan Parthasarathi and Giorgio Riello, pages. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Markovitz, Claude. 2012. Indian Merchant Networks outside India in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: A Preliminary Survey. In Indian Trade Diaspora in the Arabian Peninsula, eds. Parkash C. Jain and Kundan Kumar, pages. New Delhi: New Academic Publishers.

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McCann, James C. 1995. People of the Plow: An Agricultural History of Ethiopia, 800–1990. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. Meloy, John L. 2010. Imperial Power and Maritime Trade: Mecca and Cairo in the Later Middle Ages. Chicago: Middle East Documentation Center. Mikhail, Alan. 2011. Nature and Empire in Ottoman Egypt: An Environmental History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ochsenwald, William. 1984. Religion, Society and the State in Arabia: The Hijaz under Ottoman Control, 1840–1908. Columbus: Ohio State University Press. O’Fahey, R. S. and Jay Spaulding. 1974. The Kingdoms of Sudan. London: Methuen. Owen, T. R. H. 1937. The Hadendowa. Sudan Notes and Records. 20, 2: 188–9. Pankhurst, Richard. 1974. Indian Trade with Ethiopia, the Gulf of Aden and the Horn of Africa in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries. Cahiers d’etudes africaines 14, 55: 469–72. Pankhurst, Richard. 1985. The History of Famine and Epidemics in Ethiopia Prior to the Twentieth Century. Addis Ababa: Relief and Rehabilitation Commission. Parker, Geoffery. 2013. Global Crisis: War, Climate Change and Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century. New Haven: Yale University Press. Peacock, David and Andrew Peacock. 2008. The Enigma of ‘Aydhab: a Medieval Islamic Port on the Red Sea Coast. International Journal of Nautical Archaeology. 37: 32–48. Pearson, M. N. 1994. Pious Passengers: The Hajj in Earlier Times. London: Hurst. Popper, William. 1951. The Cairo Nilometer: Studies in Ibn Taghrî Birdî’s Chronicles of Egypt: I. Berkley, Los Angeles: University of California Press. Sen, Amartya. 1981. Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Serels, Steven. 2013. Starvation and the State: Famine, Slavery and Power in Sudan, 1883–1956. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Thompson, E. P. 1971. The Moral Economy of the English Crowd in the Eighteenth Century. Past and Present, 50: 79. Wilson, R. T. 1991. The System of Agricultural Production in Northern Sudan. In The Agriculture of Sudan, ed. G. M. Craig, pages. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Winchester, Simon. 2003. Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded, August 27 1883. New York: Harper-Collins. Zaghloul, Sohair S., Mohamed El-Moattassem andAhmed A. Rady. 2007. The Hydrological Interactions between Atbarar River and the Main Nile at the Confluence Area. International Congress on River Basin Management. Proceedings of the International Congress of Water Basin Management. DSI and WWC, Antalya, Turkey (2007). 787–799.

Part IV

Coping

Chapter 7

The Role of Climate and Famine in the Medieval Eastern Expansion Andreas Rüther

Abstract Competing concepts and multiple models of medieval expansion to the northeastern frontiers of Central Europe and the internal colonization of the continent have been discussed intensely in scholarship. Everett Lee’s classical theory of migration has offered concepts determining push- and pull-factors for the migrations. However, modern theories of imperial colonization cannot explain the colonization of Eastern Europe by settlers introducing Germanic law. In many cases, the normative sources only confirm the existing conditions of the settlers’ area of origin, but do not mention the new settlements, leaving much room for interpretation and speculation. Narrative sources are abundantly available across all regions, and provide broad chronological coverage of events for the years between 1150 and 1250. Medieval art offers the possibility to illustrate and visualize aspects between man, nature, environment, and people on the move. Analyzing the records of daily life and consumption, the Dorfschöppenbücher provide information on important dietary habits and working conditions of countrymen in East-central Europe regarding the climate. Paleo-climatic evidence sheds further light on the transition from the Medieval Warm Period to the Little Ice Age.

Introduction From the tenth to the thirteenth century, Continental Europe experienced what now is often presumed to be a climatic optimum. Climate historians and natural scientists have coined the term Medieval Climate Anomaly for this period, which was then followed by the Little Ice Age. Both these attempts to frame and label past climate variations remain disputed (Kelly and Ó Grada 2014). Exploring possible interconnections of weather and medieval cultures, however, might improve our understanding of social practices such as migration.

A. Rüther (&) University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany e-mail: [email protected] © Springer International Publishing AG 2018 D. Collet and M. Schuh (eds.), Famines During the ‘Little Ice Age’ (1300–1800), DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54337-6_7

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Using an interdisciplinary approach to climate, weather and famine in a historical perspective, I will be tracking attitudes and actions of actors regarding climatic extremes. Historians and medievalists must now contextualize the series of statistics and considerable amounts of data, which have been gathered by meteorologists, geographers, and environmental physicists. The correlation between data derived from the archives of nature and the archives of societies overlap significantly between the disciplines of the sciences and the humanities, which can be a challenge. Drawing on written sources ranging from charters of the Holy Roman Empire, rural accounts in Western Europe, and urban administrative records from regions north of the Alps, this study sketches a framework for a comparative survey of how environmental changes impacted societies. Narrative sources—the principal data source for climate historians so far—are abundantly available across all regions and provide broad chronological coverage of events between the years from 1150 to 1250. When we look for various social responses by agrarian societies to extreme climate events, we discover a broad range of short-term reactions or rapid shifts. Famines and climate anomalies have often been seen as the main cause for the migration of settlers into Central and Eastern Europe since the twelfth century (Bartlett 1993; Erlen 1992; Higounet 1986). According to the continuator of Sigebert de Gembloux, the Annals of Egmont, and the Chronicle of the Slavs by Helmold, priest at Bosau, the eastward migration has always been linked to population increase and ensuing subsistence crises. Hard winters, intense rain and heavy storms damaged the forests and houses and even caused wealthy people from England to emigrate (MGH, Continuatio Gemblacensis, SS VI, 388).1 The diocese of Utrecht and the county of Holland, for example, were heavily affected by floods, which led many inhabitants to flee from starvation (MGH, Annales Egmundani, SS XIV, 469),2 whereas those living close to the coast fled from violent sea storms (MGH, Helmolds Slavenchronik, SSrerGerm, XXXII, 174s)3 to the Slavic castles and villages to live among them (MGH, Helmolds Slavenchronik, SSrerGerm, XXXII, 175).4

1

1144. Hiems hoc anno nimietate pluviae et vento vehementi periculosa extitit et damnosa, in tantum, ut silvas, templa, turres et edificia, quae putabantur firmissima, aut funditus subverterit, aut magna ex parte destruxerit. […] Fames gravissima hoc anno multos afflixit; multos panis penuria pauperavit. In regno autem Anglorum in tantum dicitur prevaluisse, ut maximam utriusque sexus multitudinem contigerit fame interisse. Nec tantummodo pauperes et mediocres, sed et eorum multi, qui putabantur sibi sufficientes esse, duro famis gladio perurgente coacti sunt alias emigrare, ut malum inopiae si non ex toto evitare, saltem possent alleviare. 2 Anno 1183. Eruptio fluminum in plerisque locis fuit, et tanta inundatio pluviae, ut sata omnia interirent, maxime in episcopatu Traiectensi et Hollandensi comitatu, ut innumera multitudo famis angustia impellente propria colonia relicta, alias migraverit. 3 Ad ultimum deficientibus sensim Slavis misit Traiectum et ad loca Reno contigua, in super ad eos qui habitant iuxta occeanum et patiebantur vim maris, videlicet Hollandros, Selandros, Flandros, et adduxit ex eis populum multum nimis et habitare eos fecit in urbibus et oppidis a Slavorum. 4 Sed et australe litus Albiae ipso tempore ceperunt incolere Hollandrenses advenae; […] et venerunt adducti de finibus occeani populi fortes et innumerabiles et obtinuerunt terminos Slavorum et edificaverunt civitates et ecclesias et increverunt diviciis super omnem estimacionem.

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Poor harvests and crop failures led to a deficiency of grain and threatened the population to the extent where they chose to leave their homelands (Brügger 2003; Jörg 2008). Rare and very selective references to the lack of land in Western Europe and particularly to overpopulation in France have also served as an economic explanation for the crusader movements of the High Middle Ages (Rüther 2015a). However, as testimonies from the regions of origin are missing, natural proxies and material sources fail to establish a compelling link to the Mediterranean feudal expansion to Outremer or the presumed rush towards the East. The dilemma of having to extrapolate the intentions of human action from historical sources that mainly focus on events cannot yet be solved (Blotevogel 2003; Algazi 2000; Swidler 1986; Certeau 1988). As a result, this paper will focus on four aspects: competing concepts, multifactorial models, and the use of pictorial as well as serial sources.

Competing Concepts Socio-economist Everett S. Lee’s classical theory of migration seeks to determine push and pull factors for migrations (Lee 1966, 1972). Economic factors, social issues, climate impacts and environmental catastrophes as well as the scarcity of natural resources, demographic difficulties and politics are all identified as push factors (Behringer 2005, 2008; Fouquet and Gabriel 2011; Pelc 2010). We know little about the perceived pressures of the societies of origin beyond what was mentioned earlier, but we do have compelling information about the host countries (Górecki 2013; Rady 1999). Much of the scholarship on interior and exterior colonization still tends to analyze living conditions based on preconceived concepts and ideas, rather than on the interpretation of the source material (Murray 2014; Fernández-Armesto 2008). What opportunities do modern theories provide for the analysis of premodern sources? Where are the limits of the transfer of current paradigms which were largely developed studying civil industrial societies and are not easily applied to estate bound societies? Competing concepts and multiple models for the medieval expansion to the north-eastern frontiers of central Europe as well as the internal colonization of the continent have been discussed extensively (Berend 2012, 2013; Bagge 2012). Lee’s push-and-pull theory developed in the 1960s assumes that basic conditions in the area of origin serve to repel migrants whereas regions with good opportunities attract them (Lee 1969). Recent systematic migration research explores migration dynamics and processes of acculturation (Hahn 2012; Hoerder 2010). Inspired by approaches of socialization studies, scholars examine societies as a whole, but also consider region-specific perspectives of the respective culture of origin (Hoffmann 2014). Comparing migrants with the resident population and host societies, they investigate patterns of interactions like inclusion and exclusion (Schmieder 2009; Jaritz 2009). Praxeologies—decisions, practices, and experiences—are compared with macro-regional case-studies (Reckwitz 2008; Bourdieu 1979, 1983, 2005). Since the ninth century, transcontinental migration is strongly influenced by the establishment of German-speaking colonists, urban traders, and craftsmen in Baltic

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and Slavic areas of settlement. Documents such as founding bulls, normative texts, town books, legal contracts, letters, and diaries do not say much about the society the settlers left behind (Marquardt 2003), as their narrative focuses more on the destination and on their adjustment to their new surroundings (Rösener 2013; Sonnlechner 2000, 2002). This complicates a critical evaluation of the actual reasons for why people chose to migrate. Modern notions of imperial colonization cannot explain the medieval phenomenon of European colonization, where settlers were privileged by Germanic western law. The Roman king could not exercise his power in any of the East-central European regions; he did not hold an exceptional legal position nor did the holy empire enjoy any economic advantages, and the settlers were only marginally dependent on their country of origin. There is virtually no basis for the popular comparison of this movement with nineteenth-century overseas colonization (Johanek 2001). Instead, in the Slavic regions east of the Oder, in the Bohemian mountains and the Hungarian plains, the establishment of settlements was initiated by local princes attempting to increase their authority and was more or less closely bound to a crown. As a result, neither Osterhammel’s definition of the term ‘colony’ (Osterhammel 2012) focusing on land appropriation and occupation, nor the concept of Peuplierung as introduced by Prussian king Frederic II’s policies provide an adequate framework for studying these migrations and settlements way outside of the migrants’ traditional settlement areas (Blackbourn 2006).

Multifactorial Models National historiographies in their capacity as carriers of culture tend to claim that the migration movement served either as a civilizing mission or—from the perspective of the colonized culture—as an aggressive conquest aimed at repressing the original inhabitants (Rüther 2015b). After all, we are not dealing with a spontaneous mass movement, but with intentional, organized recruitment of small groups in a longue durée. Local rulers hired experts to raise the economic potential of their dominions by assigning locatores, entrepreneurs of settlements (Barański 1998). This might give us an idea of the immediate reasons for migration to the East, but cannot shed light on specific incentives (Rösener 2014). Again and again, climate anomalies were connected to enormous demographic changes since the eleventh century (Pfister 2007; Mauelshagen 2010; Winiwarter and Knoll 2007). In this context, the Medieval Warm Period with its temperature maximums frequently serves as an argument in explaining why younger sons leave their manors. The modest but continuous increase in population threatened to lead to an overflow of legal heirs among the nobility and consequently create a shortfall in the supply of land and resources. However, the nobility was the only class that took little interest in the colonization. Aside from the exceptional case of the Teutonic order, there is little information about the forces that led people to leave. Poverty, floods, and famines were only rarely reported. The body of source material

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only conveys that environmental conditions changed, but neglects to document the situation before. Archeological discoveries are hard to evaluate and leave many possibilities of interpretation (Jakubowski-Tiessen 2014; Petersen et al. 2015). In the charters and narrative reports on the colonization of eastern central Europe, rather different impulses are outlined: The shortage of land in the areas of origin, the temptation of fertile land elsewhere, the expectation of prosperity, the protection from flooding, and low taxes and charges. The settler’s motives for moving to the new settlement of Dutchmen at the Lower Weser region are mentioned in the first known treaty of 1113 with the archbishop of Bremen and Hamburg (Lappenberg 1842, n. 129; Ehmck and von Bippen 1873, n. 27).5 In densely populated regions like Flanders, Holland, the Lower Rhine region, and Frisia they had to deal with storm tides and longed for improvement of living conditions and tax exemptions. The Dutch asked the Prince-Bishop to allocate them ground of minor value and marshland for cultivation. Because of their skills in sea and river drainage, they were welcome as specialists of water engineering (Bünz 2008). Sources also teach us about the tithes and hides, courts and churches, and the laws gathered under the so-called Hufenmaß which attracted new immigrants (Folkerts 2010; Päsler 1999; Mendthal 1886). The living conditions promised legal security, further autonomy of cities, and a proper home with a piece of land like those in Upper Italy (Wickham 2015). They assured the settler’s rights of possession, common law, grace periods, customs exemption, and a lord’s protection. Fees had to be paid only after a certain number of years, which made it possible to cultivate the land and build homes. With their knowledge and tools for dike building and dehydration, they became helpful specialists for laying out dams, embankments, bridges, and mills. They were invited to other countries because of these measures which they had developed as coping strategies in the flatlands. By leaving their homes in the low countries, they were not avoiding the situation there but were handling it (Willerding 1993; Blickle 1986; Hiestand 1991). So we can only speculate and, as Steven Epstein suggests, examine the plurality and multifactoriality of “people’s decisions and choices” (Epstein 2009, 184).

Pictorial Sources Medieval art can help illustrate and visualize this dynamic relationship between man, nature and environment, and people on the move (Epstein 2012; Brunner 1998; Kühnel 1993; Heimann 1992). Depictions of men in climate and weather can be 5

Pactionem quandam, quam quidem cis Renum commanentes, qui dicuntur Hollandi, nobiscum pepigerunt, omnibus notam volumus haberi. Prefati igitur viri maiestatem nostram convenerunt obnixe rogantes, quatenus terram in episcopatu nostro sitam, actenus incultam paludosamque, nostris indigenis superfluam, eis ad excolendam concederemus. Nos itaque tali petitione nostrorum usi consilio fidelium, perpendentes rem nobis nostrisque successoribus profuturam, non abnuende petitioni eorum assensum tribuimus.

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considered as pictorial sources in their respective context and range of iconic tradition (Buderath and Makowski 1986; Zahlten 2003). In Hieronymus Bosch’s painting “The Prodigal Son (or Vagabond)” from around 1505, a man leaves a severely damaged building walking towards nature (Delevoy 1990, 36). We see a devastated landscape with wandering dunes (Rösener 2010; Bartels 1996; Weisgerber 1996; Sander-Berke 1996). Fields, pastures, and woodlands are destroyed, additional cattle herding ruined the thin layer of plants which holds the sandy soil together, dependent on weather conditions (Hillebrecht 1993; Becker and Oexle 1992). In the famous book of hours, illustrated by the Limbourg Brothers in 1416, we see the labors of the months. The June plate (Cazelles and Rathofer 1984) shows workers dealing with flooding. The river changed its course reaching the steps at the town gate (Rohr 2011, 2013). Pieter Breughel the Elder reflects in 1558 on the order of human existence. He depicts rural life in a positive way. The “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus” (Marijnissen 1988, 379) depicts Icarus’ fall as a consequence of boisterousness and vanity, representing a bad example, while a farmer is fulfilling his duties as a peasant (Vöhringer 2002; Winiwarter 2010). The skull represents natural death, the sword in the sheath peacefulness, the oak symbolizes happiness and compliance, and the setting sun refers to the circle of life. The painting also gives insight into the perception of living conditions and environment (Rohr 2007). In Pieter Breughel’s painting “The Gloomy Day” from 1565 (Büttner 2006, 114), a peasant serves as the embodiment of men confronted with nature (Schubert 1994; Semmler 1991). Environmental impacts destroy the roofs in the village and sink ships in the bay, while man fights against it to pursue a useful profession. This suggested ideal of socionatural interaction and co-development comes to fruition in the figuration of spring and is visualized in the tavern lying ahead. It is necessary, however, to consider the various contexts and traditions of depicting men and nature. In van Goyen’s (1641) picture “Landscape with two oaks” (Sutton 1987), sparse tree coverage indicates the countryside’s destruction by drought. The men correspond to the nearly dead trees and rotten timbers (Gerstenhauer 1991; Gleismann 1989; Schneidmüller 1989). Even this short sample of visual themes highlights some aspects of the relationship between men, nature, and environment (Hoffmann 2014; Schenk 2008). They identify a multitude of pull-factors and suggest a fairly constant set of socionatural aspects most likely to attract settlers. However, some uncertainties remain. While the push-and-pull-theory allows drawing some conclusions about settler’s motives (Isenberg 2014; McNeill and Mauldin Stewart 2012), the push factors and intrinsic motivations of migrants remain more difficult to trace empirically. The same applies to the notable differences, however, between the earlier and later settler-movements. In many cases medieval sources confirm the destinations existing conditions in the (as for example settling-treaties or charters do), but leave much room for interpretation and speculation as to the reasons why people abandoned their old life and migrated. Pull-factors can be detected in the pictorial records as well as treaties on tax- and custom-exemptions or the prospect of a great piece of land. It is harder to point out the reasons for people leaving their homes.

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Environmental factors might well have been crucial. Around 1100 Flanders, Holland, and the Lower Rhine region were densely populated. Arable land was scarce, so that many inhabitants saw no other possibility than to migrate. At first they went to neighboring areas along the rivers Weser, Elbe, Saale, and Mulde. It seems likely that the overpopulation led to a shortage of fields and—consequently—to a degradation of everyday circumstances. In this situation, weather-related storm tides and floods threatened the already short pastures and certainly led to conditions that forced many settlers to leave. They had the knowledge and skills to fertilize useless land by constructing drainage dikes and polders. Their knowledge of regaining and dehydrating land made them valuable to the archbishop when he tried to exploit unused areas. Their abilities were also crucial in the construction of traffic routes, bridges, and banks and in regulating rivers and streams for mills. Some caveats remain. Catastrophes like floods or droughts have often been considered as push-factors, but it is crucial to examine if they really had an influence on the settlers’ behavior. Dutchmen were particularly targeted for enticements because of their measures against flooding and even storm floods (Meier 2005). The aspect of overpopulation as a push-factor is also plausible only at first sight, because the raise of population in the twelfth century has been moderate, although continuous. In the Netherlands, migration to the interior was able to compensate this rise. However, if tax concessions, low interest rates, and modest tithes are considered as pull-factors, the situation in the original country must have been significantly worse, which itself could have been a push-factor.

Serial Material Other types of source material might fill the empirical gap that remains in tracing human-environment interaction. Some of them are able to provide information on why migration occurred. A so-called Schöppenbuch is a manuscript of the scabinus, a lay judge in the village court, which collects contracts of purchase between peasants, gardeners, and cottagers in order to regulate bargaining and buying. The “SCEPPENBVCH ZU/YORNICK” of Alt Jauernick (Nagel 2015), today’s Stary Jaworów in Poland, is a typical source of rural communities in Silesia since the end of fifteenth century and the second half of sixteenth century. The jurors belonged to the rich peasant proprietors, and the mayor ran the village pub, the “Kretscham”, where the court held its sessions. For his work, the mayor received tithe exemption as well as the right to run the “Kretscham”. Rural Schöppengerichte were in charge for the so-called “voluntary jurisdiction”, which governed legal businesses that concerned the village’s pieces of estate. The lord of the manor and his peasant subjects were interested in an unambiguous arrangement and in the recording of relations of ownership. This volume covers the years 1559–1629 and contains 1141 legal acts. It allows detailed views into the forms of production and purchasing in the region, such as agriculture, fruit growing, craft, textile production, livestock breeding, animal husbandry, or fishery management. Exact prices of estates and

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yards over several generations document currency fluctuations and inflations. For the history of daily life and consumption, the Dorfschöppenbücher portray important dietary habits and operating conditions of countrymen in East-central Europe (Hinz 1964; Doubek and Schmid 1931; Lemcke 1882). In Silesia alone, there are dozens of series of lay judge books during early modern times still waiting to be examined regarding the contested concept of the “Little Ice Age”. They provide an excellent supplement to paleoclimatic, pictorial and narrative sources. Their use can enable a much-needed integrative approach, based on empirical data rather than concepts alone.

Integrative Approaches As of now, only a few pilot studies exist in this field. Few studies engage in multifactorial approach towards late medieval famines, environments and migrations. Bruce Campbell recently explored “The Great Transition. Climate, Disease and Society in the Late Medieval World” (Campbell 2016), following up on the pioneer case study of William Chester Jordan, “The Great Famine. Northern Europe in the Early Fourteenth Century” (Jordan 1996). Campbell examines the cultural conditions of people‘s attitude to nature and practices, especially in terms of vulnerability and resilience of human existence. The application of modern concepts such as sustainability and securitization to premodern societies will of course remain challenging. The definitions of concepts like soil fertility, precipitations, droughts, hydrological disasters, and hydroclimate might need revising to fit historical socionatural arrangements. However, the benefits remain obvious. Weather and soil erosion can be reconstructed drawing on dendrochronology, ice core data, varve chronologies, and geomorphology. While the labels remain contested, most natural scientists and climate historians broadly agree that the climatic conditions changed at the beginning of the fourteenth century. Natural proxies can help to fill gaps in the historical record. Their temporal resolution on meteorological conditions is frequently higher than that of the written sources. In combination documentary sources and tree-ring chronologies reveal periods of environmental stress. Read in close combination with the pictorial and serial documentary evidence presented here, they can help to fill in the blanks in our understanding of medieval migration. Coupling the archives of man and nature has the potential to trace some of the elusive push-factors and intrinsic motivations of the leavers. The multifactorial, empirical framework suggested here aims to overcome deterministic and reductionist arguments. Instead, they recreate the plurality of reasons that motivated people on the move.

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Chapter 8

Famines in Late Medieval and Early Modern Italy: A Test for an Advanced Economy Guido Alfani

Abstract This article analyzes how the advanced economies of Medieval and Early Modern Italy attempted to cope with famines. First, it provides an overview of the occurrence of famines and food shortages in Italy from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century, underlining the connections with overall climatic and demographic trends. Second, it focuses on the 1590s famine (the worst to affect Italy in this period), providing a general discussion and interpretation of its causes and characteristics as well as describing and evaluating the strategies for coping with the crisis that were developed within the Republic of Genoa and the Duchy of Ferrara. The article argues that when such a large-scale food crisis as that of the 1590s occurred, public action played a key role in providing relief.













Keywords Famine Mortality crises Subsistence crises Italy Early modern period 1590s Markets integration Grain trade Agrarian innovation










In the late Middle Ages and at the beginning of the Early Modern period, Italy was without any doubt one of the most advanced areas of Europe economically, socially, and regarding its institutions. Even if the old theory of a ‘seventeenth century crisis’ (crisi del Seicento) has been considerably mitigated by the research conducted in the last decades, from the seventeenth century onwards Italy started losing position in relation to the more dynamic northern European economies. The reasons for this relative decline, as well as its overall intensity, are still the subject of heated debate. Related to this, recent works provided an overall reappraisal of Italian economic conditions during the sixteenth century (Alfani 2013a). They suggest that most Italian states possessed considerable economic vitality in the second half of the sixteenth century, when a large part of the peninsula had already lost its political independence. The recovery after the damage and economic instability caused by the Italian Wars (1494–1559) was not an “Indian summer”, as Carlo M. Cipolla put G. Alfani (&) Università Bocconi and Dondena Centre, Milan, Italy e-mail: [email protected] © Springer International Publishing AG 2018 D. Collet and M. Schuh (eds.), Famines During the ‘Little Ice Age’ (1300–1800), DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54337-6_8

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it (1993, 243), but was a sound recovery that led Italy to reach, from many points of view, a multi-secular peak. However, it is towards the end of the century, in the 1590s, that Italy had to endure the worst famine of the late Medieval and Early Modern period. This famine struck a very advanced area, characterized by a vital economy, flourishing markets, as well as vast and integrated merchant networks. It put the social-economic structures and the institutions of the peninsula to the test—a test that, however, often failed. This chapter analyzes how advanced1 Medieval and Early Modern economies tried to cope with famines. In the first section, it provides an overview of the occurrence of food shortages and famines in Italy from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century, underlining the connections with overall climatic and demographic trends. In the second section it focuses on the 1590s famine, providing a general discussion and interpretation of its causes and its characteristics, and describing and evaluating specific strategies for coping with the crisis.

Italian Famines, 1400–1700: An Overview In Italy, famines were a fairly common occurrence during the Medieval and Early Modern period. This was not exceptional per se, as it seemingly reflects the overall (continental) European situation. According to the estimate provided some years ago by Slicher Van Bath (1977, 60), in preindustrial Europe there was a bad harvest every four years. A bad harvest, however, did not automatically lead to a famine as reserve stocks were cumulated in good years and foodstuffs could be imported from other areas. It was the occurrence of back-to-back harvest failures, or of longer sequences of poor harvests, that could transform a ‘normal’ dearth into the more exceptional ‘famine’. This was especially the case when harvest failures occurred over vast areas, thus compromising the ability of markets and food provisioning authorities to compensate for a local shortage of foodstuffs; I will develop these topics in the next section. If the frequent occurrence of famines in preindustrial Europe is no surprise, it could be expected that the most advanced areas of the continent, like Italy, were at least partly spared of these dramatic events. However, a recent survey of the famines occurring throughout the European continent from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century (Alfani and Ó Gráda 2017a) shows that, generally speaking, in preindustrial times even very advanced states were unable to fully escape the most dire consequences of famine. As shall be seen, this was the case for many Italian states at the time of the 1590s crisis.

1

These economies qualify as advanced owing to their high level of commercialization and their integration into international trade networks, as well as being capital rich and technologically and institutionally advanced.

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Table 8.1 The Italian population per macro-area, 1450–1700 (millions of inhabitants) North

Centre

South and Islands

Total

1450 3.9 1.4 2.2 7.5 1550 5.5 2.0 4.0 11.5 1600 6.5 2.2 4.8 13.5 1650 5.2 2.1 4.4 11.7 1700 6.7 2.1 4.8 13.6 Sources Pinto (1996) for 1450; Pinto (1996) and Sonnino (1996) for 1550; Sonnino (1996) for 1600–1700

A sound chronology of the main events, validated through the use of different methods and of all the currently available information (mostly time series of burials, baptisms and wheat prices, as well as chronicles for the earlier periods) and literature, has recently been established (Alfani et al. 2017). It shows that famines became relatively frequent in Italy from the end of the fifteenth century, when the demographic recovery following the decline triggered by the Black Death of 1348– 49 had almost been completed (see Table 8.1). They were frequent also during the first half of the sixteenth century, when Italy was ravaged by the so-called Italian Wars (1494–1559), a period which demographically was characterized by stagnation that ended only with the peace of Cateau-Cambrésis in 1559. The vicissitudes of the war weld the frequent famines and epidemics in a kind of continuum of events that, however, were often only of local or regional importance (Alfani 2013a). This complex situation makes it difficult to clearly identify the cause of the famines, but two aspects can be underlined: First, that surely the military events, especially in the periods of most intense confrontation, made it easier for a dearth to turn into famine (as war damages the harvest directly, consumes food reserves, and also disrupts trade and the actions of institutions). Second, that the demographic growth of the second half of the fifteenth century was causing a certain amount of strain on the available resources (in terms of the production capacity of agricultural systems and of the possibility of provisioning urban centres), a situation partly tempered by agricultural innovations introduced precisely as a reaction to such shortages. After the peace of Cateau-Cambrésis, a couple of decades followed that were mostly famine-free. This seems to be associated with the quick demographic growth following the end of the Italian Wars, a growth that was possibly due, in part at least, to improving expectations after the end of the turbulence generated by the conflict (Alfani 2007, 2013a). The demographic growth was coupled with a phase of sound economic recovery and growth. This lucky period came abruptly to an end with the terrible famine of the 1590s, which was probably the most devastating to occur in Italy during the entire period considered here. Across the European continent, this famine was the worst since the food crises immediately preceding the Black Death. The Italian economies were struck when they were still prominent in the European world, albeit facing increasing international competition.

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After the 1590s crisis, famine continued to be a fairly common occurrence. The very first years of the seventeenth century were characterized by severe food shortages, but the food problems of the Italian states intensified especially during the 1620s, with famines both at the beginning and end of that decade. Demographically, this was a period of stagnation (after the recovery from the 1590s crisis) that ended (in the North) only with the catastrophic 1630 plague. This epidemic, which killed about one-third of the overall population in the affected area (almost all of the North, plus Tuscany), changed for good the balance between population and resources and seemingly had a very significant impact on the occurrence of famines in the peninsula. If we consider the fact that the South and most of central Italy were struck by a plague of comparable intensity in 1656–57 (Alfani 2013b), it seems obvious to look here for the reasons why, in the second half of the seventeenth century, famine became a comparatively rare event—until at least the very end of the century when the terrible famine of the 1690s occurred which, as that of the 1590s, was an event of continental scale (Alfani and Ó Gráda 2017b; Alfani et al. 2017). Before that, the 1648–49 famine stands out in terms of overall mortality, which however was inflated by widespread epidemics of typhus, a typically famine-related disease. This synthetic overview of the trend in the occurrence of famines in late medieval and early modern Italy can also be presented graphically. Graph 1 shows the occurrence of the main events in the period 1550–1700, for which the prevalence of communities affected by crisis mortality can be measured: a rough indicator of famine intensity (for a much more refined analysis using a variety of indicators, see Alfani et al. 2017). Overall, the frequency of famines increased from the middle of the fifteenth century, reached a maximum in the sixteenth, and started to decline again after the plagues of the seventeenth (Fig. 8.1 shows only the second half of this process; see Alfani et al. 2017 for more evidence about the entire period). This path closely reflects the overall trend in population levels: They increased from around 1450 after the long stagnation following the Black Death, reached a maximum in the 1580s, stagnated around that maximum level for some decades, and then dropped abruptly as a consequence of the seventeenth-century plague-induced mortality crises. The overall trend is also summarized in Table 8.1. The high population density reached in Italy around 1580 and maintained up until 1629 corresponds to a multi-secular maximum of about 14 million people, which had been reached just twice in the past—at the time of the late Roman Empire, and immediately before the Black Death (Lo Cascio and Malanima 2005). Every time it was reached, it was also quickly lost, due to severe epidemic crises. Elsewhere, I suggested that this high level of population corresponds to the long-term maximum carrying capacity of the Italian demographic system, from Roman times up to ca. 1700 (Alfani 2013c). From this perspective, we can provide a typically ‘malthusian’ interpretation of the exceptionally severe famines of the 1590s and 1620s. While famine was not able to solve the problem of overpopulation (or, more precisely, of a difficult and strained relationship between population and resources), it signalled that the advanced Italian economies were facing a

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Fig. 8.1 Occurrence of main events and prevalence of central-northern Italian communities affected by crisis mortality. Notes Elaboration from data published in Alfani et al. (2017). Crisis mortality defined as an increase of at least 50% in the number of deaths over the “normal” level measured as the five-terms average, maximum and minimum values excluded, covering from the sixth to the second year preceding the first crisis year

problem that they could not solve in the short term. While a ‘solution’, of a sort, would be provided by the seventeenth-century plagues, the Italian economic actors had indeed tried to find the means by which to feed a larger number of people, investing in new crops and extremely advanced new forms of cultivation (Alfani 2010, 2013a, c). This process, which required many decades to be completed, explains why, when the recovery after the seventeenth-century plagues had finished, the Italian population could exceed, for the first time, limits to growth that had constrained it from Antiquity. I will return to agrarian innovation in the concluding section, as this is a key aspect to consider in order to understand how advanced societies, and possibly also less-advanced ones, reacted to a perceived strain on the available resources. As I have shown, overall the frequency in the occurrence of famines seems to be related to levels of population and rates of demographic growth. However, a high population density does not, per se, ‘cause’ a famine. For a crisis to occur something must trigger it; in the case of food crises, this is usually a turn of weather particularly unfavourable to crops, especially if this happens over some consecutive years. If one considers climate and weather in the 1400–1700 period, it is imperative to mention the theory of the Little Ice Age. This theory has been questioned and, according to some, it is simply false as what occurred is no more than a modest cooling of the northern hemisphere (Crowley and Lowery 2000). However, most scholars accept the idea that a Little Ice Age did indeed occur and, even if its start and end are debated (see Alfani 2010 for a brief discussion), all the different reconstructions suggest that temperatures reached a minimum in the second half of the sixteenth century.

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According to a recent study of long-term trends in global temperatures (Loehle and McCulloch 2008), temperatures dropped during the fifteenth century, recovered at the beginning of the sixteenth, then around 1550 a final phase of decline began, which brought temperatures to a minimum in 1591—that is, at the peak of the terrible famine striking the Italian peninsula. Afterwards, temperatures recovered slowly throughout the seventeenth century, even if a short-period minimum was reached again in the last quarter of the century; during the following century instead temperatures rose steadily. This general trend finds confirmation in other data, for example that related to the occurrence of particularly severe winters (Camuffo and Enzi 1992; Alfani 2010). The occurrence of exceptionally cold winters is not per se the signal of particularly low yearly average temperatures. It should be taken as a sign of climatic instability, or of a changing climate pattern, and not as a proxy for temperatures across the year (Camuffo and Enzi 1992). In fact, other information confirms that in Italy as well a minimum in average temperatures was reached in the final decades of the sixteenth century; for example, this is what is suggested by the periods of expansion of the Alpine ice fields (Le Roy Ladurie 2004, 184–190). Wheat and other grain, however, are able to survive very different temperatures, including relatively cold ones (from −14 to 43 °C). The real problem, then, was not really the decline in temperatures occurring in the Early Modern period, but the risk of wet seasons unfavourable to key crops (see e.g. Finzi 2002). The information available about river floods and spates, episodes indicative of heavy rain, suggests clearly that in the last quarter of the sixteenth century weather instability was on the rise, a condition that would continue during the first decades of the following century. In Fig. 8.2, some of the available flood time series are charted. As shall be seen in the next section, the occurrence of the 1590s catastrophic famine (as well as of many others) is closely connected to the occurrence of weather conditions particularly unfavourable to wheat. Generally, we can accept Bruce Campbell’s statement that “[the most notable famines] can have been the product of no ordinary runs of adverse weather. Instead, each was almost certainly the outcome of some abnormal and extreme short-term climatic perturbation” (Campbell 2009, 10). The available data about climate, weather, and exceptional environmental conditions is discussed elsewhere in much greater detail, and for a longer time period (Alfani 2010). What must be stressed here is that it was not simply the occurrence of bad weather that produced the worst famines, but the fact that this happened at a time when the carrying capacity of a demographic-environmental system had been reached, or at least at a time when the relationship between population and food resources was fragile. The combination of these two factors, however, is still not sufficient to explain the occurrence of a severe famine. A third circumstance must occur, that is, that markets and/or public institutions are unable to provide effective answers to a long-lasting shortage of foodstuffs. This is what happened, even in advanced economies, at the time of the longest and most widespread famines— among which we surely must include that of the 1590s.

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6 5 4 3 2 1

Tanaro (1501-1657)

Bormida (1501-1657)

Dora Baltea (1601-1700)

Belbo (floods and spates) (1601-1700)

1690-1699

1680-1689

1670-1679

1660-1669

1650-1659

1640-1649

1630-1639

1620-1629

1610-1619

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1590-1599

1580-1589

1570-1579

1560-1569

1550-1559

1540-1549

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0

Fig. 8.2 River floods in Northern Italy, 1510–1699. Sources My elaboration based on data published by Pavese et al. (1992) for Tanaro, Bormida, and Belbo. I personally reconstructed the time series of Dora Baltea from archival data preserved in the Ivrea City Archive

Advanced (Pre-modern) Economies Facing Famine: The Case of the 1590s The famine of the 1590s was introduced by the heavy rain that, during the autumn of 1589, ravaged many parts of Italy, with floods occurring in Campania and Tuscany, as well as in the city of Rome. This was just the beginning of a long period of climatic instability: In spring 1590 there was heavy rain in Emilia and Lombardy, and storms and floods in the mainland domains of the Republic of Venice (Davidson 1985; Basini 1970; Corradi 1973). Soon, the bad weather led to the spread of grain diseases such as wheat rust, which further damaged the harvest (Alfani 2013a; Aymard 1973; Ferrarese 2010). Already by 1590, in much of Italy it was clear that crops would be extremely poor. Also, it quickly became evident that the famine covered an exceptionally vast geographical area, and that obtaining grain from abroad would prove difficult. It was not until the following year, though, that the real crisis exploded. In fact, the harvest was no better than that of 1590, and what’s more, reserve stocks had run out throughout the Italian peninsula. In a dramatic escalation, the situation further deteriorated in 1592, when after three years the harvest total amounted to what was normally obtained in just one ‘normal’ year. In 1593, the crops were still suboptimal and some parts of Italy continued to suffer, but the general situation had changed and the availability of foodstuffs, particularly grain, had markedly improved.

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I provide elsewhere a detailed description and an overall interpretation of the characteristics and the inherent dynamics of the 1590s famine (Alfani 2011, 2013a, c, Alfani et al. 2012), which can be considered part of a ‘European crisis’ of the 1590s that, however, in other parts of the continent peaked in 1596 (Clark 1985; Alfani and Ó Gráda 2017b). I refer to these other publications for a general account, while here I will follow a case-by-case approach, providing narratives about how some of the most economically and socially advanced states of the peninsula reacted to this famine, which was a real test for them—and finally resulted in “a ‘system shock’ affecting demographic, social and economic structures: a shock that occurred when the crisis continued beyond expectations, causing the depletion of all reserves stored by individuals and food provision institutions and authorities, thus leading to the final failure of the institutions themselves” (Alfani 2011, 28). The narratives relate to the Republic of Genoa and the Duchy of Ferrara.

The Republic of Genoa Even in normal years, the Republic of Genoa had to manage a serious deficit of foodstuffs, particularly grain, of which it was able to produce just about 40% of what it needed at the beginning of the early modern period (Grendi 1970, 113). This was partly due to the morphology of the territory subject to the Republic, which was mostly mountainous or hilly and not well suited to crops of grain. For many centuries, the Republic had amply compensated this deficit with imports of grain from the areas surrounding the Black Sea, where it also had colonies and controlled vast lands. In other words, from very early times the Republic, and particularly the city of Genoa, was an exemplary case of excellent integration in the international Mediterranean grain market.2 During the fifteenth and sixteenth century, however, the Ottoman empire’s expansion westwards had drastically reduced and, at a certain point, completely interrupted the traditional flow of grain from the Black Sea, a problem that was not typically Genoese, but affected Italy as a whole. Also during the sixteenth century, the Genoese economic elites lost part of their interest in the sea trades and focused instead on financial services, where they were consolidating a Europe-wide leadership (Costantini 1978, 166–7). Whatever the reasons, it is clear that, when the famine struck, the Republic could not rely on its traditional Black Sea supply routes. Neither could it rely on imports from Sicily or other grain-exporting areas of south Italy, as they were also badly affected by the famine (Aymard 1975; Del Panta 1980, 144–150). Even if it could have made relatively ample use of rustic and arboreal crops like chestnuts and olives, which were more resistant to the

2

The import of grain from the Italian regions surrounding the Republic (and particularly from Piedmont, Lombardy, and Emilia) through land routes crossing the Apennines, although non-negligible, covered a minority share of Genoa’s needs. See Grendi (1986, 1027).

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meteorological adversities of the 1590s than wheat (Alfani 2007, 2013a), the systematic alimentary deficit of the Republic resulted initially in an extreme shortage, on a scale comparable to that of other Italian states.3 One point that must be stressed is that even in a rich state with easy access to the sea and a sound (if somewhat tarnished) tradition of long-distance grain trade, the occurrence of the famine could not be avoided. In the short run, not even in Genoa was the 1590s famine a distributive problem but instead a production problem, as all the areas from which grain could have quickly been imported were also experiencing harvest failures and did not have much grain to spare. Admittedly, grain could have been imported from farther away (the Baltic) but this required time to reach agreements, establish trade routes and physically transport the foodstuffs. A couple of years into the crisis, the Republic was able to do just that, but significantly, this was accomplished only thanks to the action of the civic institutions and heavy investments of public money, and not at all or only for a small part by means of private initiatives. Genoa had its own Magistrato dell’Abbondanza (“Magistrate of the Abundance”) from 1564 onwards (an Ufficio delle Vettovaglie, or “Office for Victuals”, had existed from the fourteenth century; see Grendi 1970, 143). The main task of this institution was to guarantee the city’s provision of grain suitable for bread-making, which also implied keeping an emergency stock of grain (Grendi 1971, 25). In 1588 a similar institution was introduced for wine (the Provvisori del Vino), possibly already the consequence of perceived difficulties in guaranteeing an adequate provisioning to a growing city. Surely the famine of the 1590s favoured the introduction of another institution for oil provisioning (the Provvisori dell’Olio) in 1593 (Massa 2000). Contrary to the case of grain, the Republic produced a surplus of wine and especially oil in normal years, which were exported, but in times of famine the Provvisori were also under pressure to prevent these foodstuffs from leaving the State (for example by means of export bans) to keep the city of Genoa well-provisioned with both (Grendi 1986, 1023–1027). During the crisis, the Magistrato dell’Abbondanza played a particularly significant role, working closely with the Senate. Already in 1590, the Senate had guaranteed free port rights (portofranco) to all ships bringing foodstuffs to the city of Genoa. This move brought little relief as the geographic extension of the food crisis implied that there was no grain to bring to Genoa. However, in the following year the Senate renewed the free port decree, and even extended it to the rest of the harbours of the Republic. The decree was then renewed for the third year in a row, but was never very effective (Costantini 1978; Kirk 2001). Theoretically, the free port should have provided a considerable incentive to private freight to bring grain to the Republic of Genoa. In normal times, this strategy had been very effective in favouring the development of new ports, such as Leghorn in Tuscany, and in the seventeenth century free port would become a key

3

See the graph published in Alfani (2013a, p. 161), where the region Liguria (most of which belonged to the Republic of Genoa) is compared to the other northern Italian regions.

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component of a long-term strategy of protecting the role of Genoa as a trading port, a role that was increasingly challenged by Leghorn itself (Kirk 2001). However, the fact that the harvest failures covered an exceptionally large area, coupled with the fact that the traditional trade routes could not be used to provision Genoa, implied that the private sector per se, even in conditions of (for the time) excellent market integration and access to information, was unable to solve what was not a distribution problem, but primarily a production one. In December 1592, at last, grain came to Genoa, and in increasing quantities. According to a chronicle by Antonio Roccatagliata, on 18 January 1592 alone, 130 ships filled with grain entered the port of Genoa.4 Supply of grain to Genoa continued to be steady in the following months, even causing some problems due to the inadequate size of the existing grain deposits, a problem that was temporarily solved by stocking large quantities of grain in the Lazzaretto (the plague ward), in some convents and monasteries, even in private houses, etc. (Piccinno 2004, 21). Huge profits were obtained by reselling part of this grain to other Italian regions (Grendi 1971; Costantini 1978). This impressive outcome, however, was the result of public action, as the Genoese institutions had themselves dispatched merchant missions to the Baltic with the task of placing orders of grain. In doing so, the Magistrato dell’Abbondanza had actually exceeded its statutory authority, a fact that raised some eyebrows in the private sector, which feared competition from the public sector (Grendi 1971, 25). Admittedly, to place its orders the magistrate had secured the help of the Genoese community residing in Anversa, as well as of the northern European merchants based in Genoa itself. The Genoese institutions, however, rented ships for this trade with public money and activated the Genoese diplomats to obtain passports from England and Spain in order to safely bring back the cargo (Spain was particularly interested in providing safe passage to the Genoese, as it hoped to provision from Genoa its own Italian domains: the State of Milan and the Kingdom of Naples; see Kirk 2001, 7). Private ships joined the convoy, attracted by the possibility of making good profits in the starving Republic, but the convoy itself had a decidedly ‘public’ character. Furthermore, the decision of the Magistrato dell’Abbondanza to “be involved directly in the sea trade” (andare appresso alla navigazione)5 helped establish a provisioning route from Northern Europe that was, for Genoa at least, entirely new. In the following years, private economic actors would consolidate and even expand this route, but they had not created it themselves.6

4

Antonio Roccatagliata, Annali della repubblica di Genova dall’anno 1581 all’ anno 1607, cited in Kirk (2001, 7). 5 Genoa State Archive, Archivio Segreto, Propositionum, busta 1028, d. 55, cited in Grendi (1971), 25. 6 The initiatives of many Italian public authorities during the famine (not only the Genoese but also, for example, those of the Grand-Duchy of Tuscany), who actively sought the Baltic grain, helped strengthen the presence of Nordic traders in the Italian ports; about this process, see for example Braudel, Romano (1951), or Grendi (1971).

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Duchy of Ferrara While not entirely land-locked, the Duchy of Ferrara did not have anything similar to the privileged access to the Mediterranean Sea routes and markets enjoyed by the Republic of Genoa. Placed under the rule of the Este family, this small but important and very rich state would suffer, a few years after the famine, from a dynastic crisis that led in 1598 to the loss of the capital city, Ferrara, which the pope as its feudal lord reclaimed together with the related contado. The Este, under the rule of Cesare (the natural son of Alfonso I of Este and nephew of Alfonso II), moved their court to the city of Modena. For this city, a classic study of food production and provisioning in the early modern period is available, by Basini (1970). Furthermore, detailed studies of the consequences of famine in nearby rural towns are available, particularly Finale (Cattini 1977) and Nonantola (Alfani 2011). This is why the area is an excellent example of how public and private actors reacted to the famine, beginning with a situation of particularly severe scarcity of food, and particularly complicated access to the main sea routes. According to a relazione (an official report) of the governor of Modena dated to 1557, in that year the crop of grain was particularly good—but this fact notwithstanding, the city and its contado were unable to reach alimentary self-sufficiency. In fact, the governor explained, in a normal year Modena received from its territory just about two-thirds of its global needs of grain (56,000–64,000 stara7 of grain out of an estimated need of 96,000 to feed a population of about 18,000 mouths. The governor’s estimate can be considered correct on the grounds of other available sources. Basini 1970, 49–50; 58). The city, then, was well-used to returning to markets to compensate for its deficit in food production, importing grain from the most fertile areas of Emilia or from Lombardy while at the same time forbidding, including in years of good crops, any export of grain produced in the Modenese territory, which instead had to be delivered to the city (Basini 1970, 26–27). Given the tight food balance run by Modena, it is no wonder that in 1590 the news about the terrible crops to be expected caused considerable alarm to the city authorities. Another relazione of the governor addressed to the Este dukes, from July 1590, estimated the crop of grain to be just one-third of what was harvested in 1589 (Basini 1970, 67–68). Even if the latter was particularly good, we can deduce that in 1590 the Modenese territory produced no more than 27–30% of the grain needed by the city. This circumstance was not that exceptional or particularly alarming per se, but it became a promise of a catastrophic shortage when considering that the geographical extension of the crop failure made it impossible to count on the usual areas of production to import grain. Of this fact the Modenese food provisioning authorities (such as the Impresa Formentaria), so well trained in managing and monitoring food deficits, became immediately aware. They also came to realize that private economic actors could not be trusted with provisioning the city in acceptable ways during the crisis—they did not have the diplomatic 7

One staro was equal to a volume of 63.25 L.

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clout, the willingness to take risks, and possibly not even the knowledge of the conditions of the international markets to do this. While a rich city, Modena was not a merchants’ capital like Genoa and in fact, when later on during the crisis it was needed to secure letters of credit accepted in Florence, Venice, and Naples, food provisioning officials noted gloomily that getting them was difficult as “here [in Modena] there are no merchants having trades and friendship with those places.”8 Finally, the private sector might also have lacked the financial means to fund what quickly became a very expensive enterprise. Already in early August 1590, then, the city authorities sent agents to Milan, the greatest food market in northern Italy, but with little success—almost no wheat was to be found, and both lesser grains, such as millet, and rice were scarce. Immediately after receiving these news, other agents were sent to the Duchy of Mantua and to Tuscany, both reachable from Modena by means of land routes, as well as to farther-flung areas like Apulia and Sicily. Even in the traditional grain-exporting areas of southern Italy, though, finding grain was very difficult—as it will be remembered, these areas were affected by crop failures as bad as those in the North. Other circumstances made importing grain from overseas particularly difficult for Modena as well as for the other cities of the Duchy of Ferrara. During the famine years, in fact, navigating the Adriatic sea became particularly perilous for the Ferrarese ships, due to the presence of Venetian ‘pirates’ ready to intercept any shipment of foodstuffs (Basini 1970, 69). The Duchy of Ferrara was definitely no great naval power, while Venice undoubtedly was. This is a fact whose importance cannot be understated as, during a famine as severe as that of the 1590s, one which affected all the Italian states including its merchant republics, a lesser power like Ferrara, even if it had some access to the sea, could become, for all intents and purposes, land-locked, at least as far as the grain trade was concerned. Compared to the Republic of Genoa, which at the end of the sixteenth century was still a not-insignificant naval power in the Mediterranean and also had the diplomatic influence necessary to obtain passports for its shipments of grain from rising European nations like Spain and England, the Duchy of Este in general and the city of Modena in particular had a significantly smaller set of options to choose from. All such options were very expensive ones. From very early on (July 1590) the governor of Modena realized that it was necessary to invest public money in order to ensure adequate provisioning. He estimated the immediate financial needs of the city at around 50,000 gold scudi, of which 20,000–25,000 could be borrowed by the city, 5000–10,000 could come from emergency funds such as the Formentaria, and 25,000, which is half of the total, could be asked directly of the Duke of Este as an exceptional loan (Basini 1970, 68). As can be seen, this early estimate already required making ample use of “emergency finance” instruments. As soon as the city delegates and ambassadors had verified the availability of foodstuffs and the prices asked for the little that was available, though, the estimate was revealed to be far too optimistic—already by September 1590 it was clear that the sums urgently needed

State archive of Modena, Annona I, filza 56, August 1590 (cited in Basini 1970, 69).

8

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were closer to 250,000 than 50,000 scudi. As the crisis continued one year after another, the expenses increased. It is possible to estimate that by 1593 Modena had spent the enormous sum of about 650,000 gold scudi for emergency food provisioning (Alfani 2013a, 58), and was left completely drained of gold and silver and deeply in debt, not only to the Duke, but also to religious institutions and wealthy individuals. The point to underline here is not so much the deep damage done to the city finances by the famine (damage from which Modena recovered only thanks to new economic activities that flourished locally from the final decades of the sixteenth century, particularly the production of silk, wine, and spirits), but that the kind of action needed to overcome the crisis was public in nature and could not have been provided by private actors instead. First of all, a very large part of the funds used had come directly from the central authorities of the Duchy (including personally from Duke Alfonso II). Secondly, at the peak of the crisis the price paid became almost non-relevant, the real issue being finding significant amounts of grain; so for example in 1593 the city was pleading with the Duke to provide it directly with the physical amount of food it needed to survive, whatever the price (about the real meaning of grain prices in the acute phase of a famine, see Alfani 2011, 2013a). Thirdly, the grain brought to the city was distributed at a price well below what had been paid, or entirely free of charge, with a huge cumulative loss that no private actor would have any reason to accept. Only in this way could the city authorities not only preserve the lives of most of the local population, but also avoid violent rebellions. The issues of the need for public authorities to create debt to manage the crisis, and of the rising violence and social disorder during the famine years, can also be considered from the point of view of the rural communities. Regarding the first point, a study of Finale Emilia, a rural town to the northeast of Modena, revealed how, during the crisis, the public deficit was not only the consequence of an increase in expenditures, but also of a decrease in revenues. In 1590, the colta ordinaria, the main tribute, fell by 14% compared to the previous year, and in 1591 by another 54.5% (Cattini 1977). As the revenues from the colta ordinaria were proportional to the real income of each household, these figures clearly underline how a harvest failure resulted not only in a shortage of food to be consumed but also of financial means to spend (both by the private and by the public, after taxation) on provisioning from outside the boundaries of the community. From the point of view of public balances, in times of high extraordinary expenditure the consequence was, in most Italian rural communities, a huge increase in the public deficit, with an accumulation of debt that had non-negligible consequences in the post-crisis years as well, being responsible, for example, for the sale of many communal assets in order to reduce it. Generally speaking, as for rising violence in times of famine, here it will suffice to say that it was not limited to cities, whose population was prone to rebellions much feared by the local governments and institutions. It also involved rural areas, traversed during the famine by bands of desperate people and organized groups of bandits (Alfani 2013a). A study of the rural town of Nonantola, to the east of

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Modena, is illustrative of such a situation, which saw rural houses attacked at night by bandits looking for food (and ready to torture the peasants if they thought that something was hidden from them), increasing suspicion and hostility between neighbours, and generally the progressive breakdown of the traditional communitarian ties of solidarity and mutual help (Alfani 2011, 2013a). This was also a field in which public intervention was sorely needed but, as with public sale and distribution of food reserves, during a severe famine the cities were clearly favoured over the rural areas, which tended to become a kind of no man’s land into which it was dangerous to venture without taking precautions—a fact that surely had also a further damaging impact on food production. The narratives proposed exemplify the kinds of answers provided by the Italian governments and food provisioning authorities when faced with a serious famine. The policies implemented included tightened control over production of foodstuffs within the boundaries of the State (a production that they meant to reserve for national consumption); active ‘public’ commercial strategies, aimed at importing grain from far-away markets, including some with which there were no consolidated commercial ties; subsidies and fiscal help given to the affected communities; control over the distribution of grain within the communities themselves, including distribution of free rations (but also control over who was entitled to ask for those rations, and to reside within the city walls during the crisis: see Alfani 2009); increased control over unlawful or unethical behaviour, including smuggling, black marketing, hoarding, and cheating on quality and weight of foodstuffs (particularly of bread); etc. This activism of the public institutions reflects the expectations of the local populations. The comment of a speaker (relatore) at the Genoese senate is the clear expression of a sentiment widespread throughout the peninsula: “The commoners of this city believe for a fact that the abundance and the unavailability of bread depends on the will of our dogi”. 9Consequently, the population, especially that of the cities, was watchful of the activity of the government and the food provisioning institutions, and was ready to riot and create tumult if they became convinced that the city was not doing all it could, and should, have done to ensure the availability of food (Alfani 2013a; Guenzi 1982, 1995). As Alberto Guenzi rightly noted, “the credibility of government choices in the eyes of the population consisted of their ability to guarantee at any time the ‘right to bread’” (Guenzi 1984, 68, my translation). The public authorities had much to fear, also in terms of personal safety, from the kind of violent revolts that could be the result of a food crisis perceived as ‘unmanaged’ or badly managed so as to give rise to ‘injustice’; consequently, they were powerfully stimulated to act. But was that action truly needed? Or were the public actors, and particularly the food provisioning authorities, simply hindering the functioning of other, private institutions—the markets—that, if left free to

Genoa State Archive, Senato Miscellanea, filza 1092 bis, cit. in Grendi (1970), 143, my translation.

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operate, would have provided by themselves a solution to the food shortages, and in a quicker and more efficient way? Answering this question involves some discussion of one crucial argument of debate in the historiography about famines: Were famines the result of production problems, or of distribution problems? In other words, were they ‘natural’, as Malthus (1798) claimed, or were they the consequence of human actions? When neo-malthusian views were prevalent (from the 1950s to about the end of the 1970s), the tendency among historians was to consider them a production problem. Since Amartya Sen proposed his “entitlement approach” (Sen 1976, 1981), however, the pendulum has been swinging clearly towards the view that famines were (and are) chiefly the result of inefficient distribution, or more precisely, of non-generalized and overall inadequate entitlement to food resources. It is impossible here to analyze in detail the production vs. distribution debate, instead I refer to existing accounts (Alfani 2013a; Alfani and Ó Gráda 2017b; Strangio 1998, 2012; Ó Gráda 2009; Palermo 2012). I will note, though, that in international historiography the entitlement paradigm has become so prevalent that the burden of the proof lies squarely on the shoulders of those stressing the importance of production issues. Among scholars working on Italy, admittedly, the situation seems to be different and malthusian views are still widespread, even if many recent works explicitly adhere to the distribution/entitlement paradigm: see for example Palermo (1990) and Epstein (2001). After decades of debate on the topic, it seems to me that there are no longer many reasons for perpetuating a clash between opposing paradigms. In fact, one can easily accept the idea that distribution is important and that men can ‘create’ a famine, without rejecting the possibility that, in certain specific circumstances, a famine can essentially be the result of inadequate production, and not of inefficient distribution. After all, Cormac Ó Gráda recently defined famines as the consequence of “a shortage of food or purchasing power” (Ó Gráda 2009, 4, my emphasis). Starting with this consideration, we can go back to the issue of whether the management of a famine requires public action, or may simply be delegated to private actors operating in efficient markets. One first point to stress is that we should be very careful in implying the existence of ‘free’ markets in the Late Medieval and Early Modern times (on this fundamental issue, see Hatcher and Bailey 2001, 63–65). One second point to stress is that even if we take the case of merchant cities, like Genoa, that were well integrated in the larger trade networks and used to manage food shortages by turning to the market, we discover that not even in this case when a series of successive and particularly severe harvest failures occurred was the private sector, or the ‘market forces’, able by themselves to provide an adequate solution. Some of the Italian states analyzed here were among the most advanced areas of Europe. They can be taken, then, as representative of the way in which an advanced economy of the sixteenth or early seventeenth century reacted to a famine. This reaction basically implied a strong public action, and was not delegated to market forces—in fact, the public action became all the more decisive when market institutions had shown their failure to provide answers. One could argue that free

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port decrees, like the one introduced by Genoa from 1590, were actually aimed at removing hindrances to the action of market forces, but in reality were part of complex diplomatic and geopolitical strategies and were not generalized but related to specific ports—those towards which the state authorities intended to orientate trade. What’s more, they were largely ineffective.

Conclusion: Agrarian Innovation and the (Quasi-)End of Famine The history of Italian famines in the years 1400–1700 suggests that the ability of a demo-economic system to produce foodstuffs is a key factor to consider when attempting to explain the occurrence of a famine, and even more so if the distribution of famines over time is considered. In fact, in the Italian experience during the Early Modern period, famines became more frequent as population density increased and severity peaked from the 1590s to the 1620s, when a long-term population maximum had been reached. At the same time, the case of Italy confirms that distribution is a key factor to consider to explain the overall development and the severity of specific events. When severe famines did occur, the advanced Italian economies relied heavily on public intervention to provide effective answers. The action of governments and food provisioning authorities made up for the inability of market forces to bring food to starving States and communities, and also made up for the inadequate access to the food resources of much of the population (especially in the cities). The case studies related to two Italian states during the 1590s famine, the worst to affect the peninsula during the medieval and early modern times, demonstrate the huge variety of ways in which the public authorities tried to contain the crisis. At the same time, they suggest that during the worst famines not only a harvest failure occurred, but also a market failure and an institutional failure—as the unprecedented stress to which public institutions were subject during the crisis rarely gave rise to effective solutions (particularly if we measure them in terms of their universality). Elsewhere I suggest that all this is part of a more general ‘human failure’ that also involved social behaviour, psychological factors, and culture (Alfani 2011, 29). Famines, then, need to be studied as multi-faceted events, which cannot be understood without paying attention to the interaction of environmental, demographic, economic, social, institutional and political factors—with some factors gaining greater prominence (also in terms of causality) depending on the context in which a specific event occurred. In the second half of the seventeenth century, after the terrible plagues that devastated most of the Italian peninsula, famine became a markedly rarer event. This surely can be connected with the relatively low population density, a consequence of the plagues, but it is also true that the situation had changed for good, as the eighteenth century was less affected by famine than the two preceding centuries, although it experienced an intense demographic growth that finally allowed it to exceed population limits that until then had proved

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unbreakable. This was the result of another component of the reaction of advanced economies to famine and, more generally, to pressure on food resources: agrarian innovation. Elsewhere I relied on interpretative models that try to combine Malthusian views with the demo-economic theories proposed by Boserup (1965, 1981) to show how population pressure can stimulate continuously agrarian innovation (and consequently can bring about increasing food production), but also how, in most of Early Modern Italy, this process tended to be too slow to avoid the periodic occurrence of crises (Alfani 2013a, c). Here I will simply underline that, as the population pressure increased from the middle of the fifteenth century, we find both an increase in the frequency and the severity of famines, and an acceleration of that kind of agrarian innovation that allowed for the production of more calories per hectare. Suffice to say, the case of eastern Emilia, where the slow move from open fields to the chiusura (‘enclosed field’) and then the piantata (‘planted field’), begun at the end of the fifteenth century and completed around 1620, meant sacrificing food variety in favour of a simple increase in calories produced (Cattini 1984), establishing a nutritional regime based on bread and wine, which made the population of Emilia even more dependent on cereal crops. As will be remembered from the narrative presented about the Duchy of Ferrara, this did not allow this area to fare particularly well during the 1590s famine [also see the case study of the region Emilia-Romagna in Alfani (2011)]. The failure of Emilia in preventing a catastrophe like the 1590s famine is part of the overall short-term failure of the advanced Italian agriculture, which proved unable to feed a population that tended to exceed long-term limits to demographic growth. Even with the best and most innovative techniques, agrarian innovation could happen only slowly, while population, à la Malthus, was able to grow quickly. In much of Italy, most agrarian economic actors were aware of a growing tension between population and resources; those who were not had their eyes opened by the famine of the 1590s. In the decades that followed the famine, the introduction of new forms of irrigated agriculture, the expansion of rice, and most of all the spread of the cultivation of maize, provided the conditions for increased food security, as suggested by the relative scarcity of famine and dearth in the second half of the seventeenth century and, most notably, by the fact that for the first time, during the eighteenth century, the Italian population grew beyond the limits that had constrained it from the times of the Roman Empire (Alfani 2013c). This (quasi-)victory over famine was obtained mostly thanks to economic decisions that originated in the private sector (albeit with crucial help from the public, especially with regard to the increased availability of water for irrigation, which required huge investments in digging canals and the direct intervention of state and local institutions). Investment in a more efficient and productive agriculture, then, can be considered one of the ways in which an advanced economy reacts to famine, meant as a ‘perceived risk’. In this case, however, the focus is mostly on production, not on distribution. Producing for the market, and especially for the foreign markets, was indeed one of the intentions of the Italian agrarian entrepreneurs who, especially in the North, flooded the territory with capital, not

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just water. They ultimately adopted the practice of growing rice in paddy fields surrounded by maize, a new crop (rice being produced for the market and export; maize for local or self-consumption). This solution was developed after the 1590s crisis to solve the problems that began with a too market-oriented agriculture that, at the end of the sixteenth century, had proved not to be fully compatible with the survival of one of the densest populations of Europe. In fact, during the sixteenth century, while Emilia focused on maximizing calories production, in some other key agrarian areas and particularly in a large part of the most fertile lands of Lombardy market incentives led to a reduction in the surfaces used to produce grain, with a parallel increase of irrigated meadows to feed more cattle. This allowed to obtain a marked increase in rents, but at the cost of a reduction in the amount of calories produced, thus reducing food security (Alfani 2007, 2013a, c). Instead, the kind of solution developed in the seventeenth century (a combination of paddy fields for rice with maize cultivation) beginning, not by chance, in Lombardy, meant squaring the circle: It provided goods in high demand from European markets (goods that, of course, in times of crisis could be consumed locally) but also resulted in a very significant increase in the average output of calories per hectare; as such, this solution was extremely rational. Population density is another aspect deserving some comment. If we compare the behaviour of the Italian advanced economies with that of some other European economies, especially in the North–West—notably, England—we see very different strategies in trying to find a definitive solution to the issue of providing generalized food security to the inhabitants. In Italy, a choice was made favouring production and public controls. In England, from the seventeenth century on (with some precedent in the sixteenth century) a choice was made in favour of freer grain markets as the means to ensure better distribution. Consequently public institutions became less and less interventionist compared to most areas of continental Europe (which does not mean that the English government did not exert any form of control over food production and distribution; see Hoyle 2017 for a recent synthesis). In the medium-long term, both the Italian and the English strategies succeeded (although preindustrial Italy never became as famine-free as England).I will conclude this chapter asking a question that still requires an adequate answer. The question is not whether one strategy was better than the other (as the answer to this would be prone, I fear, to ideological debates), but whether the Italians could have followed a different path, or whether the English solution succeeded only because Early Modern England was still a relatively under-populated area, a fact that made it much easier to produce a food surplus compared to crowded Italy.

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Sonnino, Eugenio. 1996. L’età moderna (secoli XVI–XVIII). In La popolazione italiana dal Medioevo ad oggi, L. Del Panta, M. Livi Bacci, G. Pinto and E. Sonnino, 73–130. Bari: Laterza. Strangio, Donatella. 1998. Di fronte alla carestia in età preindustriale. Rivista di Storia Economica 14(2): 161–92. Strangio, Donatella. 2012. Urban security, approvvigionamento alimentare, carestia e scarsità delle risorse in chiave storico economica. Popolazione e Storia 1/2012: 73–93.

Chapter 9

Bread for the Poor: Poor Relief and the Mitigation of the Food Crises of the 1590s and the 1690s in Berkel, Holland Jessica Dijkman Abstract This contribution discusses a historical example of what in the field of disaster studies is referred to as a community-based system for hazard mitigation: it examines the role of formal poor relief in the village of Berkel (Holland) during the food crises of the years 1595–1598 and 1698–1700. A detailed examination of the activities of the two main relief institutions in the village during these crises shows that the poor relief system in Berkel performed surprisingly well, despite its fragmented character: not only did it not break down, but in both periods under examination it contributed materially to the mitigation of the impact of the crisis. The main factor explaining this success was the solid financial basis of the larger of the two relief institutions, which not only allowed it to respond to raised demand with relative ease, but also to act as ‘relief provider of last resort’. Keywords Food crises


Early modern Holland
Berkel
Rural poor relief

Introduction Scholars in the field of disaster studies have emphasized the role of collective response in ‘hazard mitigation’: the reduction of the risks connected to disasters and the enhancement of the capacity to recover afterwards through ‘non-structural actions’, such as community schemes for sharing costs or providing a safety-net for the most vulnerable members of society (Cutter et al. 2006; Aldrich 2012). Historical research suggests that such actions also affected the capacity of communities in pre-modern Europe to cope with shocks (Lambrecht and Vanhaute 2011; Gerrard and Petley 2013, 1065–1066). This contribution discusses such an historical case: it deals with the role of poor relief in coping with food crises in the countryside of early modern Holland. J. Dijkman (&) Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands e-mail: [email protected] © Springer International Publishing AG 2018 D. Collet and M. Schuh (eds.), Famines During the ‘Little Ice Age’ (1300–1800), DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54337-6_9

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From at least the late sixteenth century onwards, Holland, in contrast to many other regions in Europe, no longer experienced major famines (Faber 1976). In the past this has been explained by referring to the central position of Amsterdam in the European grain trade. This, the argument goes, ensured a steady supply of cheap bread grains (De Vries and Van der Woude 1997, 199–200). However, long-term averages of grain prices in Amsterdam were on the same level as in, for instance, Cologne or Paris, or even landlocked Strasbourg. Admittedly, price volatility in Amsterdam was, on the whole, lower than in these towns; but it did not compare favourably to other cities with good access to sea, like Antwerp or London.1 Of greater importance was probably the fact that from the late sixteenth century onward, real wages in Holland were relatively high even for unskilled labour (Allen 2001, 427–428; Van Zanden 2009, 96–97). Still, even in the Dutch Golden Age many people had to live on less than a full (male) wage. Unemployment, even if only temporary, implied an acute loss of income, as did widowhood, sickness and old age. Moreover, wage earners who just managed in normal years could easily be pushed over the edge in times of dearth. In situations like that, the presence of a well-functioning system of poor relief—a community-based risk-reducing system —could literally mean the difference between life and death. The most important formal form of assistance in times of food crises was ‘outdoor’ poor relief: support, in cash or in kind, given by civic or ecclesiastical institutions to poor people living at home. Outdoor poor relief systems existed in many places in early modern Europe, although there were significant differences in organization and also in levels of expenditure (Van Bavel and Rijpma 2015). The English system of parish relief is probably the best known; it has been regarded as unique because of its uniformity, comprehensiveness, generosity and certainty (Solar 1995). Research, however, has questioned the issue of uniformity by demonstrating very considerable regional and local variations (King 2000; Kent and King 2003; Hindle 2004, 282–295). A comparison with settlement arrangements in the Southern Low Countries has shown that—at least in this respect—English relief was not as exceptional as previously thought (Winter and Lambrecht 2012). It is nonetheless true that, compared to England, outdoor poor relief in the Dutch Republic was fragmented and diverse: not only did it rely on local initiatives, but responsibilities were also shared by civic and religious institutions (Van Leeuwen 2009, 304–305; Parker 2009). The stability and durability of this complex system of poor relief has been the subject of discussion. Maarten Prak and Marco van Leeuwen have opposed the thesis of ‘periodic collapse’ brought forward by sociologist Abram de Swaan, which claims that pre-modern poor relief was inherently instable because the response to 1

In the seventeenth century the average rye price in Amsterdam was 0.47 gr Ag/liter, while in Cologne it was 0.41, in Paris 0.44, and in Strasbourg 0.45 gr Ag/liter. The variation coefficient for Amsterdam rye prices was 34%; in Cologne it was 33%, in Paris 48%, and in Strasbourg 73%; in Antwerp it was 21%. For London only wheat prices are available: the variation coefficient for London wheat prices in the seventeenth century was 27%, the same as for Amsterdam wheat prices (Amsterdam: Posthumus 1964, I: 573–576; II: column 391; London: Allen; other towns: Allen and Unger).

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the general, large-scale problem—poverty—relied on the efforts of small, local communities. At times of crisis, the argument goes, they would curtail their efforts and shift the burden of caring for the poor to another community; the result would be a total break-down of the system (De Swaan 1988, 13–51). Prak and Van Leeuwen, who investigated poor relief in Den Bosch and Amsterdam respectively, concluded that in these towns, the system was remarkably stable: institutions were able to weather even quite severe shocks by restricting admission, reducing allowances, or organizing special collections (Prak 1994; Van Leeuwen 1996). Elise van Nederveen Meerkerk and Griet Vermeesch, on the other hand, claim that in several other towns such adaptations were insufficient and a total overhaul could not be avoided (Van Nederveen Meerkerk and Vermeesch 2009, 148). Almost all studies on poor relief in the Dutch Republic, however, have been restricted to urban contexts; the only exception relates to the eastern province of Drenthe (Gras 1989). Yet, there is reason to believe that, from the perspective of the capacity of societies to deal with dearth, the functioning of rural poor relief is at least as important. Echoing De Swaan’s theory, research in other parts of Europe has suggested that the coping capacity of a society as a whole was materially affected by what happened in the countryside. In early modern France and Italy, for instance, people flocked to the towns when food became scarce, because there they hoped to find the relief that the village community could no longer provide (Hufton 1974, 97–98; Alfani 2011, 44–45). This suggests that rural poor relief mechanisms robust enough to continue to function during food crises might have enhanced the stability of the system as a whole, and may thus help explain a society’s capacity to cope with dearth. For Holland, the leading province of the Dutch Republic, there are additional reasons to look at rural poor relief in more detail. Late medieval Holland’s rural population largely depended on the market for its food provisioning. Cultivation of bread grains was feasible only in a few places; in most of the country the subsidence of the extensive peat soils, reclaimed in the high Middle Ages, had rendered arable farming impossible from at least the early fifteenth century onward. Smallholders had switched to dairying, cattle breeding and supplemented farm income with various non-agrarian activities such as peat digging, shipping, or spinning (Van Bavel and Van Zanden 2004, 504–505). In addition, commons were unknown in most of Holland. Elsewhere, commons frequently offered relief to the rural poor through the option of grazing a cow, reaping nuts or berries, or collecting fuel (e.g. Humphries 1990; Hindle 2004, 27–48). In Holland, this possibility was closed off. Finally, in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, agriculture in Holland experienced a drastic transformation. Urban landownership and lease holding increased, and large, specialized farms reliant on wage labour emerged (De Vries 1974, 127–135). Time and pacing of this process varied. In peat mining districts it was delayed until the second half of the seventeenth century; peat mining was often carried out as a family business because of its labour-intensive nature, and did not benefit much from scale enlargement. However, by the end of the century a group of landless labourers and proto-industrial workers had come into existence here as well (Van Tielhof 2005).

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All of this must have placed a heavy and increasing demand on formal systems of rural poor relief. The issue at stake here is whether these systems were nevertheless able to cope with food crises successfully and thus may have contributed to Holland’s success in preventing dearth from developing into famine. This is not to claim that rural poor relief—or indeed poor relief in general—provides a full answer to this question. Other aspects, such as the relatively high wages already mentioned or market regulation—in particular the arrangements for controlling the price of bread—probably also contributed substantially. Besides formal poor relief, informal assistance through family or patronage networks was no doubt also important. Poor relief is therefore only one contributing factor in a wider range, but it is likely to have been an important one because it was specifically directed at the most vulnerable groups in society—those most likely to suffer in case of food shortages. This contribution focuses on the case of the village of Berkel, situated between Delft and Rotterdam. I argue that the poor relief system in this village was able to cope with two of the most serious food crises of the early modern era, the years 1595–1598 and the years 1698–1700. Based on a detailed examination of the activities of the two main relief institutions in the village during the crises, this study posits that the main factor explaining this success was the solid financial basis of the larger of the two, which not only allowed it to respond to raised demand with relative ease, but also to act as ‘relief provider of last resort’. While it is not possible to draw conclusions for all of rural Holland on the basis of information from a single village, the case of Berkel does point to the factors that determined the performance of poor relief systems in other villages as well. The choice for Berkel as a case study has been determined by the exceptional documentation available for this village, which consists of several tax registers covering the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, data on burials and baptisms going back to the late sixteenth century, and—most important of all—the accounts of the two main poor relief institutions. Those of the Holy Spirit, a civic institution, have been preserved from the 1580s (although with gaps), while the accounts of the main religious relief institution, the diaconate of the Dutch Reformed Church, are extant from the 1620s onward. The two episodes of dearth that are investigated have been selected primarily because there is no doubt that these were years in which large parts of northwestern Europe were suffering from the consequences of harvest failure due to adverse weather, although the concept of the Little Ice Age has recently become the subject of discussion (Kelly and Ó Gráda 2014, 307, 324). They moreover represent serious episodes of dearth covering more than a single year; while most societies were able to deal with the consequences of a single bad harvest, such prolonged periods of dearth frequently caused serious problems (Ó Gráda 2009, 31–33). Finally, the fact that the first of the two episodes took place when the transformation of Holland’s rural society was in its early stages while the second one occurred when this transformation was well under way, allows for an assessment of the consequences of these changes for coping capacity.

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The following section traces the economic and social structure of Berkel and the poor relief system in the village. The sections “The Crisis of the Late 1590s” and “The Crisis of the Late 1690s” discuss the responses of Berkel’s poor relief institutions to the crises of the late 1590s and late 1690s respectively.

Berkel and Its Poor Relief System Berkel, situated in the Delfland region between Delft and Rotterdam on the southern edge of Holland’s central peat district, was a sizable village: based on a 1597 tax register, which mentions 137 houses, the village population can be estimated at around 750 inhabitants at the end of the sixteenth century. The village economy was largely based on agriculture (mainly dairying) and peat mining, probably often in combination: according to the same tax register, 68% of the heads of households were ‘farmers’. Other villagers were engaged in crafts and local services (10%), and worked as labourers or textile workers (11%); of 8% no occupation was given (Van der Krogt 2000b). Seen from a regional perspective, urban landownership was modest: in the middle of the sixteenth century more than 80% of the land was held by locals and local institutions, compared to just under 60% for central Holland as a whole (De Wilt 2015, 222, 365; Van Bavel 2009, 182, 195). A strong increase of peat mining in the seventeenth century was accompanied by substantial soil destruction that led to the emergence of large lakes (De Wilt 2015, 214). Because of the importance of peat mining it comes as no surprise that smallholding dominated: the share of holdings of less than 5 morgen increased from less than 15% in 1555 to around 35% by 1600 and 44% in 1663 (De Wilt 2015, 220–222).2 A detailed tax register of 1674 not only shows that by then the village population had grown to 964, but also makes it clear that the occupational structure had changed: the share of farmers and peat miners had declined to 37%, while 22% was engaged in crafts and services and 30% performed wage labour or worked in the textile industry; for 9% no occupation was reported (Van der Krogt 2000a). Some caution is required, as the 1597 register only presents the occupations of the heads of households, whereas in 1674 everybody with an income seems to have been included. Yet even if this difference is taken into account, an increase in the share of labourers and proto-industrial workers is evident. It seems inevitable that a shift like this would have put pressure on the local poor relief system. The backbone of that system consisted of two organizations: the Table of the Holy Spirit and the diaconate of the Dutch Reformed Church. Poor relief in the countryside did not participate in the wave of reforms that took place in many towns in Holland in the second half of the sixteenth century. There, medieval arrangements characterized by fragmentation and incidental distributions were no

2

A morgen is about 8500 m2 or 2.1 acres.

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longer able to cope with the rising numbers of poor. The preferred solution included a coordinated relief system under the responsibility of the urban authorities, restriction of relief to the ‘deserving poor’, and strict measures against vagrants and beggars (Prak 1998, 54–56; Teeuwen 2014, 33–42). In the countryside, the need for reform was probably much less pressing. In most villages, only one poor relief institution was in place, which already had a public character: the Table of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, most rural communities did not have to deal with the permanent influx of poor that worried the authorities in the towns, which made it much easier to avoid abuse (Abels and Wouters 1994, 276–277). The Reformation, however, did have consequences for the organization of rural poor relief: like in many towns, confessional poor relief organizations emerged. The exact arrangements varied. In the Delfland region the Tables of the Holy Spirit usually continued to function, but in addition Reformed diaconates were established in almost every village in the 1570s or 1580s (Abels and Wouters 1994, 271). Poor relief in late sixteenth-century Berkel conforms to this Delfland pattern. The local Holy Spirit was of a respectable age: the institution is already mentioned as one of the users of comital land in Berkel in the earliest preserved account of the counts of Holland, dating from 1317 (Hamaker 1875, I: 111). Tax registers of the middle of the sixteenth century record the Holy Spirit as the owner of multiple small plots of land in and around the village (Van der Vorm 2015). The organization continued to function after the Reformation and held on to its medieval properties, although it took several years for the revenues from land rents to recover from the damage done by warfare and inundations in the early 1570s.3 However, from 1587 onward, when the Reformed Church established its own diaconate, poor relief in Berkel was no longer the exclusive domain of the Holy Spirit (Abels and Wouters 1994, 271). Its early activities were probably not very substantial; as everywhere, the Reformed Church started out as a minority church. In the course of the seventeenth century the activities of the diaconate expanded, but the Holy Spirit remained the larger of the two organizations. Significantly, the late seventeenth-century accounts of the diaconate repeatedly refer to the Holy Spirit as the groote armen: the ‘great poor (relief organization)’.4 The division of tasks was clear: basically, the diaconate gave assistance to members of the Reformed Church in need of support (and probably also to other regular church-goers), while all others who needed help applied to the Holy Spirit. The latter organization, however, also fulfilled a function that benefited the entire community: it was the owner of the local school building and took care of its upkeep. In addition, the Holy Spirit frequently subsidized the diaconate through transfers in cash in the second half of the seventeenth century. Around 1680, for instance, the diaconate received a sum of 60 guilders annually to cover the costs of

3

Stadsarchief Rotterdam, Archief Ambacht Berkel en Rodenrijs (hereafter: SR AABR) 1306-488. The accounts between 1578 and 1585 show low income levels. 4 Stadsarchief Rotterdam, Archief Hervormde Gemeente Berkel en Rodenrijs (hereafter: SR AHGBR) 1414-216, accounts over 1700, 1701, 1702.

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medical care for the reformed poor.5 Medical care was expensive and the diaconate was apparently not always in a position to pay for it. In cases like this the Holy Spirit acted as a ‘provider of last resort’. The management of the two organizations was organized along the same lines. The Holy Spirit was run by two overseers, appointed by the village authorities, whereas the diaconate was led by two deacons, appointed by the council of the Reformed Church. In the late sixteenth century all overseers whose occupations could be retraced belonged to the group of middle-sized or large farmers. In the late seventeenth century the overseers and the deacons were mostly local craftsmen, although there were also a few men from the lower ranks of society among them, for instance a linen weaver and two labourers. On the whole, the two organizations appear to have worked side by side in harmony. This was no doubt stimulated by the fact that several men served both as deacon and as overseer of the Holy Spirit, although never in the same year. The only real conflict appears to have occurred in the 1620s; it had to do with the proceeds of the oortjesgeld, the 1% surcharge on the provincial excises that Berkel received to fund relief. Until 1620 the oortjesgeld had been divided equally between the two organizations, but in 1621 the deacons claimed all of it for the diaconate. The overseers of the Holy Spirit protested strongly and even initiated legal proceedings; they gave in only in 1629. Notably, however, in the eight years that the conflict dragged on they agreed on a compromise, perhaps under pressure of the local authorities: in the uneven years the oortjesgeld was divided in equal shares, in the even the diaconate received all of it.6 Little is known about the contribution of other religious communities to poor relief in the village, but it was probably not very substantial. A sizable proportion of the village population adhered to Catholicism: an informal survey conducted by the catholic priest around 1650 arrived at 85 catholic families or about 40% of the population (Velthuyse 1948, 37–38). In addition, there was a remonstrant congregation, which although smaller was not negligible: around 1700 15% of the children in the village were baptized in the Remonstrant Church.7 In the late eighteenth century the catholic and remonstrant communities were involved in some form of poor relief. In 1765, for instance, representatives from the Holy Spirit and the Remonstrant Church made arrangements for the support of an orphan from a remonstrant family. However, no mention is made of a formal remonstrant poor relief organization comparable to the diaconate of the Reformed Church.8 The late eighteenth-century catholic community did not have such an organization either: relief budgets and church finances were not separated (Velthuyse 1948, 55–57). It is unlikely that things were different at the end of the seventeenth century. Rather, the

5

SR AABR 1306-492, accounts over 1679 and 1681. Cf. 1305-494, account over 1655, for another transfer (purpose not indicated). 6 SR AABR 1306-519; SR AHGBR 1414-210, accounts over 1624/25 to 1629/30. 7 Derived from: Digitale Stamboom. 8 Stadsarchief Rotterdam, Archief van de Remonstrantse gemeente te Berkel en Rodenrijs 1304-17.

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expenditure diaconate

population 1000

2500

900 800

2000

700 1500

600

500 1000

400 300

500

200 100

0

0 1690-99

1680-89

1670-79

1660-69

1650-59

1640-49

1630-39

1620-29

1610-19

1600-09

1590-99

1580-89

Fig. 9.1 Expenditure of the Holy Spirit and the diaconate, 1580 (1620)—1700; 10-year averages, in prices of 1689–1703 (Sources SR AABR 1306-488 to 1306-496; SR AHGBR 1414-210 to 1414-216. Population: Van der Krogt 2000a, b, c, 2007a, b)

fact that in the 1690s the Holy Spirit supported two kloppen, catholic women living a life of chastity and piety, suggests that catholic poor relief was, at best, a supplement to the relief provided by the Holy Spirit, not a replacement.9 In the course of the seventeenth century, both total expenditure by the two organizations and the share of each in that total experienced change (Fig. 9.1). The budget of the Holy Spirit expanded substantially between 1580 and 1620; afterwards it fluctuated, but without showing a clear upward or downward trend. For the diaconate financial information is only available from the 1620s onward, after which date its expenditure slowly but steadily increased. In the 1680s joint expenditure reached its highest point; for both organizations it fell in the 1690s. It must be noted that the figures on which the graph is based include expenses which did not benefit the poor directly: administration costs and maintenance costs, but also substantial investments in asset-bearing properties. This money was, of course, not wasted, for the interests on these investments were vital to maintain the financial position of the institution in the long run and thus guaranteed the continuity of its activities. However, this does imply that total expenditure in any given year is not a good indicator of actual relief efforts. Of greater relevance is the value of the allowances which poor households actually received and the share of the population that was supported. In order to assess the response of the poor relief system to food crises, the next two sections present a more detailed analysis of the 9

SR AABR 1306-496, account over 1694.

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support provided by the two organizations during two fifteen-year periods in the late sixteenth and late seventeenth centuries.

The Crisis of the Late 1590s The 1590s were marked by food crises in many parts of Europe, although the exact timing varied. In Italy, the years 1590–1593 were the worst: a catastrophic famine hit large parts of the peninsula (Alfani 2013, 56–65). The north of Europe escaped relatively lightly, but was affected more seriously in the last years of the century. To a significant extent, the crisis of the late 1590s can be attributed to harvest failures due to bad weather in 1595 and 1597. Admittedly, not all problems were weather-related. In northern France, the situation was exacerbated by the wars that had been going on since the middle of the 1580s, and by disease (Benedict 1985). England was, at least internally, at peace, but here too food shortages became evident, leading to famines in 1596 and 1597 in the north. In the south the situation was not as bad, but even there raised numbers of burials signaled distress (Appleby 1978, 135–139; Clark 1985, 46–48; Outhwaite 1985, 34–37). The Dutch Republic was also affected. Leo Noordegraaf has pointed out that seventeenth-century Dutch authors made light of the situation because of their desire to highlight the affluence and stability of the Republic. Noordegraaf refers to several reports contradicting the notion that all was well. The years 1595 and 1597 were marked by extensive flooding in Holland and Utrecht. The intermediate year 1596 witnessed a mice plague in the entire Republic (Noordegraaf 1985, 75–77). Grain prices rose in Holland as well as elsewhere. Figure 9.2 displays the 80,00

Utrecht rye

Amsterdam rye

70,00

60,00 50,00

40,00 30,00 20,00 10,00 0,00 1586

1591

1596

1601

Fig. 9.2 Rye prices in Amsterdam (Burgerweeshuis) and Utrecht (Domkapittel) in gr Ag/hl, 1586-1605 (Sources Posthumus 1964, II: columns 28a and 392)

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development of rye prices in Amsterdam and Utrecht between 1586 and 1605: the bulge in the late 1590s stands out. A comparison to England and France for wheat, the only grain for which this is possible, suggests that while the situation in Amsterdam was not nearly as dramatic as it was in Paris, it was at least as serious as in London: the price peak in Amsterdam was not higher, but it took longer for prices to return to normal levels (Allen). In the towns of Holland, the poor felt the consequences. Although mortality figures for the late sixteenth century are available for some towns in Holland, they are difficult to interpret: the era also witnessed several outbreaks of plague, some of them local, others with a wider range. Qualitative sources, however, indicate the severity of the situation. In Leiden, where the textile industry had gone into a slump, a large part of the urban population appealed to the authorities for subsidized bread in 1597 (Van Deursen 1974, 103). Alkmaar also supplied bread against reduces prices, but had to maximize the amount that could be purchased at half a loaf per week per person. The urban authorities, fearing that the regular grain trade would not be able to supply the town with grain, sent out a representative to Danzig to purchase rye there (Noordegraaf 1980, 76–77). Poor relief institutions had serious trouble coping with the situation. It is not a coincidence that precisely in 1596 and 1597 in Delft, Edam and Haarlem important reforms of the poor relief system were set in motion (Prak 1998, 59–61; Abels and Wouters 1994, 229–233; Van der Vlis 2001, 37–39; Spaans 1989, 174–180). In the countryside the situation was also serious. Although the Berkel burial registers go back to 1583, they are very incomplete for the first decades: analyzing them is of no help in assessing the impact of the crisis in the village. Baptisms offer more perspective, as birth rates usually decline in periods of distress and the baptismal records of the Dutch Reformed Church appear to be fairly complete. They suggest a significant drop during the crisis years: in the years 1590–1594 on average 27 children per year were baptized, between 1595 and 1599 only 19 (Van Asperen). However, numbers are too small to draw firm conclusions; moreover the fact remains that the cause of the decline—dearth or plague—cannot be established with certainty. That dearth did cause trouble in Berkel is evident from the accounts of the Holy Spirit. Figure 9.3 shows the development of revenues and expenditure between 1589 and 1603. Revenues display a clear upward trend. This can largely be attributed to the rapid rise of land rents in Holland in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries (Kuys and Schoenmakers 1981, 35–40, 81), from which the Holy Spirit profited. In the period under examination, the institution drew more than 60% of its income from land rents; interests on government bonds and private loans accounted for another 16%, taxes for 13%, and donations for only 4%. Despite their steady increase, revenues could not keep up when between 1595 and 1598 expenditure rose in response to needs: the years 1595, 1597 and particularly 1598 were marked by deficits. That this did not immediately give rise to problems was to a significant extent due to the financial surpluses accumulated in the years before the crisis, especially in 1589 and 1590. Parts of these surpluses were no doubt

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expenditure on bread

other relief expenditure

relief expenditure unspecified

non-relief expenses

investments

revenues

700,0

600,0

500,0

400,0

300,0

200,0

100,0

0,0 1589

1590

1591

1592

1593

1594

1595

1596

1597

1598

1599

1600

1601

1602

1603

Fig. 9.3 Annual expenditure and revenues of the Holy Spirit in guilders, 1589–1603 (Source SR AABR 1306-488). Revenues do not include surpluses from the previous year; expenditure does not include deficits from the previous year

invested,10 but cash reserves were nevertheless sufficient to sustain relief activities at a raised level up until 1598. By then however, they had almost completely dwindled: the account of 1598 closed with a mere three guilders on the plus side. If another bad year had followed, the organization would perhaps have had to borrow, or sell some of its property. This was averted by the decline of grain prices in 1599, and the corresponding decline of expenditure on poor relief. Full financial recovery took another couple of years: only in 1603 the Holy Spirit was again in a position to invest a substantial sum of money in the purchase of a government bond. Berkel was not the only rural community where poor relief organizations exceeded their budgets. In the winter of 1596/97 the expenditure of the diaconate of nearby Zevenhuizen was 960 guilders, while the regular revenues amounted to no more than 260 guilders (Van Deursen 1974, 103). The accounts over the years 1594 to 1603 are detailed enough to analyze expenditure patterns more closely. On average, over 60% of the annual budget of the Holy Spirit was spent on bread for the local poor. Much smaller sums went to other forms of relief, such as cloth and clothing, shoes and shoe repairs, medical care and small sums in cash for transients. Fuel was not distributed, suggesting that recipients had access to locally mined peat through other channels. The category ‘other expenses’ was modest: its main components were the maintenance costs of the local school building, school fees for children of the poor, and administration 10

This probably happened in 1591; the account of this year is missing, but that a substantial investment was made in 1591 can be deduced from the fact that the account of 1590 closed with a surplus of 631 guilders while the account of 1592 started with a surplus of 84 guilders.

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16

45,0

14

40,0 35,0

12

30,0 10 25,0 8 20,0 6 15,0 4

10,0

2

5,0

0

0,0

households receiving relief

average allowance per household

Fig. 9.4 Number of households receiving relief from the Holy Spirit and average annual allowance per household in guilders, 1587–1603 (Source SR AABR 1306-488)

costs.11 During the crisis, the share of bread distributions in total expenditure increased: in 1594 it had been 44%, in 1598 it was 77%. In part, this increase can be attributed to a higher bread price. Households included in the regular distributions in 1594 received on average around 20 guilders worth of bread; at the peak of the dearth, in 1598, this sum had increased to 35 guilders. There was, however, also something else going on: the number of recipients of poor relief increased substantially during the crisis. In 1593 eight households regularly received relief, in 1594 six: on average 5% of the 137 households in the village counted in 1597 (Van der Krogt 2000b). In 1595 this number had risen to ten and in 1597 even to fourteen, or 10% of all households. It should be noted that these figures do not include households supported by the diaconate, but their number, at this stage, was probably small. Notably, after 1599, when the crisis was over, the number of recipients barely declined: in 1600 and 1601 twelve households required support from the Holy Spirit and in 1603 the number had again risen to fourteen (Fig. 9.4). Although around this time a modest population growth and a decline of household size caused the number of households to increase by almost 2% per year (Van der Krogt 2000b, c), this is still insufficient to account for what looks like a structural increase of relief dependency. While it is obviously true that this would not have been possible without the structural improvement of the financial situation of the Holy Spirit, the timing suggests that the dearth triggered an expansion of relief efforts that outlasted the crisis years. A closer look at the backgrounds of the recipients in Berkel hints at the underlying mechanism: for some households that

11 Strictly speaking school fees should have been included in the category ‘other relief expenses’, but for the 1590s this turned out to be complicated: in the accounts for this period school fees are often lumped together with the maintenance costs of the school building.

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lived on the fringes of poverty anyway the dearth of the 1590s may have been the proverbial straw to break the camel’s back. In the ten years between 1593 and 1692 a total of eighteen households received relief on a regular basis. Four groups can be distinguished. For the first two, no direct relation with the development of food prices can be discerned: five households received support during the entire period, while four either disappeared from the accounts before the crisis started or did not enter them until later. More interesting are the households that first sought support from the Holy Spirit during the years of dearth. They were nine in total, six of which continued to receive aid after the crisis was over. Among these six were three weavers, one of whom was originally from Brabant, and another immigrant from the southern Netherlands (possibly also a weaver) and later his widow. The fifth and sixth were a labourer and the miller of a polder mill. It is hardly a surprise: those without access to land—labourers and proto-industrial workers, many of them migrants—were hit hardest by the food crisis. These were the people that needed the support of the Holy Spirit most, and received it. Because in the late sixteenth century this group was still small and because the Holy Spirit, owing to the general rise of land rents, was in a comfortable financial position, relief could be given where and when it was needed, although the decline in the number of baptisms suggests that this did not solve all problems.

The Crisis of the Late 1690s Just as a hundred years earlier, the last decade of the seventeenth century was characterized by dearth in large parts of Europe. Again, timing and severity varied. France, for instance, suffered most in the early years of the decade (Ó Gráda and Chevet 2002), whereas the north of Europe experienced the greatest problems in the second half of it (Cullen 2010; Lappalainen 2014). The crisis did not really hit the ! Dutch Republic until 1698. While it was intense, it was not as long-lasting as in the late 1590s. Cold and wet summers had caused harvests to fail in the Baltic region, the main supplier of the Amsterdam grain staple. In the autumn of 1698 the situation became so alarming that the Estates General of the Republic prohibited all grain exports: an unusual measure for a country that owed much of its wealth to free grain trade. The prohibition remained in place for almost two years (Van Dillen 1964, 195, 212, 225). During the two years of the crisis many towns and villages in Holland faced grain shortages and rising bread prices. Urban governments tried to counter the effects. The authorities in Haarlem sold grain to the local bakers for sub-market prices in order to avoid further increases of the bread price (De Vries 2009, 104). Amsterdam did the same, restricting the sale of subsidized bread to poor households. The city also curtailed grain transports to other towns and villages (Van Dillen 1964, 215–220). The towns of Holland resented the restrictions imposed by Amsterdam, but took similar measures themselves; Rotterdam, for instance, restricted grain sales to inhabitants from the surrounding villages (Hazewinkel 1942, 176–177).

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120,00 Amsterdam rye

100,00

80,00

60,00

40,00

20,00

0,00 1686

1691

1696

1701

Fig. 9.5 Rye prices in Amsterdam (Corn Exchange) in gr Ag/hl, 1686–1705 (Source Posthumus 1964, I: 573–576)

Price data confirm the severity of the situation. Between 1686 and 1690 the average rye price at the Amsterdam corn exchange had been around 97 guilders per last (3010 liter); as Fig. 9.5 shows, the price had more than tripled in 1699. It is not true that grain prices in Amsterdam were higher than in the neighbouring countries “and possibly than anywhere else in the world”, as a member of the Estates of Holland claimed (Van Dillen 1964, 221). However, a comparison with wheat prices in London and Paris makes it clear that although Amsterdam was not much bothered by the dearth that London and Paris had had to deal with in the early 1690s, the city was no better off than its counterparts in France and England in 1698/99 (Allen). Burial data from Rotterdam, virtually the only sizable town for which reliable long-term demographic research has been done, suggest that the crisis may have had an impact on mortality: although the number of burials had not increased in 1698, it was 36% above the normal level in 1699 (Mentink and Van der Woude 1965, 124–127; Curtis et al. 2017, 128-130). Figures for burials at the Reformed Church in Berkel point in the same direction: here, in 1698 the number of burials was 21% and in 1699 24% above average.12 The dearth put poor relief institutions under pressure: as demand rose, so did expenses. Some urban institutions acted with foresight. The diaconate of the Dutch Reformed Church in Rotterdam had, at considerable costs, purchased a large quantity of grain before it was too late. The town council agreed to bear the expenses and also promised additional grain from the urban granaries if supplies should run out (Hazewinkel 1942, 172).

12

SR AHGBR 1414-755 (transcript at the website of the Rotterdam archive: http://www. stadsarchief.rotterdam.nl/berkel-en-rodenrijs).

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Berkel’s two poor relief institutions also felt the consequences of the dearth. These institutions had witnessed several changes since the late sixteenth century. As described earlier, the contribution of the diaconate to poor relief had increased, although the Holy Spirit was still the larger of the two organizations. Judging by the accounts of the Holy Spirit between 1689 and 1703, expenditure patterns had changed too. Less was spent on bread and other foodstuffs than a hundred years earlier, at least in relative terms. Other changes appear to reflect shifts in life styles and consumption patterns. Purchases of peat for distribution among the poor, for instance, which had been absent in the late sixteenth century, had been added, suggesting that recipients no longer had easy access to locally dug peat. Expenses on cloth and clothing, on the other hand, had fallen considerably. Instead, some people received a weekly allowance in cash. For others the Holy Spirit paid the house rent. Several recipients, probably orphans and elderly people, were boarded out to other villagers, in which cases the Holy Spirit paid a lump sum for their support—even if these other villagers were close relatives. On the income side, land rents still contributed more than one third of the total, although they were not as dominant as a hundred years earlier. However, a substantial share now came from two other sources: 22% from interests on government bonds and private obligations and another 29% from the redemption or sale of these bonds and obligations (the proceeds of which were usually re-invested in the same year). The share of donations had increased to 13%. Relief expenditure patterns of the diaconate largely mirror those of the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, the late seventeenth-century accounts of neither organization systematically record how many households received relief.13 It is therefore not possible to determine which of the two offered the best deal, but the general impression is that the difference was small: the diaconate appears to have been neither more generous nor more parsimonious than the Holy Spirit. The composition of the income of the diaconate, however, differed significantly from that of the Holy Spirit. The diaconate had no landed property whatsoever. More than 40% of its revenues consisted of interests on bonds and obligations. The redemption of bonds and obligations contributed just over 20%; so did donations. Taxes (the oortjesgeld), finally, rendered 15% of all revenues. For 1680 (a year of low grain prices) reliable information on the total number of recipients is available from a tax register, the familiegeld of 1680 (Van der Krogt 2007a). In this year 28 out of a total of 243 households in Berkel received relief. In absolute terms this was a considerable increase since the first years of the century, when, as we saw, 12–14 households were supported by the Holy Spirit (plus an unknown, but most likely small number by the diaconate). In relative terms the increase was much more modest: from a minimum of around 10% to 11.5% of all households. Allowances were probably slightly less substantial than they had been in the early seventeenth century. For the years 1689 to 1692 they can be estimated

13

With one exception: the accounts of the diaconate over the years 1689/90 to 1691/92 do give this information (SR AHGBR 1414-215).

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at around 24 guilders,14 whereas the households supported by the Holy Spirit between 1600 and 1603 had, on average, received 23 guilders—the equivalent of 28 guilders in late seventeenth-century prices. This, however, may well have been related to household size, which had decreased from an estimated 5.5 in 1597 to 3.7 in 1680. Households receiving relief were, at 2.5 persons, considerably smaller still. The scarce information available for other villages suggests that in the countryside of Holland the share of households dependent on poor relief varied considerably: percentages between 3 and 14% have been noted (Van Deursen 1994, 19; Dijkman 2015, 106). Berkel was clearly at the upper end of this range. A brief comparison with Delft suggests that at least for some villages, Berkel among them, differences between urban and rural poor relief were not very substantial. In 1680 the share of households receiving support in Delft was 15% (Van der Vlis 2001, 64). Admittedly, average allowances in Delft, at around 40 guilders per household in 1670,15 were higher than in Berkel, but then, life in town was more expensive. Rents in particular were higher: the rents covered by the overseers and deacons in late-seventeenth century Berkel mostly ranged between 9 and 12 guilders annually, while the Delft Chamber of Charity commonly paid between 16 and 21 guilders. Moreover, Delft households receiving relief were, on the whole, much larger than those in Berkel: the average was 3.75 persons per household (Van der Vlis 2001, 75, 89–90). Figures 9.6 and 9.7 show the development of revenues and expenditure for the Holy Spirit and the diaconate just before, during and directly after the dearth of the late 1690s. The revenues of both organizations fluctuate, but do not display a clear upward or downward trend. Peaks were mainly the result of the redemption of bonds and loans, and occasionally of a testamentary bequest. With regard to expenditure, marked differences between the two organizations appear. The Holy Spirit stepped up its relief efforts, as it had done in the 1590s. As in the 1590s, mounting expenses led to deficits in 1698 and 1699. As in the late sixteenth century, it took the organization several years to recover after the crisis was over: in the first years of the eighteenth century revenues barely covered expenses. However, while in the late 1590s cash reserves had been almost depleted in the last crisis year, this time the liquidity of the organization was never at risk. Deficits were more than compensated for by the surpluses of previous years. A substantial part of these surpluses had been invested, but the Holy Spirit retained a liberal buffer in cash. Even at the start of the year 1701 it was by no means depleted: the overseers of that year could start their work with 345 guilders at their disposal. Revenues and expenses of the diaconate, however, present a different picture (Fig. 9.7). Admittedly, in the first year of the crisis (1698/99) expenditure on relief increased, but only moderately so. In the next year relief expenses actually fell to a lower level than in the pre-crisis period. The organization was able to close both years

14

Based on joint expenditure on poor relief by the Holy Spirit and the diaconate of 670 guilders per year (sources see Graph 6) and the 28 households on relief recorded for 1680. 15 Based on 914 households (Van der Vlis 2001, 364) and an average expenditure on poor relief of 80% of 45,300 guilders (Van Nederveen Meerkerk and Teeuwen 2013, 95–97).

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4000,0 other non-relief expenses

3500,0 other relief expenses

3000,0 bread and other foodstuffs

2500,0 revenues

2000,0 1500,0

1000,0 500,0 0,0 1689

1690

1691

1692

1693

1694

1695

1696

1697

1698

1699

1700

1701

1702

1703

Fig. 9.6 Annual expenditure and revenues of the Holy Spirit in guilders, 1689–1703 (Sources SR AABR 1306-495 and 1306-496)

investments 2500,0

other non-relief expenses other relief expenses

2000,0

bread and other foodstuffs revenues

1500,0

1000,0

500,0

0,0 1689-90

1690-91

1691-92

1692-93

1693-94

1694-95

1695-96

1696-97

1697-98

1698-99

1699-1700

1700-01

1701-02

1702-03

1703-04

Fig. 9.7 Annual expenditure and revenues of the diaconate in guilders, 1689–1703 (Sources SR AHGBR, 1414-215 and 1414-216)

with cash surpluses, but in 1700/01 a cash-flow problem arose. The direct cause was not a peak in expenses on poor relief, but the purchase of a government bond of 800 guilders. One of the deacons even had to lend the organization 150 guilders from his own purse to temporarily bridge the gap that this purchase had created.16 To account for the differences between the two organizations we have to look in more detail at the development of expenditure on the item that can be expected to best represent their reactions to high food prices: bread, or “bread and groceries”, as it is usually referred to in the accounts. Although the accounts do not mention how many households received relief in the form of bread, an indirect indication can be obtained by comparing expenses on bread by the Holy Spirit and the diaconate to

16

SR AHGBR 1414-216, accounts over 1700/01, closing paragraph.

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350,0

expenditure bread Holy Spirit 300,0

expenditure bread diaconate joint expenditure bread

250,0

rye prices Amsterdam 200,0

bread prices Leiden

150,0

100,0

50,0

0,0 1689

1690

1691

1692

1693

1694

1695

1696

1697

1698

1699

1700

1701

1702

1703

Fig. 9.8 Indices of expenditure on bread (and groceries) by the Holy Spirit and the diaconate, rye prices in Amsterdam and bread prices in Leiden (average over 1689–1691 = 100) (Sources SR AABR 1306-496; SR AHGBR 1414-215 and 1414-216; Allen: rye and bread prices)

the development of rye prices in Amsterdam and bread prices in Leiden (Fig. 9.8). Two conclusions can be drawn. First, the impression that the two organizations reacted in opposite ways to the crisis is confirmed: while expenditure on bread by the Holy Spirit during the crisis expanded at a rate higher than the increase of rye prices or bread prices, expenditure on bread by the diaconate declined. However, it also becomes clear that this decline had started earlier: in the middle of the 1690s, when it was accompanied by an increase of expenditure on other forms of relief. This shift may have been the consequence of a conscious decision of the diaconate to replace bread distributions by other types of allowances. It is possible that this was set in motion by the relatively mild price increases of the early 1690s and the desire to avoid unpredictable peaks in expenditure. In any case, the crisis of 1698– 1700 appears to have reinforced this process. The second conclusion to be drawn is that the joint expenditure on bread by the two organizations together almost exactly followed the development of Leiden bread prices, indicating that the total amount of bread distributed did not change much during the crisis. Although this cannot be proven with certainty, it suggests that people who were no longer served with bread by the diaconate appealed during that crisis to the Holy Spirit for this particular kind of relief and received it. This would be in keeping with the impression introduced above that the Holy Spirit served as a ‘provider of last resort’ if the diaconate was unable to help. Notably, the balance was not restored in the years after the crisis: the Holy Spirit continued to spend far more on bread than the diaconate. Total expenditure on bread, however, declined in the same pace as the bread price: there is no sign of the situation occurring after the crisis of the 1590s, when the number of people dependent upon poor relief remained structurally higher than before. The most logical explanation for the fact that the two organizations reacted in different ways to the crisis is their financial situation. Just as Prak concluded for the poor relief organizations in Den Bosch (Prak 1994, 156), for both the Holy Spirit and the diaconate maintaining their assets was crucial. Eating into them would soon

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set a self-reinforcing process of declining revenues in motion. In practice, this meant that re-investing surpluses that were the result of the redemption of bonds and loans was vital and could not be postponed. The diaconate clearly had more trouble in this respect than the Holy Spirit. This is not only evident from the problems of the diaconate to fund the investment of 1700/01 mentioned earlier, but also from the fact that the Holy Spirit held a larger buffer in cash: between 1689 and 1703 on average 46% of its annual income, compared with 36% for the diaconate. The reason was probably in part related to the fact that the Holy Spirit could rely on a more diverse and substantial portfolio of credit instruments and land rents, but management problems may also have contributed. Notably, in the middle of the crisis, the diaconate spent the substantial amount of 164 guilders on a ‘transfer sum’ for Berkel’s new preacher. Afterwards, this was clearly considered incorrect: a comment in the account states that these costs should have been borne by the church instead of the diaconate.17 However, beyond stating that this ought not to happen again, nothing was done to set things right. Financial restrictions made the diaconate more vulnerable to peaks in demand caused by price increases. There is evidence that during the crisis the diaconate attempted to compensate by raising additional revenues: in the year 1698/99 income from collections in church more than doubled in comparison to the average over the previous five years. This confirms the notion that confessional organizations were better able to attract gifts because people identified with them more easily (Van Nederveen Meerkerk and Vermeesch 2009, 150). It was not enough to avoid restrictions on expenditure, but in combination with the backing provided to the system as a whole by the role of the Holy Spirit as ‘provider of last resort’ it did ease matters a little. Perhaps a more pertinent question is why the Holy Spirit did not do more than it did. After all, the fact remains that joint expenditure on bread did not increase during the crisis, while raised mortality indicates that many people had a hard time. One possibility is that social polarization had reduced the sensitivity of the poor relief organizations to the needs of the poor. In sixteenth-century Flanders the poor tables most responsive to the needs of vulnerable villagers during crises were those in relatively homogeneous communities, where in social and economic terms there was no great gap between the overseers and the recipients of relief (Van Onacker and Masure 2015). However, the fact that in late seventeenth-century Berkel the overseers were mostly common shopkeepers and craftsmen, whereas in the late sixteenth century almost all of them were large or middle-sized farmers, does not sit very well with this hypothesis. The second option is therefore perhaps the more likely one: the rising long-term trend of the land rents that must have been clearly discernible to all in the late sixteenth century had come to an end. As a consequence, the overseers could no longer afford to assume that deficits would be made up for in the future: although they were in a more comfortable position than the deacons, prudence in finances was still required. 17

SR AHGBR 1414-216, account over 1699/1700.

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Conclusions The aim of this contribution was to assess the capacity of rural poor relief in Berkel to cope with food crises against the background of the transformation of rural society that took place between the late sixteenth and late seventeenth century. In general, the system did surprisingly well, despite its fragmented character: not only did it not break down, but it contributed materially to the mitigation of the impact of the crisis in both periods under examination. In the 1590s the Holy Spirit raised expenses to accommodate an increased demand of its regular beneficiaries in the face of significantly raised food prices. The organization was also flexible enough to help people who had previously managed on their own, but were no longer able to do so as a consequence of the dearth. Generosity was facilitated by the rapidly rising land rents of the era, but the severity and duration of the crisis put a heavy pressure on finances: the overseers only just managed to stay within the budget. In the 1690s, at a time when financial prospects were no longer as rosy and more people required relief than a century before, the Holy Spirit was nevertheless able to give that support. The response of the diaconate of the Reformed Church to the crisis, however, shows signs of distress. The need to maintain assets in order to ensure the continuity of the institution and its activities seems to have precluded a flexible reaction to the exigencies of dearth. The Holy Spirit, owing in part to its larger and more diverse portfolio of assets but possibly also to better management, did not face the same constraints and appears, in keeping with its role as ‘provider of last resort’, to have compensated by expanding its efforts, thus preventing the collapse of the system as a whole. On the one hand, the fact that the stability of the system depended on the lucky circumstance that the Holy Spirit could rely on revenues from its substantial property suggests that in other villages, where this was not the case, poor relief organizations may have had more trouble to cope with crises. The fact that even in normal times villages displayed great variation in the share of the population on relief indicates that local means were not always abundant. On the other hand, the fact, that two—or more—poor relief organizations existed even in villages like Berkel, does not appear to have weakened the system as a whole. Complementary roles necessitated cooperation; personal ties facilitated them. In that sense, village relief systems were indeed community-based; enough so to bolster their coping capacity.

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Chapter 10

Educationalizing Hunger. Dealing with the Famine of 1770/71 in Zurich Andrea De Vincenti

Abstract When Zurich in 1770/1771 was hit by a famine, the affected communities adapted various strategies to cope. Whereas local communities focused on survival, the local pastors and parts of the enlightened elite understood the famine as a chance to further their agenda of moral reform and interpreted the events as divine punishment. As a result, only moral education was credited with the ability to overcome the famine. Other factors such as agro-economic decline, the burden of taxes and levies or the cumbersome system of three-field crop rotation received less attention. Consequently the famine initiated educational reform rather than socio-political change. The paper argues that this educationalization of hunger helped the enlightened elite to secure its ruling position until the collapse of the Ancien Régime. Keywords Famine


School education
Religion
Poverty

In spring 1771 Hans Ludwig Meyer, local pastor and head of one of the administrative districts in the church of Zurich, described the effects the famine had on schooling and education (School survey, answer from Wetzikon, C. 11): As a result of this year’s dearth many children in many places did not go to school because they had to work at home or because they had been seduced to beg, as begging has increased throughout the winter, and through begging children have been misled into robbing and stealing. This impaired their education to an extent that it will not be easy to remedy.1

“Die Theürung in diesem Jahr hat veranlaaset [sic], dass viel Kinder an den meisten Orten nicht zur Schul geschikt worden, weil sie eintweders bey hause haben arbeiten müssen, oder weil sie zu dem im letsteren Winter, excessio eingerissenen, Bättel sind verlokt worden, u. durch den Bättel zum Rauben u. stehlen. Man findet, dass dieser lezte Articul einen Schaden in der Auferziehung gewürkt, den man nicht so geschwinde wird verbessern können.”

1

A. De Vincenti (&) Zentrum für Schulgeschichte, Pädagogische Hochschule Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland e-mail: [email protected] © Springer International Publishing AG 2018 D. Collet and M. Schuh (eds.), Famines During the ‘Little Ice Age’ (1300–1800), DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54337-6_10

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In a school survey carried out in 1771/72 not only Hans Ludwig Meyer but many other pastors in Zurich reported poorer school attendance and increased begging because of the famine. In 1770 and 1771 the city-state of Zurich—as well as large parts of Europe—had been affected by an increase in prices and a famine2 caused by the coincidence of crop failure, restrictive grain trade politics, and economic downturns of the textile industry that especially in proto industrial regions led to unemployment and thus aggravated the hunger problem. Not all regions were affected in the same way. The population registers reflects the consequences of the famine, especially for the northern part of the Canton, inhabited by many landless peasants, and for the proto industrial regions in the South-East (Irniger 1996, 88; Giger 1990, 326, for the increased vulnerability of proto industrial regions in general, see Krämer 2015, 417f.; Mattmüller 1982, 280f.). Even though not all parts of the population of one particular region suffered equally from hunger, most people in the countryside as well as in the cities had to purchase grain in exchange for money or services to the producers and were therefore affected by the crisis (Kurmann 2011). From the seventeenth to the eighteenth century, the proportion of landless peasants (Tauner) in Zurich had increased from 52% to 70%. Furthermore, families who made their living with proto industrial work lived barely above the subsistence level and depended entirely on the agents within the putting-out system. Regions with a widespread viniculture also used to import grain to cover their demand (Irniger 1996, 87f.). Even in years with a normal grain crop Zurich imported about 25% to 30% of its grain requirements (Graber 2010, 195; Giger 1990, 317f.). Altogether large parts of the population depended on the grain market and were vulnerable to crop failures and consequential increases in prices. After the famine of 1770/71, Zurich increased the control of the crop market and extended the governmental poor relief increasingly to people living in the countryside. Furthermore, they worked out an actual policy of crisis (Giger 1990, 327, 329). Compared to the previous famine in 1690, however, Zurich had made better provisions in the 1770s already (Irniger 1996, 88). Increased cultivation of potatoes helped dealing with the crisis, especially when the potato harvest was exempted from the tithe temporarily (Peter 1996, 54f., 365). It goes without saying that the famine not only decreased population but had also a harsh impact on peoples everyday life, for instance on schooling. Children used to be absent from school even before the outbreak of the famine for various reasons, like agricultural, manual and proto industrial child labour, long distances between their homes and the schools, poor road and weather conditions, poverty and the lack of clothes and food (De Vincenti 2015, 241f.; Rosenmund 2006, 55;

Research focused on Zurich in German language uses the term of “Hungerkrise” (Graber 2010; Giger 1990; Irniger 1996) as well as “Hungersnot” (Kurmann 2011; Ulrich 1996, 391; referred to Basel: Mattmüller 1982) to designate the effects of bad harvest, price increase, prohibition of grain exports and the simultaneous occurrence of an industrial crisis in 1770 and 1771. This article translates both of the (in this case) synonymously used terms with “famine”. 2

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Scandola 1991, 602; Schmidt 2007, 34f.). At home, children were usually involved in various sorts of economic activity. They mainly worked on the fields or did proto-industrial work like yarning, combing wool or twisting silk (Pfister 1992). With the outbreak of the famine their families reasoned that they needed them to contribute to the breadwinning, which resulted in less children attending school regularly. Poor children were sent to pick up windfall, collect roots, weed and grass or tree bark in order to obtain at least something to eat—even if this substitute food put their health at a further risk, as it did not provide a healthy diet (School survey, answers of Pfungen and Weiningen: C. 11; Hüttlingen A. b. 2). Many boys and girls were sent to beg, steal or were even chased away from home. Pastors generally complained about greed, envy and distrust within the community, accused the common people to care more about their body than about their soul and called for moral improvement through education (School survey, answers of Dägerlen, Feuerthalen and Pfungen, C. 11). On the one hand, children’s education at school was impeded by the famine, on the other hand, many pastors called for an increased (moral) education not only of the children but also of the adults. Labaree (2008) conceptualized this calling for education when facing a social problem as “educationalizing a social problem”. He describes educationalization as a very common practice today as it allows societies to accept formal and symbolic outcomes that education can provide in place of a concrete socio-political solution to the problem itself (Labaree 2008, 485; Smeyers and Depaepe 2008). Taking up the notion of educationalizing social problems, this paper explores the perceptions and ways of dealing with the famine of 1770/71 in the city-state of Zurich. The study is mainly based on 112 answers to a survey of more than 300 school communes in Zurich. The survey was planned by the Moralische Gesellschaft, one of the many enlightened societies in Zurich, and carried out with the help of the ecclesiastical administration. Between 1771 and 1772, the local pastors of each parish answered 81 questions on schooling and education (Schwab 2006). The answers include some information about the famine and provide an opportunity to analyse a quite large amount of texts with a local focus. In addition to the various pastors’ interpretation of the famine, these sources give some insight into how common people perceived and dealt with the famine on a local level. The local perspective is complemented by and contrasted with the perspectives of the ruling elite in order to uncover similarities and differences. In a first step this article will explore the effects of the famine and how the local communities faced it. The focus will be on the immediate effects on schooling and education and the strategies adopted to keep up schooling during the course of the famine. I will then analyse the pastors’ perceptions, interpretations and explanations of the famine in a more local perspective, which I will then compare to the coping strategies propagated in the city-state of Zurich, highlighting the crucial role education played in the context of coping with the famine. In conclusion, I will discuss whether educationalizing hunger in Zurich during the famine of 1770/71 served as an alternative to a radical change of the political, social and economic order.

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Poverty, Hunger, Work and the Will to School the Children The question of how severely families in their parishes had been affected by the crisis and how desperately parents needed their children to contribute to the bread-winning, was highly controversial. The pastors tied the effects of the crisis to different factors: The wealth of the respective parish or commune, the set-up of the families hit by the crisis, the capabilities of a parish to help the poor, as well as the moral condition of the community (School survey, answer of Brütten, C. 11). Consistent with how intensely the famine affected their specific region, some of the reporting pastors attributed the decline in school attendance to actual poverty, whereas some others declared that poverty was simply used as a convenient pretext. Heinrich Näf, pastor in Hombrechtikon, argued that pastors should believe when people asserted their poverty (School survey, answer from Hombrechtikon, C. 11). Some of the reports compassionately affirmed that the parents needed their children to contribute to the family income (School survey, answers from Embrach, Neftenbach and Glattfelden, C. 11). In Wila the pastor reported that 50 households out of 100 could not make their living anymore and lacked food, clothes, and shoes. The parish was too poor to help them (School survey, answer from Wila, C. 11). The pastor in Turbenthal, however, noted his inner struggle between severity and empathy. He felt obliged to scold negligent parents and encourage them to send their children to school, while at the same time he understood their objection, arguing that they would starve if they went without the children’s contribution (School survey, answer from Turbenthal, A. b. 7).3 Other pastors reported proudly, that the famine did not cause negative effects in their parish at all, because they cared for the poor and distributed bread and dried fruit every day (School survey, answers from Schlatt, Dinhard, Illnau C. 11). These different accounts show the significance of the locally established practices of support and poor relief. The very same price increase could have very different effects in various communities. Everywhere the famine affected the community, measures were taken to maintain a certain normality. In order to uphold regular schooling, flexible school schedules were introduced and pastors allowed parents to keep their children at home when they needed them most. In some places the community—the commune, the parish, or both—covered the school fees for poor children or even established free schools (School survey, answers from Mönchaltorf, C. 11.; Pfungen A. b. 7). They provided clothes and shoes to the children who could not attend due to their lack of clothing, distributed food for entire families at school or offered a lunchtime meal to the children. In some rare cases, they even compensated the lost earnings of

“Die Mittel, saumseelige Eltern zur Beschuhlung ihrer Kinder anzuhalten, waren, so viel ich höre, bisdahin meistens nur gutmeindende, fruchtlose Ermahnungen; und die Wahrheit zugestehen, ich habe mich, die zween theüren Winter über, wo ich hier bin, auch zu keinen wirksamern Miteln entschliessen können. der Mund wurde mir allzunachdrüklich durch die Antwort gestopft: Unsere Kinder müssen uns in Gottes Namen helfen arbeiten, wenn wir nicht hunger sterben sollen.” 3

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a child during the time spent at school (School survey, answers from Schöfflisdorf, C. 11; Erlenbach A. c. 4). Some pastors, however, openly accused parents of taking advantage of the famine to excuse their loose living. Parents simply preferred that their children worked and earned something instead of being educated at school, they claimed. Meyer, the above-mentioned pastor and head of a church chapter, stated that the parents kept their children at home because they did not want to pay the school fees or a day labourer replacing the children at work (School survey, answer from Herrliberg, C. 11). In his view, hunger was just an excuse for not sending the children to school. Since they had planted potatoes, he argued, people didn’t have to starve, and a child could still earn some money working before and after school. The parents just had to accept the help offered by the authorities. His parish, he stated, waived the school fees, distributed food and clothing out of the church property, and made sure that the poorest could eat at the schoolmaster’s house. Obviously frustrated, he proposed to exclude parents from charity if they did not send their children to school (School survey, answer from Wetzikon, C. 1.). Similarly, the pastor in Kloten complained that children did not show up for school regularly, even though they were given alms (School survey, answer from Kloten, C. 11). The pastor in Meilen was convinced that the people in his parish were so immoral, they would rip the donated clothes off their children’s bodies and sell them immediately (School survey, answer from Meilen, C. 11). These pastors generally accused the parents of lacking the moral conviction to send their children to school. How severely the famine had affected the people living in the different parishes of course depended on many factors such as wealth (of the parish, of the commune, of the people), on the sources and structures of their incomes and also on the extent of public support for the poor. Wealthier children who attended school before the famine, were kept at home and had to work when the crisis hit, whereas the poorer children who used to work were sent to beg and steal (School survey, answers from Herrliberg; Hirzel C. 11). Regardless of whether the pastors interpreted poverty and hunger as a real and existential problem or as an excuse for loose living, they agreed in their disapproval or the children’s absence from school and the motives leading to it. They all emphasized that frequent and regular schooling was of vital importance. To be able to understand why education was considered to be so important, we have to take a closer look at the various perceptions and interpretations of the famine and the resulting coping strategies.

The Pastors’ View of the Famine as a Divine Punishment Looking at his parish, Hans Jakob Vogel, pastor in Greifensee, attributed at least some triggering potential to the famine (School survey, answers from Greifensee, C. 11):

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Debauched and loose parents have not bettered themselves but became even more negligent and debauched—on upright parents, however, the dearth has the beneficial influence of inducing them to care more for their children’s education and encouraging them to work even harder before and after school.4

The pastor in Lindau positively remarked less idleness and more diligence in his parish after the outbreak of the famine (School survey, answer from Lindau, C. 11), whereas Johann Rudolf Weiss, pastor in Steinmaur, pointed out envy, ill-will and increased discontent as well as ingratitude towards God and the authorities (School survey, answer from Steinmaur, C. 11). Some pastors even indicated that schooling had improved during the crisis because the children did not find work or because they came to collect the food distributed at the schools (School survey, answer from Küsnacht, A. a. 2.; C. 11). Eventhough the famine was considered to bring about positive and negative effects, all the pastors unanimously disapproved of the lack of schooling. This uniform appreciation of schooling and education might be rooted in the interpretation of the famine as a divine punishment that should bring people back to a moral life (De Vincenti-Schwab 2010, 260). When asked about the effects of the crisis on education, Johannes Schmutz, pastor in Wollishofen and head of a church chapter, wrote “pathemata mathemata” (one learns by suffering), attributing a learning effect to suffering (School survey, answer from Wollishofen, C. 11). Similarly, Johann Rudolf Wiser, pastor in Affoltern bei Höngg, explained that poverty and misery had taught people not only to pray but also to work harder (School survey, answer from Affoltern bei Höngg, C. 11). Jakob Däniker, pastor in Dorf, called the increase in prices very explicitly a “just punishment handed down by God” (School survey, answer from Dorf, C. 11). Many of the pastors agreed on the reading of the famine as a divine warning or punishment for immoral behaviour, from which people should learn. Therefore, only education could bring the allegedly immoral people back to a good life and make them respect the rules, laws, authorities and by that also respect God. To overcome the crisis, the pastors expected the common people to work harder, to live even more frugally as usual and generally to keep up a well-ordered parish life. In a moral sense, the pastors deemed the members of the parishes, especially the adults, guilty of having provoked the famine with their immoral life conduct and by ignoring warnings. That is why the pastors put their hopes particularly on the children and the schools. Children were considered to be pure and not yet corrupted by the bad habits of adults (School survey, answers from Dorf, Seen, Thalwil, C. 11). Some of the pastors tried to use the crisis to instill loyalty and respect towards the authorities among the children. Hans Jacob Oeri, pastor in Erlenbach, for example reminded them that “the grace of God was indispensable for every human being” and that “they would have starved to death in their parents’ arms” without the benign initiatives of the authorities (School survey, answers from Erlenbach, “Was liederliche, heillose Elteren gewesen, haben sich nicht gebeseret, sonder sind eher noch liederlicher u: heilloser worden—Auf rechtschafene Elteren allein hat die gegenwertige Theürung einen guten einfluss gehabt, sich die erziehung ihrer L. Kinderen desto besser angelegen seyn zu lassen, u: sie neben der Schul zu desto fleissigerer arbeit anzuhalten.”

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Dorf, Marthalne, C. 11). David Wiser, pastor in Wiesendangen, noted that of late children appreciated the authorities for their charity, which they perceived as an expression of their care and love. The children were said to blame themselves for their prejudice and to ask God for forgiveness. They prayed every day for the authorities affirming that they saved their lives and expressing their profound gratitude by leading a pious life, by following their laws and by—almost a physiocratic confession—preferring agricultural to proto-industrial work (School survey, answer from Wiesendangen, C. 11). On a local level, thus, prohibitive and preventive measures were combined to fight the famine (School survey, answer from Regensdorf, C. 11). In the school survey, we find further ways to tackle the problem of hunger and its consequences: Begging and stealing were prohibited, charitable support was organised and people were encouraged to lead a morally sound life. People should survive by following the ideas unfolded in treatises written by members of the ruling elite (School survey, answers from Thalwil, B. b. 5. and B. b. 7a.; Küsnacht B. b. 7. and B. b. 10.), by applying knowledge from agricultural catechisms (School survey, answer from Marthalen, C. 11), and by working hard whilst living economically. Hard work instead of idleness and a pious life including regular praying and singing were marked as desirable behaviour and ascribed the power to actually overcome the crisis. Children were expected to learn this behaviour at school, which probably is part of the reason why all the pastors agreed to uphold regular schooling of as many children as possible by adopting more flexible school schedules (School survey, answers from Niederweningen, Pfungen, A. b. 7.; Turbenthal, B. b. 9.). It might now be argued that the emphasis the pastors put on education is due to the fact that the main source examined so far is a school survey. Nevertheless, the pastors held on to their interpretation in other contexts that shared their view of the crisis as a divine punishment.

Perceptions of the Famine and Coping Strategies Within the Ruling Elite of the City-State In Zurich, the city-state and the church were strongly intertwined in the second part of the eighteenth century. The pastors in their parishes had a double role: they lived within the local community and at the same time served as representatives of the city-state, being in some ways part of the local community as well as part of the ruling elite (Ulrich 1996, 465). Their reading of the famine, however, remains the same inside and outside the local context: Antistes Johann Rudolf Ulrich, the head of the Zurich church, interconnected moral decadence and famine in the church Synod where the pastors gathered alone and far from their parishes. Like many other pastors, Ulrich declared the famine to be a consequence of immoral behaviour in his speeches at the Synod. One and a half years later, he praised the government’s initiatives against the crisis but warned not to forget the most important

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measure to take: the improvement of morality within society. In his opinion, improvement by education should not be aimed at (scientific) knowledge but rather foster a more moral behaviour of the common people: Improving arts and science, he stated, would only scratch the surface of the problem but not go down to its root (Synodalia 1649–1792; Schwab 2006, 43f.). He proposed to overcome the famine through schooling and preaching, both of which were in need of some improvement of their own. The notion of morally decadent people dominated the discourse in the Zurich church in the 1770s. Numerous complaints were brought forward, lamenting poor education and schooling but also negligent pastoral care that was in need of improvement in order to achieve a better moral conduct of the people (Berner 2008, 324–327). However, the secular socio-political elite within the government as well as the enlightened societies, where religious and secular elite met, shared this view in large parts. For example, Salomon Hirzel, governor and founding member of the Moralische and Helvetische Gesellschaft, regularly interpreted social events in the context of the weather in his annual reports in the Moralische Gesellschaft. He talked about a flooding of the village of Küsnacht in the summer of 1778 that had been caused by a little stream and ended fatally for more than sixty people. He interpreted the water and the lightning strokes as admonitions and expressions of divine wrath. Likewise, Hirzel saw the bad weather in the previous year as a consequence of political disputes between the government and the community in connection with the guild riots that occurred the year before (Berner 2008, 324). The so-called economic patriots (ökonomische Patrioten) engaged in various enlightened societies as the Naturforschende or Moralische Gesellschaft that were closely intertwined with and supported by the government (Stiefel 1944). About half of the members who had joined the Moralische Gesellschaft until 1796 were part of the government or the administration, many of them made a career in the small council (kleiner Rat) or became mayors (Standeshäupter), a third were members of the church and the schools, among them several professors and doctors (Erne 1988, 131). According to Graber (2003, 135), 72% of the members in the Physikalische Gesellschaft (later called Naturforschende Gesellschaft) from 1747 to 1780 were members of ruling families. In 1770, 42% of the members of the small council had direct connections with the Physikalische Gesellschaft. Having existed as a strictly scientific discussion circle, the Naturforschende Gesellschaft turned to its practical approach only in the wake of a previous famine in the years 1757/58. It founded a special commission called Ökonomische Kommission dedicated mostly to the enlightened education of the common people (Graber 1997, 133). To popularise the findings it organised prize questions and printed the responses as advice to the common people. As peasants rarely read these texts, the Ökonomische Kommission decided to organise discussion meetings with them. The focus of these meetings held between 1763 and 1779 was set on moral education and the justification of the authorities rather than on sheer technical aspects of agriculture (Graber 1997, 133 and 138f.).

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In order to help people to outlast and overcome the famine, the economic patriots as well as the so-called enlightened elite in Zurich published letters, treatises and instructions. They gave practical advice and provided help e.g. by distributing seed potatoes (Peter 1996, 103). The advice could be moral, practical or both at the same time. In the Schreiben an die Landleute im Zürich-Gebiet, published in 1771 (Schreiben an die Landleute, 1771), the anonymous author said to be David Kitt, pastor in Brütten, (Dejung and Wuhrmann 1953, 384), gives advice on how a poor household of five people could (and should) subsist on a small food supply for six to eight months. The author proposes a mash of potatoes, pumpkin, yellow and white turnips as a “healthy, tasteful and nutritious food” (Schreiben an die Landleute, 1771). He then explains how to store, prepare and mix the vegetables, which were in his view the ideal substitute for grain. He also encourages the poor to use their small supplies economically: they should resist the temptation of eating more than the minimum needed to satisfy their hunger. In the second part of the letter, the author calls on the poor to plant or otherwise buy these vegetables according to previous instruction given in the “Zürich Calender” in 1770, and implores the rich to give parts of the common land to the needy (Schreiben an die Landleute, 1771). Similar writings—for instance about the use of potatoes—flooded not only Zurich but also all of Europe. It was David Trachsler, pastor in Trüllikon, who in 1770 wrote the first treatise about how to cultivate potatoes in Zurich, aiming at helping people to cope with the famine by popularising the cultivation of the plant (Peter 1996, 52, 105). Such examples show that the religious and secular elite’s coping strategies were set up on two levels: providing help to outlast the famine by giving practical advice and help, and emphasizing moral education in order to overcome the crisis. Even the practical advice aimed at improving livelihoods and agriculture in general usually focused on the peasants’ work ethic and tried to increase their time spent at work in order to avoid otiosity. Like other economic patriots in Europe, they put forward industriousness as a means against vice (Grube 2010, 263; Holenstein 2007, 23). Practical advice and moral education thus were closely interwoven. It is remarkable that none of the given advice questioned the agrarian structures and the constitution of the city-state more generally. Most patriots were just as unwilling as the government to change the established order (Graber 1997, 135; Graber 2010). That is why measures proposed in some writings, such as freeing grain or potatoes from the tithe, market intervention to lower prices, distribution of grain and common lands, or the prohibition of grain export, were implemented temporarily at best. As soon as harvest improved, they returned to the old rules, like the reintroduction of tithes (Peter 1996, 54, 60). Research on the Enlightenment on a more general level has demonstrated the ambivalence of the heterogeneous elites, trying to popularise enlightened knowledge to promote the common good on the one hand and contemporarily reinforcing the stratified order of the estate society on the other hand (Conrad 1998, 11f.).

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Educationalizing Hunger—Symbolic Actions or Fundamental Change? If educationalizing a problem means to act upon the notion that it can be resolved by means of education, the famine of 1770/71 in Zurich has been educationalized. The pastors, and with them an important part of the ruling elite, discussed the famine as being caused by immoral behaviour. In their view, only education aimed at improving social and moral life could support God’s attempt to return people to a morally upright life, to respect the authorities, the church and to reaffirm individual duties towards God such as praying and singing. The interpretation of the famine as a divine punishment was widespread. Whether its promotors really believed it or not is less important than the fact that they could say and write it in public. This shows to what extent the understanding of the famine as a divine punishment was acceptable and part of the dominant knowledge. However, there is some evidence that this knowledge was not hegemonic, not shared by everybody. Due to the bias of the sources, it is much easier to focus on the pastors’ the ruling elite’s interpretation of the famine than the common people’s understanding of it. However, some replies to the survey show that the common people rather seemed to focus on practical remedies than on moral improvement. The pastors’ complaints about the people not learning their divine lesson were accordingly quite numerous: Elias Balber, pastor in Marthalen acknowledged the people’s attempts to work harder, but he accused them of working like animals just to provide food and to be able to work again. In his view, they did everything without thinking or thanking God for his blessings. He therefore announced the crisis would last until they understood they could not thrive without God and his blessing (School survey, answer by Marthalen, C. 11). The pastor in Erlenbach also reproached the common people for their refusal to deal with the divine punishment appropriately. He lamented (School survey, answer by Erlenbach, C. 11): God, you have beaten them, but it didn’t hurt them, you have punished to better them, but they didn’t accept the punishment; they made their faces harder than stone and were not willing to mend their ways. […] if we turn God’s blessings away, he soon will withdraw and leave behind terrible perdition.5

Other reports refer to allegedly incorrigible people who thought they didn’t need to seek the grace of God, but focused only on earnings and food, or just continued to live as they did before, even though the crisis had struck them (School survey, answer from Dorf, C. 11). They neglected education, the pastor criticised, and could not understand how rich their children’s souls could become at school. The “sensual feeling of the food and of pressing poverty” far too often clouded their thinking

“Herr, du hast sie geschlagen, aber es thut ihnen nicht wehe; du hast sie gestraft zur besserung, aber sie haben diese Strafe nicht annehmen wollen; Sie haben ihre angesichter härter gemacht als ein Stein, und haben sich nicht bessern wollen. […]wenn wir den Segen Gottes von uns selbsten ausstossen, so wird er bald abziehen und ein schreckl. Verderben hinterlassen.”

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(School survey, answer from Pfungen, C. 11). Similar complaints were made for instance by Johann Rudolf Weiss, pastor in Steinmaur. The “poor peasants” hoped to fix everything by themselves, without the grace of God, from where everything originates (School survey, answer from Steinmaur, C. 11). Some pastors also complained about the pride and fear of the peasants to accept help when they could not afford to school their children (School survey, answer from Erlenbach, C. 11). It seems that common people did not share the pastors’ view that the crisis could be overcome mainly by the means of education. In their much more vulnerable position, they focused on the short term and prioritised their work, earnings and food. Educationalizing is a practice with a strong symbolic meaning that tends to focus on the long term, on a better future. It means preferring educational attempts to radical political change in a given historic situation. In this regard, it shows similarities to other coping strategies during the famine of 1770/71, as for instance the blaming of scapegoats like the so-called “Grain Jews” (Collet 2010, 249). Nevertheless, as a secret protocol shows,6 some patriots in Zurich actually saw the decline in agriculture as a tangible result of the tax system as well as of the traditional agrarian structures, especially the ground taxes and the tithe (Graber 2010, 205). In spite of this interpretation, the secular government in the city-state proposed to stick to traditional three-field crop rotation and traditional restrictive grain politics as well as to tithes and the tax and contribution system in general (Graber 2003, 135f.). Instead of initiating fundamental change to overcome the crisis, the elite mainly relied upon educational measures like schooling, preaching and enlightened initiatives like the ones discussed above. They aimed at teaching common people a morally upright lifestyle and the peasants how to improve agriculture and increase crop yields without changing the established system. Similarly, Norbert Grube points out the combined strengthening of the character and the economy as aims of an education to industriousness in order to endure or overcome poverty in northern Germany and in Switzerland (Grube 2010, 263) and Achim Leschinsky’s work on Prussian elementary school reforms points out pedagogy as a means to better the (economic) conditions but also to stabilize the system when facing a crisis (Leschinsky 1981, 289). Even though these educationalized coping strategies to the famine in the city-state of Zurich were combined with the conventional prohibition of grain exports and advice encouraging frugality or even the distribution of food and The protocol of a meeting of the Ökonomische Kommission says: “Eine lange vertrauliche Unterredung über die oeconomisch-politischen Ursachen des Verfalls unsres Akerbaus, als da sind der allzu grosse[n] Schulden zu Last und die Verarmung unserer Bauern, die disproportion des Wisswachses und der Viehzucht zu dem Acker—und Rebbau, das einer besseren Eintheilung hinderliche Zelgen—und Zehnden Recht und der wirkliche Mangel an Cultivateurs, und so fort, führte uns zuletzt nach vielen herzlichen aber unvermögenden Wünschen auf das nothwendige Gständnis zurück, dass es unsere privat-Kräfte und Macht übersteige, etwas ächtes und wirkliches zur Hebung dieser unglücklichen Schwierigkeiten beyzutragen.” (Staatsarchiv des Kantons Zürich B IX 58, 7 Abschn. C: Protokoll der 3. Sitzung der ‘ökonomischen Kommission’ vom 21. Februar unter dem Vorsitz von Johann Jakob Ott, quoted from Graber 2010, 205). 6

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common land to endure the crisis, education in particular was credited with the ability to overcome it. The dominant reading of the famine as a divine punishment thus predefined education as the only means to overcome it even though concrete political alternatives had been proposed. The fact that an educationalized notion of the crisis secured the socially stratified constitution of the city-state might conveniently have accommodated the interests of the authorities. By educationalizing the problem, the ruling elite paternalistically showed to take action and to care about their subjects. This might be one reason why there have not been riots or uprisings in Zurich during the famine of 1770/71 and why the ruling elite could defend its position up to the revolutionary events of 1794/95 (memorial/riot in Stäfa) and 1798 (collapse of the city-state).

References Sources [Anonymous]. 1771. Schreiben an die Landleute im Zürich-Gebiet, darinn angezeigt wird: Wie eine arme Haushaltung von 5. Persohnen sich mit enem geringen Vorrath von Lebens-Mitteln, die man auf 1. Vierling Land pflanzen kann, und mit 21. Bis 28. fl. Barem Geld, auch in theuren Zeiten, 6. Bis 8. Monate lang, vom Wintermonat bis und mit Brachmonat, hinlänglich ernähren könne. Von einem aufrichtigen Freund der Armen. Zürich, bey Orell, Gessner, Füesslin und Comp. 1771. School Survey [Schul-Umfrage von 1771]. CD-ROM. In Volksschule im 18. Jahrhundert. Die Schulumfrage auf der Zürcher Landschaft 1771/72, ed. Tröhler, Daniel, and Andrea Schwab, 2nd edition. Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt. Zürich, Staatsarchiv. EII 7a, Synodalia (1649–1792): Speeches at the Synod from Johann Rudolf Ulrich 5. November 1771 4. Mai 1773.

Literature Berner, Esther. 2008. Deutungen von Naturkatastrophen im Zürich der ‘Aufklärung’. Ausgangspunkte für Überlegungen zum Wandel der populären Bedeutung der Straftheologie. In Das Erdbeben von Lissabon und der Katastrophendiskurs im 18. Jahrhundert, ed. Gerhard Lauer, and Thorsten Unger, 318–333. Götting: Wallstein. Collet, Dominik. 2010. Storage and Starvation. Public Granaries as Agents of ‘Food Security’ in Early Modern Europe. Historical Social Research/Historische Sozialforschung 35 (4): 234–253. Conrad, Anne. 1998. Aufgeklärte Elite und aufzuklärendes Volk? Das Volk im Visier der Aufklärung. In Das Volk im Visier der Aufklärung. Studien zur Popularisierung der Aufklärung im späten 18. Jahrhundert, ed. Anne Conrad, Arno Herzig, and Franklin Kopitzsch, 1–15. Hamburg: Lit. Dejung, Emanuel, and Willy Wuhrmann, ed. 1953. Zürcher Pfarrerbuch 1519–1952. Zürich: Schulthess. De Vincenti, Andrea. 2015. Schule der Gesellschaft. Wissensordnungen von Zürcher Unterrichtspraktiken zwischen 1771 und 1834. Zürich: Chronos.

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De Vincenti-Schwab, Andrea. 2010. “Betet, arbeitet, sparet, und sezet im übrigen euere Hoffnung und euer Vertrauen auf Gott”. Erziehungskonzepte für das Landvolk in der Zürcher Schulumfrage von 1771 vor dem Hintergrund der Hungerkrise. In Reichtum und Armut in den schweizerischen Republiken des 18. Jahrhunderts. Akten des Kolloquiums vom 23.—25 November 2006 in Lausanne, ed. André Holenstein et al., 253–262. Genève: Slatkine. Erne, Emil. 1988. Die schweizerischen Sozietäten: lexikalische Darstellung der Reformgesellschaften des 18. Jahrhunderts in der Schweiz. Zürich: Chronos. Giger, Peter. 1990. Verwaltung der Ernährung. Obrigkeitliche Kontrolle des Zürcher Kornmarktes im 18. Jahrhundert. In Schweiz im Wandel. Studien zur neueren Gesellschaftsgeschichte. Festschrift für Rudolf Braun zum 60. Geburtstag, ed. Sebastian Brändli et al., 317–329. Basel: Helbing & Lichtenhahn. Graber, Rolf. 2010. Wohlstandswahrung für wenige oder Nahrungssicherung für alle? Armut, Tugenddiskurs und Krisenbekämpfungskonzepte im Kontext der Hungerkrise 1770/71 auf der Zürcher Landschaft. In Reichtum und Armut in den schweizerischen Republiken des 18. Jahrhunderts. Akten des Kolloquiums vom 23.–25. November 2006 in Lausanne, ed. André Holenstein et al., 195–213. Genève: Slatkine. Graber, Rolf. 2003. Protektionistische Marktsteuerung oder physiokratische Freihandelsdoktrin? Zum Verhalten städtischer Obrigkeiten der Alten Eidgenossenschaft während der Hungerkrise 1770/72. In Aufklärung, Freimaurerei und Demokratie im Diskurs der Moderne. Festschrift zum 60. Geburtstag von Helmut Reinalter, ed. Michael Fischer et al., 129–143. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. Graber, Rolf. 1997. Reformdiskurs und soziale Realität: Die Naturforschende Gesellschaft in Zürich als Medium der Volksaufklärung. Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Geschichte 47: 129–150. Grube, Norbert. 2010. Bildung zur Industrie oder Verharren im Gottestrost: ein Widerspruch? Armenerziehung in Norddeutschland und in der Schweiz um 1800. In Reichtum und Armut in den schweizerischen Republiken des 18. Jahrhunderts. Akten des Kolloquiums vom 23.—25. November 2006 in Lausanne, ed. André Holenstein et al., 263–273. Genève: Slatkine. Holenstein, André. 2007. Industrielle Revolution avant la lettre. Arbeit und Fleiss im Diskurs der Oekonomischen Gesellschaft Bern. In Cardanus. Jahrbuch für Wissenschaftsgeschichte: Nützliche Wissenschaft und Ökonomie im Ancien Régime. Akteure, Themen, Kommunikationsformen, ed. André Holenstein et al., 17–40. Göttingen: Hubert & Co. Irniger, Margrit. 1996. Landwirtschaft in der frühen Neuzeit. In Geschichte des Kantons Zürich, vol. 2, ed. Niklaus Flüeler, and Marianne Flüeler, 66–125. Zürich: Werd. Krämer, Daniel. 2015. “Menschen grasten nun mit dem Vieh”. Die letzte grosse Hungerkrise in der Schweiz 1816/17. Basel: Schwabe. Kurmann, Fridolin. 2011. Hungersnöte. Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz. http://www.hls-dhsdss.ch/textes/d/D16226.php. Accessed 22 October 2015. Labaree, David. 2008. The Winning Ways of a Losing Strategy: Educationalizing Social Problems in the United States. Educational Theory 58 (4): 447–460. Leschinsky, Achim. 1981. Die realen Grenzen einer Pädagogik der Armut. In “Das pädagogische Jahrhundert”. Volksaufklärung und Erziehung zur Armut im 18. Jahrhundert in Deutschland, ed. Ulrich Herrmann, 283–303. Weinheim, Basel: Beltz. Mattmüller, Markus. 1982. Die Hungersnot der Jahre 1770/71 in der Basler Landschaft. In Gesellschaft und Gesellschaften. Festschrift zum 65. Geburtstag von Professor Dr. Ulrich Im Hof. Separatum, ed. Bernard, Nicolai, and Quirinus Reichen, 271–291. Bern: Wyss. Peter, Roger. 1996. Wie die Kartoffel im Kanton Zürich zum “Heiland der Armen” wurde. Ein Beitrag zur Sozialgeschichte der Kartoffel in der Schweiz. Zürich: Hans Rohr. Pfister, Ulrich. 1992. Die Zürcher Fabriques. Protoindustrielles Wachstum vom 16. zum 18. Jahrhundert. Zürich: Chronos. Rosenmund, Moritz. 2006. Volksbildung als Verzichtsleistung: Annäherung an die politische Ökonomie des Zürcher Landschulwesens im 18. Jahrhundert. In Volksschule im 18. Jahrhundert. Die Schulumfrage auf der Zürcher Landschaft 1771/72, ed. Daniel Tröhler, and Andrea Schwab, 2nd edition, 51–63. Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt.

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Scandola, Pietro. 1991. Von der Standesschule zur Staatsschule. Die Entwicklung des Schulwesens in der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft 1750–1830 am Beispiel der Kantone Bern und Zürich. In Revolution des Wissens? Europa und seine Schulen im Zeitalter der Aufklärung (1750–1825). Ein Handbuch zur europäischen Schulgeschichte, ed. Wolfgang Schmale, and Nan L. Dodde, 581–625. Bochum: Winkler. Schmidt, Heinrich Richard. 2007. Schweizer Elementarschulen im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert zwischen Konfession und Lebenswelt. In Pädagogik und Politik. Historische und aktuelle Perspektiven, ed. Claudia Crotti, Philipp Gonon, and Walter Herzog, 31–52. Bern: Haupt. Schwab, Andrea. 2006. Wissen, um zu handeln—Handeln, um zu wissen. In Volksschule im 18. Jahrhundert. Die Schulumfrage auf der Zürcher Landschaft 1771/72, ed. Daniel Tröhler, and Andrea Schwab, 2nd edition, 31–50. Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt. Smeyers, Paul, and Marc Depaepe, eds. 2008. Educational Research: the Educationalization of Social Problems, vol. 3 of Educational Research. Dordrecht: Springer. Stiefel, Annita. 1944. Das Wirken der ökonomischen Kommission in der zürcherischen Landschaft. Zürich: Leemann. Ulrich, Conrad. 1996. Das 18. Jahrhundert. In Geschichte des Kantons Zürich, vol. 2, ed. Flüeler, Niklaus, and Marianne Flüeler, 364–511. Zürich: Werd.

Part V

Perceiving and Remembering

Chapter 11

Starvation Under Carolingian Rule. The Famine of 779 and the Annales Regni Francorum Stephan Ebert

Abstract How vulnerable was the Frankish society to famines in the Early Middle Ages? Modern concepts of vulnerability and resilience are mainly used to describe susceptibility of present day social and ecological systems to climate change. Since vulnerability and resilience have also become key concepts in famine studies, this paper approaches these concepts as a method to analyze natural impacts and cultural reactions on a historical level. Examining historiographical and administrative documents from the eighth and ninth century as well as dendrochronological data, the paper discusses potential natural impacts, preventive and coping strategies in case of a famine dated to 779. Following this approach, insights into Carolingian exposure to famines are provided, shedding light on early medieval interrelations of nature and culture.










Keywords Carolingians Early Middle Ages Environmental history Famines Historiography Resilience Vulnerability










Life was tough in the Early Middle Ages. The days were dark and rainy, the muddy fields produced very little, and people starved in their cold, poor homes. This popular image1 of the epoch that scholars call the Early Middle Ages might be nothing more than a present-day figment of a long gone past. In order to entertain an intended audience, contemporary films and documentaries, from which this image may derive,2 tend to blur the real conditions of everyday life in early medieval Western Europe

As presented in the second part of the German ZDF TV documentary “Klima macht Geschichte. Vom Römischen Reich bis zum Klimawandel heute” by Sigrun Laste broadcasted on 18 January 2015, see http://www.zdf.de/terra-x/klima-macht-geschichte-vom-roemischen-reich-bis-zumklimawandel-heute-36558246.html. Accessed 18 May 2016. For a similar observation concerning popular present-day imaginations, see Squatriti (2010, 799). 2 For strategies in the media concerning a ‘rejuvenation’ of the program, see Giersch (2008, 27). 1

S. Ebert (&) Institute for the History of the Middle Ages, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany e-mail: [email protected] © Springer International Publishing AG 2018 D. Collet and M. Schuh (eds.), Famines During the ‘Little Ice Age’ (1300–1800), DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54337-6_11

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(Squatriti 2010, 779). Nevertheless, one impression received from this image is of a past society being at the mercy of its environmental circumstances. Despite the quantity of scientific publications about early medieval agricultural production, nutrition and diet, no final conclusion has been formulated.3 Scholars observe contrasting conditions during this time, which range from a life of abundant calorie supply to a life of scarcity and hunger (Schmitz 2014, 123–125). Still, agricultural yields depend on environmental conditions—be it rain, drought, heat, cold, ice, hail or snow. Comparing to today’s Western Europe, where global trade can compensate for regional shortfalls, the dependency on regional crop harvest in a pre-modern Western Europe of the Early Middle Ages was higher (Krämer 2015, 27–29). In the worst case, harvest shortfalls raised malnutrition and disease, which resulted in famines and increased mortality (Curschmann 1900, 26; Hanska 2002, 169; Newfield 2013, 78). However, in the last decades research has emphasized that famines are not a result of environmental conditions alone. Rather, they must be analyzed in a broader cultural context where access to and distribution of food become more crucial than environmental shocks (Sen 1981; Spittler 1989; Curtis 2014, 13; a brief overview of the discourse was recently provided by Krämer 2015, 31–37). Studies of disasters in Environmental History in particular stressed necessity to focus on social and natural entanglements (Mauch and Pfister 2009). In this field, historical patterns of interpreting and coping with crises were studied in order to ‘learn’ from previous disasters (Pfister 2009, 33). Since preventive strategies relied on experiences of disasters, a convincing argument concerning the relevance of the historical sciences was formulated by Franz Mauelshagen, who asserted that “this is why history matters” (Mauelshagen 2009, 45). This paper will focus on the socio-natural entanglements of the Early Middle Ages and it will analyze a famine from the Carolingian times, dated to 779. It will question the perception of the shortfall, discuss preventive or coping strategies, and examine the way that Frankish authors approached the crisis—whether they documented it or concealed it. Before going into further detail about the socio-natural entanglements in Carolingian historiography, a brief overview of the early medieval agricultural society and its natural setting is required. The Franks lived on subsistence economy and while export oriented monoculture may have existed in the Mediterranean (e.g., olives and grain from Syria and Northern Africa), Francia did not actively participate in this trade (Jussen 2014, 32). Yet, to a lesser extent, markets existed in post-Roman urban centers, and commerce was not unfamiliar to the Franks (see Pearson 1997, 23–24). Via water ways, large loads were transported down- and upstream within the Frankish realm, delivering goods from the widespread monastic properties (Hack 2015, 194). These goods mainly consisted of grains such as rye, spelt, oat, but also salt, wood, wine, chicken, eggs and pigs (Haase 2014, 107–110). Nevertheless, the majority of the people under Carolingian rule lived on

3

For a discussion and an overview of scientific publications, see Pearson (1997, 1–32) and Stamm (2015, 300).

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mixed farming and the three-course crop rotation (Newfield 2010, 21–22). The population subsisted on a harvest that was dependent on environmental conditions, or, as Pliny the Younger already noted: “There is no fairer kind of revenue than what is produced by the earth, the weather, and the season” (letters 9, 37).4 Contingent on the natural conditions of a year, this revenue fluctuated and so did the variables linked to these conditions such as the weather, the seasons, warfare, as well as germs and epizootics that decimated livestock which was needed for farming (Newfield 2010, 375). These rather exemplary factors affected people existentially, while shortages—as unpleasant as they were—were an integral part of the early medieval reality (Newfield 2010, 361–365, 407). In his article about natural phenomena in the Historia Francorum by Gregory of Tours, Christian Rohr pointed out that natural hazards were ‘normal exceptions’5 and nothing unusual for the Frankish society (see also Pearson 1997, 24; Newfield 2010, 386). The interpretation of these phenomena is, however, closely related to the intended literary purpose of the author (Rohr 2003, 77), and it allows for two perspectives on shortages and famines in early medieval historiography: on one hand, famines were regular phenomena which were not worth mentioning as long as they did not exceed expected levels. On the other hand, famines could be used to amplify the main storyline of a particular text. Thus, the inclusion or exclusion of a famine in Carolingian sources needs to be analyzed within this context.

Were the Franks Threatened by Natural Hazards? Categorizing natural hazards as ‘normal’ or ‘exceptional’ implicates a system—or rather a community—which can absorb environmental shocks up to a certain extent. From a modern perspective, this process can be characterized in terms of vulnerability and resilience. These concepts describe a multi-causal structure of external and internal factors that can increase or diminish the impact of natural hazards, be it ‘slow’ processes, such as global warming, or rather ‘sudden’ events, such as earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. Due to their abruptness, it is the ‘sudden’ events that reveal internal and external social structures, and expose a society to hazards and thoughts about future prevention more easily (Oliver-Smith 1999, 20). Therefore, the resilience of a community to such events does not depend on the severity of the event alone. It is rather the social structure, the practices (prevention methods, crisis management, redistribution of food and water, welfare, financial assistance, etc.) and the community’s perception of the event that determine the resilience or vulnerability of a community (Groh, Kempe, and Mauelshagen 2003, 11–36; Krämer 2012, 51–52). A society which perceives a flood as God’s 4 Et alioqui nullum iustius genus reditus, quam quod terra, caelum, annus refert (Kasten 2003, 552); English translation by Harvey (2016, 254). 5 For studies concerning the concept of ‘normal’ exceptions, see Sieferle (2002, 151–196); Groh et al. (2003, 11–36). For a focus on Carolingian time, see Schmitz (2014, 124–125).

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punishment will prevent and react differently to a society that perceives a flood as an event caused by failing infrastructures, such as dikes (Schenk 2015, 12). Vulnerability is a concept originally developed during the Second World War in order to analyze the impact of massive bombings in a certain region. Due to the infrastructural and social consequences of bombings, studies considered unexpected biophysical as well as psychological impacts of this military tactic. In subsequent years, a multidisciplinary research team (geographers, physics, psychologists and sociologists) began to analyze the links between a catastrophic event (shock) and its external, natural impacts in regard to social, economic and psychological disorders (Collet 2015, 43). As mentioned above, this approach was carried out in studies during the 1970s and 1980s, stressing that poverty and famines did not derive from an external force alone (Bankoff and Boomgaard 2007, 1–17; Krämer 2012, 45; Spittler 2012, 29). Rather, the diverse relation between external (natural) and internal (social, political) processes determined the degree of vulnerability. The nucleus of vulnerability-studies consists of the interdependence on these processes —in other words, the interplay of nature and culture (Collet 2015, 45). This interplay has become especially significant for modern research in the context of global warming, or generally speaking, climate change (Oliver-Smith et al. 2012, 14). According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), “Vulnerability to climate change is the degree to which geophysical, biological and socio-economic systems are susceptible to, and unable to cope with, adverse impacts of climate change” (IPCC 2007). Resilience is usually portrayed as the opposite—“a resilient system or population is not sensitive to climate variability and change and has the capacity to adapt” (IPCC 2001; see also Oliver-Smith et al. 2012, 13). In order to identify vulnerability or resilience in Carolingian time, certain indicators should be taken into consideration. Initially, the nature of the agro-ecosystem plays an elementary role. Monocultures may be more vulnerable to environmental changes than a diverse or rotating agriculture, such as the three-field system (for the productivity of corn farming in the Early Middle Ages, see Stamm 2015). The capability of farmers to adapt to these changes is another factor (e.g., methods of manuring and cultivation). Through polyculture (the cultivation of various crops on one agricultural plot), peasants could mitigate effects of climatic adversities by exploiting various growing seasons of plants (Montanari 1993, 43). Furthermore, the assets of a community also play an important role in determining whether a community has financial or agricultural savings to fall back on. In this case, regulations in respect to agricultural use of common land become crucial (Henley 2007, 20–21). Finally, is there an ‘official’ policy that formulates coping strategies and organizes help (Fraser 2006, 332)? A single drought or wet summer does not necessarily result in a famine. Yet when examining Carolingian historiography concerning accounts of famines, mechanisms like sensitivity, adaptive capacity, exposure, and resilience need to be considered. An account of a famine

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can document a moment of successful ‘crisis-management’, but it can also describe a moment when coping strategies failed to work. In addition, the interplay of nature and culture is not improvised ad hoc. The perception of God’s punishment and religious processions in the aftermath of an extreme natural event can be taken as one (persistent) example for the cultural, religious and historical background on which a society takes action. The internal reaction to an external force depends on the regional significance of this diverse background. Through his work on hunger ‘management’ in Tuareg societies, Gerd Spittler demonstrated the relevance of patterns of perception and interpretation in relation to a hunger crisis (Spittler 1989). He emphasized the diversity of individual and collective coping strategies, such as the ‘training’ of hunger and thirst while herding goats and camels, or aforethought migration due to changes in the surrounding environment (Spittler 1989, 62–75). The Tuareg, however, are far from being ‘vulnerable’. The versatile economy of a nomad society in the Sahel demonstrates how hunger crises can be absorbed by a combination of livestock farming, husbandry, food gathering and trade (Spittler 2012, 30).

Nature and Culture—A Brief Introduction In all parts of the world, the environment has an influence on society, yet it is not necessarily the driving force behind the way a society is structured. As a result, the perceptions of nature and culture vary globally (Descola 2011, 15) and develop throughout history (Collet 2012, 20–21). At the beginning of the Middle Ages, the Franks created a new society by combining Roman and Germanic elements. Although Roman influences took some precedence (Jussen 2014, 29–30), the Franks formed a new way of understanding nature (Descola 2011, 93–98). The forest, formerly imagined to be a wild and hostile place, started to be perceived as a part of a society’s environment as individuals, such as hermits, but also monastic communities, began inhabiting it, seeking an ascetic life (Barros 1999, 179). This movement slowly proceeded in cultivating the forest and Binnenkolonisation—the interior colonization during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries (Schubert 2012, 138). Particular aspects of the social, political and religious features of the Early Middle Ages also need to be considered since the strict separation of nature and culture in Western Europe is only an early modern phenomenon (Descola 2011, 99–142, esp. 116). In addition to the methodological inquiries concerning the mechanisms of vulnerability, further questions also arise about whether the modern concept of vulnerability can be applied to the Early Middle Ages. A less developed trade system and monetary economy, for example, may impede conclusive statements about grain prices (Schmitz 2014, 133–134). Still, an analysis of early medieval vulnerability and resilience may deliver insights into crises coping strategies in that epoch.

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The Famine of 779 in Carolingian Sources The first major famine that occurred during the reign of Charlemagne was the famine of 779 (Mordek 2005, 22). One of the most influential historical writings, and maybe the most successful in painting a picture of the Carolingian past, were the Royal Frankish Annals—the Annales regni Francorum (hereafter ARF)— which cover the years between 741 and 829. “Annals [‘yearbooks’] are the in-house records of religious communities” (Dunphy 2010, 45), and they form the primary evidence for this paper. Such annual entries briefly outline events which the clerical community considered relevant enough to be remembered (Jäschke 1980, 657– 661). This could be information about the death of a bishop, a celestial phenomenon, a political affair such as a battle, or periods of shortfalls such as famines. Besides this domestic character, in the late seventh century and particularly in the eighth century, some Frankish annals, such as the ARF, drew on the regional annals to create a more coherent piece of historical writing (Jäschke 1980, 657–661; Kaschke 2010, 81). The main purpose of the ARF was to create a Frankish identity through a collective history framed by Christianity and its Carolingian rulers (McKitterick 1997, 101–129; Stone 2012, 27–69). How did the early medieval authors embed the socio-natural entanglements of 779 into their narrative “of the newly formed Frankish people” (McKitterick 1997, 129)? Search results for the word fames6 in the ARF are surprisingly scarce. Using the search engine of the electronic Monumenta Germaniae Historica (eMGH) database (http://www.brepolis.net), only one single entry from the year 824 is returned (Annales regni Francorum, a. 824).7 The annals cover 88 years of Frankish history but they hardly mention famines during the lifetime of Charlemagne. Thus a critical analysis of the annals is necessary by changing the focus to other words in order to identify years that challenged the survival of the society. Entries about harsh winters, heavy rainfall, epidemics or mortality may indicate a period which may have been a famine although the word itself was not used by the author. Since the ARF drew on regional annals the accounts from the ARF also need to be compared with a variety of those external sources in order to understand the author’s perception and literary exposure to the famine or famine-like situation. While the ARF contain almost no fames entries, other contemporary sources recorded them. Various annals from the same period noted the year 779 as a year of famines and huge mortality in the whole of Francia: the Annales Alamanici, Annales Laureshamenses, Annales Mosellani, and the Annales Sangallenses breves (Annales A

6

The search included variations of the word (e.g., famis, fame, famem). For a discussion of the term fames during the period in question, see Newfield (2010, 227). 7 Et ille quidem ad haec exsequenda post medium Augustum in Italiam profectus est, imperator vero iter, quod in Brittaniam facere paraverat, propter famem, quae adhuc praevalida erat, usque ad initium autumni adgredi distulit.

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lamanici, a. 779; Annales Laureshamenses, a. 779; Annales Mosellani, a. 779; Annales Sangallenses breves, a. 779; for information concering the annals see Das Digitale Repertorium “Geschichtsquellen des deutschen Mittelalters”: http://www. geschichtsquellen.de).8 It should be noted, however, that these entries are not completely self-sufficient in origin. For example, until 784 the Annales Laureshamenses correspond to the Annales Mosellani; the Annales Laureshamenses were related to the Annales Alamanici, which are also considered a basis of the Annales Sangallenses breves (see note 8). These analogical entries may be considered as copies, yet the mutual influence must be seen in a broader context of circulating written information within the Carolingian realm (McKitterick 2004, 84–119). Such brief texts, comparable to the libelli, which contained no more than eight pages, were in constant movement and provided scribes with the relevant information about current or past events in Francia while also helping to create a collective Frankish history (McKitterick 2004, 108). In any case, it seems that 779 was a year of hunger and death, at least in the region of Metz and the Moselle-area (Annales Mosellani: http://www. geschichtsquellen.de/repOpus_00336.html), and that annalists found it relevant enough to document. Nevertheless, additional information about the famine of 779 is scarce. The regional annals may mention the famine but they do not say anything about the state of affairs before or after the breakout, and obviously neither do the ARF. It is most likely that the famine originated in harvest shortfalls in 778 or even earlier (Curschmann 1900, 26–27, 89–91; Mordek 2005, 29; see also Hanska 2002, 169), and that unfavorable natural circumstances, such as a harsh winter, aggravated the situation (Newfield 2010, 310–311). Another possible cause can be identified from the Irish annals: accounts of the Annals of Ulster mention a cold summer in 777, a flux and other diseases in September of the same year, and an epidemic of murrain of cows (Annals of Ulster, a. 777.4; ibid., a. 777.9; ibid., a. 778.3 ).9 These unpleasant circumstances remained the same until 779, since “the murrain of cows did not cease, and there was a mortality of men from want” (Annals of Ulster, a. 779.3). Later that year, “smallpox throughout Ireland” (Annals of Ulster, a. 779.7) is documented in the Annals of Ulster, which may have been brought there by early medieval trade between continental Europe and the British Isles. Precise explanations of the transmission and its exact route remain uncertain; however, 8

Annales Alamanici, a. 779: Magicampus ad Duram, et Franci in Saxonia absque bello. Fames magna, et mortalitas in Francia. Annales Laureshamenses, a. 779: Carlus rex iterum in Saxonia usque ad fluvium Wisaraha, et Saxones pacificati dextras et obsides dederunt. [Sturm abba obiit.] Fames vero magna et mortalitas in Francia; et domnus rex sedit in Wormacia. Annales Mosellani, a. 779: […] Fames vero magna et mortalitas fuit in Francia; et domnus rex sedit in Wormacia. Annales Sangallenses breves, a. 779: XV. iterum Karolus in Saxonia; fames et mortalitas in Francia. For the see Annales Alamannici: http://www.geschichtsquellen.de/repOpus_00172.html; Annales Laureshamenses:http://www.geschichtsquellen.de/repOpus_00308.html; Annales Mosellani: http://www.geschichtsquellen.de/repOpus_00336.html; Annales Sangallenses breves: http://www.geschichtsquellen.de/repOpus_00401.html. 9 Annals of Ulster, a. 777.4: The whole winter in summer, i.e. heavy rain and windstorm. Ibid., a. 777.9: The bloody flux; also many other diseases—almost a mortality. A great murrain of cows. Ibid., a. 778.3: The bloody flux; the great murrain of cows.

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comparisons to a later cattle panzootic disease in 809/810 may indicate an eastern origin of the murrain (Newfield 2012, 200–212). Essential and potentially fatal components of a famine are also increasing grain prices, malnutrition, infant mortality or epizootic diseases, which turn a shortage into a deadly event (Mordek 2005, 18, 29; Jörg 2010, 38–39; Krämer 2012, 59). When described, these components are able to indicate the vulnerability or resilience of a society. However, while the scarce Irish accounts document a possible aftershock of the cold summer in 777, no information about the circumstances of the Frankish famine in 779 and its aftermath is mentioned in the texts. The accounts from 780 are dominated by Charlemagne’s activities in Saxony (e.g., Annales Mosellani, a. 780):10 no crisis management, no coping strategy, no welfare, and no precise information about anything that the people might have done to survive before or after 779. It is thus necessary to expand the source material, and paleoclimatological data may serve as a reference here. The Old World Drought Atlas (OWDA) indicates an unusually rainy period in 778 in Western Europe,11 which may support the theory of a shortfall. In 779 another rainy period can be identified in regions southwest of Francia, the Pyrenees, northern Italy, Istria and the northern regions of the east coast of the Adriatic Sea. Concerning Francia on the whole, this data may indicate that two successive wet summers in 778 and 779 hindered regional grain compensations since shortfalls could have possibly ‘travelled’ through major parts of the Carolingian realm (see Fig. 11.1). Turning the focus back to archival sources, annals are luckily not the only sources which record the famine of 779. Capitularies (and in some respects concilia too)12—royal ordinances concerning legislation, administration and religion—can provide additional information. Is it a mere coincidence that the ambiguous term of capitulare appears in the Carolingian context for the first time in Herstal in 779 (Mordek 1991, 943–944; Mordek 2005, 36)? Christian Jörg pointed out that shortages provoked official action and produced documentation (Jörg 2010, 40). Apparently the situation in 779 called for a coping strategy since the dimension of this famine must have exceeded the usual level of shortfalls (Mordek 2005, 5). Accordingly, in the capitulary of 779,13 some measures mentioned in the text about vulnerability can be observed. In order to overcome the prevailing distress, both the clergy and the laity were in charge of care. Carolingian rule was built upon the unity of ecclesiastical and worldly power, and rulership was thought to be divine service. In this case, it is not

10

Due to the fact that the annals correspond highly to each other, the Annales Mosellani may serve as an exemplary account; see Annales Mosellani, a. 780: domnus rex Karolus perrexit iterum in Saxonia cum exercitu, et pervenit usque ad fluvium magnum Albeha […]. 11 The Old World Drought Atlas (OWDA) is “a set of year-to-year maps of tree-ring reconstructed summer wetness and dryness over Europe and the Mediterranean Basin during the Common Era”, see Cook et al. (2015). 12 For the interlacement of capitularies and concilia concerning political and administrative arrangements, see Schmitz (2014, 122, n. 4). 13 For a discussion concerning the various editions of the capitulary, see Mordek (2005, 2–4, 44–52).

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Fig. 11.1 Summer wetness and dryness over Europe in 778 CE (left) and 779 CE (right) by the use of the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI). The PDSI ranges from extreme drought (negative values) to extremely moist (positive values). Maps of the Old World Drought Atlas by Cook et al. (2015), maps accessed via: http://kage.ldeo.columbia.edu/TRL/OWDA/

surprising that the capitulary addresses both the laity and the clergy almost simultaneously. Initially, each bishop was ordered to sing three masses and psalms: one for the salvation of the king, one for the good of the Frankish army, and one for the ending of the misery. These orders were then split between the priests (three masses), the monks and nuns, and the canons (three psalms) (Capitulare Haristallense secundum speciale, l. 1–c. 1.c.).14 The Carolingian leaders asked for divine salvation and prayed for forgiveness of their sins, which was probably perceived as the most efficient way to get in touch with the one whose help promised salvation from misfortune. The capitulary also directly instructed to address God in specific places of transcendent presence, such as monasteries and abbeys, where, through saintly intercessors, a connection to God’s sphere was stronger than anywhere else (Nitschke 2001, 16–17). The capitulary says nothing about the laity at this point; however, it seems likely that individual prayers from the laity were also included in the relief idea, since this was a collective duty (Mordek 2005, 8). Charlemagne and his religious advisers—clerics educated by leading scholars of the Latin West—who interpreted the contemporary situation and provided practical guidance, set up measures that promised to overcome the food crisis (Schmitz 2014, 139). These measures can be seen as a pre-modern ‘crisis management’ where the ruling force instigates methods of improving resilience by taking care of the poor and by fighting hunger.

14

Capitulare Haristallense secundum speciale, l. 1–c. 1.c.: Capitulare, qualiter constitutum in hoc episcoporum consensu, id est: Ut unusquisque episcopus III missas et trea psalteria cantent, I pro domno rege, alia pro exercitu Francorum, tertia pro presente tribulatione, presbiteri vero unusquisque missas III, monachi et monachas et canonichi unusquisque psalteria III.

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The order to pray was not the only decree written down in the capitulary. In addition to the ‘direct conversation’ with God, the whole clergy (e.g. bishops, priests, monks, and nuns) and their households were instructed to fast for two days (Capitulare Haristallense secundum speciale, c. 2.a.).15 In addition, alms (donations or taxes) were set up to support the poor. However, these alms were carefully adjusted to the clergy’s financial potential, which was probably arranged so that the alms do not take a toll on the clergy (ibid., c. 2.b.).16 Furthermore, the capitulary also considered hospitalization of the hungry paupers, and the number of poor to be fed in a particular clerical community was again adjusted to its potential ranging from four to one (ibid., c. 2.c.).17 While the first paragraphs address the clergy, the second part of the capitulary applies to the laity. Just as the clergy, the Frankish noblemen were also ordered to give additional alms which were adjusted to their respective potential: counts gave one pound of silver; lesser noblemen gave half a pound of silver; and the alms of the leuds were given according to the size of their land (e.g., 100 casata = five solidi) (ibid., c. 3.a.).18 In contrast to the clergy, pecuniary donations could be replaced by natural fees (ibid., c. 3.a.).19 Conclusive explanations in this case are hindered by a lack of other sources;20 however, even if pecuniary donations could be circumvented at this point, the laity was giving something that could be reintegrated into the charity process. Accordingly, the Carolingian lay elite, just as the clergy, was instructed to provide as much help as individually (or collectively) possible without being overcharged, while also taking part in the two-day fast. Nevertheless, concessions to affluent individuals were back again—graded from three ounces to one, and a half ounce to one solidus (ibid., c. 3. b.).21 The order to hospitalize those in need is similar to the decree mentioned earlier in the capitulary (ibid., c. 3.c.).22 As Mordek pointed out, while the duration of the capitulary’s decrees expired on the day of St John the Baptist (24 June) (ibid.,

15

Ibid., c. 2.a.: Biduanas omnes faciant, tam episcopi et monachi et monachas et canonichi adque eorum infra casatu homines, vel qui potentes sunt. 16 Ibid . , c. 2.b.: Unusquisque episcopus aut abbas, abbatissas, qui hoc facere potest, libera de argento in elimosina donet, mediocris vero media libra, minores solidos V. 17 Ibid., c. 2.c.: Pauperes familicos quatuor pro isto inter se constituto nostro pascere debeant usque tempore messium; et qui tantum non possunt, iuxta que possibilitas est, aut III aut II aut I. 18 Ibid., c. 3.a.: Comites vero fortiores libra I de argento aut valente donet, mediocris media libra; vassi dominici de casatos CC media libra, de casatos C solidos V, de casatos L aut XXX uncia. 19 Ibid., c. 3.a.: Comites vero fortiores libra I de argento aut valente donet. 20 For thoughts about a possible insertion or expunction concerning the financial concession, see Mordek (2015, 13). 21 Capitulare Haristallense secundum speciale, c. 3.b.: Et faciant biduanas atque eorum homines in eorum casatus, vel qui hoc facere possunt. Et qui hoc redemere voluerit, fortiores comites uncias III, mediocres unciam et dimidiam, minores solidum I. 22 I bid., c. 3.c.: Et de pauperes familicos, sicut supra scriptum est, et ipsi faciant.

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l. 26–28),23 this capitulary is not bound to a certain region (Mordek 2005, 14). It seems likely to be formulated to apply to the whole Frankish realm, spreading also to northern Italy (Mordek 2005, 21, n. 91). Although the efficiency of the capitulary is not verifiable (Mordek 2005, 22), it still illustrates the way that the Frankish society reacted (or was meant to react) in times of famines. The perception of the crisis and the ‘official’ reactions decreed by the ruler illustrate that the contemporaries of the Early Middle Ages did not simply accept their fate. The root of the shortfall was probably interpreted as a punishment for the sins of the Franks (Nitschke 2001, 14; Schmitz 2014, 134); while the famine could additionally be seen as a warning—an admonition to desist from their sins and to do better (Hanska 2002, 128–132). Collective welfare, or the benefactions of clergy and laity, was thought to promise alleviation from misfortune. Since God was asked for mercy in the prayers of the clergy and the laity, the lay and clerical world demonstrated clemency as well. By doing so, they represented an image of the transcendental power. Charlemagne himself acted as a reflection of God by urging his people to be charitable in the aforementioned orders. In this case, these actions enforced the ruler’s prestige because God was taking action through him (Nitschke 2001, 15). Interestingly, a connection between the dearth and Charlemagne’s leadership is not mentioned in neither the annals nor in the capitulary, concealing the possibility that this was the fault of the king. Instead, the common duty of the benefaction is underlined because in the minds of the Franks, only God could end the present tribulatio. Thus, everyone (unusquisque) was guilty and everyone was also in charge to do better (Mordek 2005, 42, n. 182). If the Franks acted agreeably to God, he would offer salvation—and Charlemagne’s admonition stipulated what was necessary to achieve this. In a time of serious emergency, the capitulary offered coping strategies and, in equal measure, also assisted Charlemagne to reinforce his status as a superior who pleased the Almighty. The capitulary’s aim was to react adequately to the present food shortage and to overcome the suffering. The strict orders were formulated to support the implementation of the coping strategy while the prayers of the Carolingian ‘experts’ were meant to prevent the situation from worsening. Financial and natural benefactions provided immediate help, while pecuniary compensation by some members of the nobility may have reached the poor indirectly. While the Carolingian administration attempted to tackle the crisis and the rules were explicitly formulated, are these measures indications of Carolingian resilience or rather of their vulnerability?

23

Ibid., l. 26–28:: Hec omnia, si domino placuerit, pro domno rege et exercitu Francorum et presente tribulatione missa sancti Iohannis sit conpletum.

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Resilience or Vulnerability? As was pointed out above, shortfalls in Carolingian times were a recurring phenomenon. A single harvest drop did not raise mortality enormously; however, in the case of the tribulatio of 779, the situation must have exceeded a level that was expected and manageable since the Carolingian elite attempted to cope with the crisis through the capitulary of Herstal. Certain resilience and vulnerability aspects can be studied in the Carolingian famine of 779. The early medieval agriculture of the Franks—probably caused by unfavorable climate conditions and potentially a bovine disease—may have reached its economical limits, so that a vulnerable or resilient egression of the situation was a question of social and cultural measures. Praying was a obvious cultural measure that enabled some kind of crisis management. Yet in this case, praying had another dimension—those who are explicitly addressed in the capitulary are the Carolingian ‘experts’ of praying. Accordingly, this measure was also intended as a ‘dialogue’ with the transcendental sphere in order to secure God’s benevolence which the Carolingians depended on. At the same time, praying underlined the superiority of the Carolingian elite who corresponded with a higher realm within their ‘sacred sites’—be it churches, monasteries or palatinates, etc. (Nitschke 2001, 13–15, 21). Salvation came from above: from God to the noblemen, from the noblemen to the poor. Fasting, however, was a multi-way strategy. On one hand, it was an act of spiritual self-discipline with the intention of appeasing God (Jörg 2010, 51); on the other, it also served as a demonstration of solidarity with the poor (Mordek 2005, 41); and, in combination with Spittler’s studies (see above), it was a strategy of calorie reduction in an environment that offered limited calorie supply, demonstrating the entanglement of nature and culture (see also Collet 2015, 43). The Franks were not ‘passive victims’24 at all. Clerical and lay assets helped to prolong the survival of a community through welfare, and these orders were finally formulated in the Carolingian ‘institutional policy’. Influenced by religious concepts of charity, the strong helped the weak, which, as a measure of resilience, helped to strengthen existing relations of dependency. In a less religious setting, this concept is still used today in terms of ‘Western aid programs’ which establish new forms of dependencies—be it through cash flow (Krauss 2015, 63) or food supply (Wieters 2012, 216). Due to a lack of relevant information on the exact implementation of these features (Mordek 2005, 41; Jörg 2010, 50), only traces of Carolingian resilience can be identified here. In 780, Charlemagne is to be found unharmed on his

24 The term derives from publications that criticize the use of the adjective ‘vulnerable’ by many researchers in regard to the non-Western world. In this case it describes a society or ecosystem unable to cope with stressors (=‘passive victim’). For a discussion, see Collet (2015, 44–45).

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campaign to Saxony to proselytize the pagans (Annales regni Francorum, a. 780; Annales Laurissenses, a. 780).25 Yet, the absence of famine-like accounts after 779 is hardly an indication of the success of the capitulary, its efficiency and success remain rather unclear (Mordek 2005, 21–22). The source material allows us to observe an instance of pre-modern hunger management in 779. Once the shortfall broke out, traditional measures such as ecclesiastic welfare seemed to be unable to compensate for the prevailing hunger (Mordek 2005, 11). In Herstal, the ruling Frankish elite headed by Charlemagne formulated relief efforts that increased welfare by intensifying spiritual and economic aid. The extent of the aid depended on the capacity of each community, and no one was forced to give more than he or she could. The Franks definitely expanded their help but they did not overstrain themselves (Mordek 2005, 11–12). Finally, the Frankish nobility was ordered to provide collective help to prevent a worsening of the situation (Mordek 2005, 43). Taking action collectively is a strong motive in Carolingian historiography. On their campaigns, Carolingian rulers did everything in cooperation with the Franks (McKitterick 1997, 126–127), and the Franks led by their Carolingian rulers rode from victory to victory. Neither the Saxons, the Avars, or the Moors could stop them.26 Now, as the Frankish people were in danger, the leaders ruled by Charlemagne were taking action together again. In this case, the capitulary of 779 is an authoritative example of a ‘growing process’ of Frankish unity ruled by the Carolingians. The capitulary was issued in Herstal, and it was there that Charlemagne and his people discussed possible measures and formulated the above mentioned orders (Schmitz 2014, 139). What was written down in the capitulary were thoughts on authoritative behavior—contemporary ideas on morality (Stone 2012, 46). Consulting the early medieval authors and looking at the ARF, however, it is clear that the capitulary was not an excellent example of Frankish unity and care under Charlemagne, and that it did not suit the narrative of the ‘Carolingians ruling the Christian Franks’ perfectly. The ARF cover the years between 741 and 829, and during this period, three major ‘crisis policies’ concerning shortfalls are documented in other sources: the capitulary of 779, the Synodus Francofurtense of 794 (MGH Capit. 1, n. 28, c. 4),27 and the capitulary of Thionville in 805 (MGH Capit. 25

Annales regni Francorum, a. 780: Tunc domnus Carolus rex iter peragens ad disponendam Saxoniam ad Eresburgum pervenit et inde ad locum, ubi Lippia consurgit, ibique synodum tenens. Inde iter peragens partibus Albiae fluvii, et in ipso itinere omnes Bardongavenses et multi de Nordleudi baptizati sunt in loco, qui dicitur Orhaim, ultra Obacro fluvio. Almost the same entry can be found in the annals of Lorsch, see Annales Laurissenses, a. 780: Tunc domnus Carolus rex iter peragens ad disponendam Saxoniam, ad Aeresburgum pervenit […]. 26 This refers to a general observation of the sources. For the case of 778, see n. 31. 27 MGH Capit. 1, n. 28, c. 4: Statuit piissimus domnus noster rex, consentienti sancta synodo, ut nullus homo, sive ecclesiasticus sive laicus sit, ut nunquam carius vendat annonam, sive tempore abundantiae sive tempore caritatis, quam modium publicum et noviter statutum, de modio de avena denario uno, modio ordii denarius duo, modio sigalo denarii tres, modio frumenti denarii quatuor. Si vero in pane vendere voluerit, duodecim panes de frumento, habentes singuli libras

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1, n. 44, c. 4; see also Mordek 2005, 22, n. 93).28 The ARF mention other periods of harsh winters (Annales regni Francorum, a. 763; Annales qui dicuntur Einhardi, a. 763; Annales regni Francorum, a. 808; ibid., a. 821; ibid., a. 824),29 of pestilence and of mortality (ibid., a. 801; ibid., a. 803; ibid., a. 810; ibid., 823),30 but none of these events seemed to reach a level as exceptional as those three shortfalls. The entries do not cover the extreme years where additional ‘aid policy’ is documented. If there was space for unfavorable natural circumstances in the ARF, why did the authors not mention the famine periods during which the whole Frankish nobility was acting as an ‘aid community’?

Strategic Gaps in the Record? The ARF are more than a collection of brief entries of annual events. “The narrative is a very skillfully constructed piece of political ideology, with a strong political message about benefits of Frankish rule, the legitimacy of particular Carolingian rulers and the success of the Franks” (McKitterick 2004, 272). Although, not an (Footnote 27 continued) duas, pro denario dare debeat, sigalatius quindecim sequo pondere pro denario, ordeaceos viginti similiter pensantes, avenatios viginti quinque similiter pensantes. De vero anona publica domni regis, si venundata fuerit, de avena modius II pro denario, ordeo den. I, sigalo den. II, frumento modius denar. III. Et qui nostrum habet beneficium, diligentissime praevideat, quantum potest Deo donante, ut nullus ex mancipiis ad illum pertinentes beneficium famen moriatur; et quod superest illius familiae necessitatem, hoc libere vendat iure praescripto. 28 MGH Capit. 1, n. 44, c. 4:: De hoc si evenerit fames, clades, pestilentia, inaequalitas aeris vel alia qualiscumque tribulatio, ut non expectetur edictum nostrum, sed statim depraecetur Dei misericordia. Et in praesenti anno de famis inopia, ut suos quisque adiuvet prout potest et suam annonam non nimis care vendat; et ne foris imperium nostrum vendatur aliquid alimoniae. For a brief summary of Charlemagne’s ‘crisis policy’, see Curschmann (1900, 70–74). 29 Annales regni Francorum, a. 763: Et facta est hiems valida. Annales qui dicuntur Einhardi, a. 763: Facta est autem eo tempore tam valida atque aspera hiems, ut inmanitate frigoris nullae praeteritorum annorum hiemi videretur posse conferri. Annales regni Francorum, a. 808: Hiemps mollissima ac pestilens fuit in illo tempore. Ibid, a. 821: Cui hiems in tantum prolixa successit et aspera, ut non solum minores rivi ac mediocres fluvii, verum ipsi maximi ac famosissimi amnes, Rhenus videlicet ac Danubius Albisque ac Sequana caeteraque per Galliam atque Germaniam oceanum petentia flumina, adeo solida glacie stringerentur, ut tricenis vel eo amplius diebus plaustra huc atque illuc commeantia velut pontibus iuncta sustinerent. Ibid., a. 824: Hiemps aspera valdeque prolixa facta est, quae non solum caetera animalia, verum etiam hominess quosdam inmanitate frigoris extinxit. 30 Ibid., a. 801: Pestilentia propter mollitiem hiberni temporis facta est. Ibid., a. 803: Hoc hieme circa ipsum palatium [Aachen] et finitimas regiones terrae motus factus et mortalitas subsecuta est. Ibid., a. 810: Tanta fuit in ea expeditione boum pestilentia, ut pene nullus tanto exercitui superesset, quin omnes usque ad unum perirent; et non solum ibi, sed etiam per omnes imperatori subiectas provincias illius generis animalium mortalitas inmanissime grassata est. Ibid., a. 823: Secuta est ingens pestilentia atque hominum mortalitas, quae per totam Franciam immaniter usquequaque grassata est et innumeram hominum multitudinem diversi sexus et aetatis gravissime serviendo consumpsit.

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official history of the Carolingians, the ARF formed a collective past of the Franks, and its historiography became exemplary for future generations (Stone 2012, 48). Thus, there must be a reason for the omission of the famine accounts. It is possible that the scribe did not remember the famine or did not have any information about it; however, written local information was spread vividly throughout the Frankish realm (McKitterick 2006, 81–91) and other contemporary authors of local annals decided to cover the shortfall of 779 (see above). A lack of knowledge of the ARF author is not impossible in this case, yet it seems unlikely. We have to consider the possibility that the author was aware of the starvation under Carolingian rule, but refused to document it. The ARF narrate a string of success stories, with the protector and defender Charlemagne and his Frankish companions riding from one victory to another on every page. In 778, however, the Franks had to face a serious defeat in the Pyrenees (Annales qui dicuntur Einhardi, a. 778),31 and as time went by, the misery increased when the famine set in. Linking dearth and Charlemagne’s leadership was not inconceivable for the contemporaries (Mordek 2005, 42). The capitulary of 779 points out the ‘collective duty of welfare’ of the Franks, while it says nothing about Charlemagne—nor do the annals. In this case, leaving out an unpleasant report may suit the narrative of the ‘glorious past’ of Charlemagne better. The capitulary of 779 is thus an early proof of Carolingian legislature (Mordek 2005, 17). In the aftermath, more precise orders were needed to efficiently secure welfare during a famine, and later capitularies start mentioning upper limits of grain prices and forbid grain exports (see Frankfurt 794, Thionville 805). This may be an indication that not all of the decrees of the Herstal capitulary were followed by the Frankish nobility or circumvented to their advantage. With this example, the capitulary seems to have failed to work and was probably counterproductive to the “benefits of Frankish rule and the legitimacy” of the Carolingians (McKitterick 2004, 272). However, mentioning other years of hardship could also mask the disastrous years of famine and lead the reader’s attention to the victorious unity of the Carolingians. This would be a probable motivation at least until the 820s when the integrative policy of Charlemagne’s descendant, Louis the Pious, as well as Frankish unity began to decrease (Schieffer 2006, 126; Schmitz 2014, 139). Famines had to fit into the scribe’s intended literary purpose. Additionally, this indicates an important bias in case of large scale paleoclimatological studies. It raises the eminent importance of historical expertise in such projects since impacts may be hidden behind the causa scribendi.32

31

Annales qui dicuntur Einhardi, a. 778: Cuius muros, ne rebellare posset, ad solum usque destruxit ac regredi statuens Pyrinei saltum ingressus est. In cuius summitate Wascones insidiis conlocatis extremum agmen adorti totum exercitum magno tumultu perturbant. Et licet Franci Wasconibus tam armis quam animis praestare viderentur, tamen et iniquitate locorum et genere inparis pugnae inferiores effecti sunt. In hoc certamine plerique aulicorum, quos rex copiis praefecerat, interfecti sunt, direpta impedimenta et hostis propter notitiam locorum statim in diversa dilapsus est. 32 For late medieval agricultural accounts in England see Schuh (2016).

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Conclusion The analysis of the capitulary of 779 shows that the Carolingian society was no passive victim, simply accepting its fate. Rather, it had developed its own, diverse way of dealing with famines. The capitulary of 779 reveals their perception of a higher power offering salvation. By admonishing their people, the ruling powers also adopted what they considered as God’s way of acting. Coping strategies such as fasting and welfare were mitigating the misery by saving calories and distributing aid, as well as simultaneously promising spiritual salvation. Due to a lack of sources describing the implementation of the decrees of 779, their outcome remains uncertain. Yet, it can certainly be said that the Carolingians had a program of resilience. It was a program embedded in their religious practices of transcendental communication, welfare and, as a result, of legitimacy. In some respects, however, this perception promoted the concept of a society in need of help from others— meaning a potent holy ruler, and a society which favored Christianity and the Carolingians. As the quantity of local sources suggests, famines were not mere marginalia in the perspective of historiographers. They shattered people’s daily life (Borst 1983, 541) and were a part of a collective memory, which is why the authors of regional annals decided to record them. Their appearance in a “skillfully constructed” historiography (McKitterick 2004, 272), however, depended on the intended purpose of the author(s). Useful messages were welcomed in their manuscripts, while setbacks had to be balanced in its density. The outline of a picture was more important than the colors available to portray it.

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Secondary Works Bankoff, Greg and Boomgaard, Peter. 2007. Introduction: Natural resources and the shape of Asian history, 1500–2000. In A history of natural resources in Asia: The wealth of nature, eds. Greg Bankoff and Peter Boomgaard, 1–17. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Barros Guimerans, Carlos. 1999. La humanización de la naturaleza en la Edad Media. Edad Media. Revista de historia 2: 169–194. Borst, Arno. 1983. Das Erdbeben von 1348: Ein historischer Beitrag zur Katastrophenforschung. Historische Zeitschrift 233: 529–569. Collet, Dominik. 2012. „Vulnerabilität“ als Brückenkonzept der Hungerforschung. In Handeln in Hungerkrisen: Neue Perspektiven auf soziale und klimatische Vulnerabilität, eds. Dominik Collet, Thore Lassen, and Ansgar Schanbacher, 13–25. Göttingen: Universitätsverlag Göttingen c/o SUB Göttingen. Collet, Dominik. 2015. Predicting the past? Integrating vulnerability, climate and culture during historical famines. In Grounding global climate change: Contributions from the social and cultural sciences, eds. Heike Greschke and Julia Tischer, 39–57. Dordrecht: Springer. Cook, Edward R. et al. 2015. Old World megadroughts and pluvials during the Common Era. Science Advances 1(10). doi:10.1126/sciadv.1500561. Curschmann, Fritz. 1900, repr. 1970. Hungersnöte im Mittelalter: Ein Beitrag zur deutschen Wirtschaftsgeschichte des 8.–13. Jahrhunderts. Aalen: Scientia-Verlag. Curtis, Daniel R. 2014. Coping with crisis: The resilience and vulnerability of pre-industrial settlements. Farnham: Ashgate. Descola, Philippe. 2011. Jenseits von Natur und Kultur. Trans. E. Moldenhauer. Berlin: Suhrkamp. Dunphy, Graeme. 2010. “Annals”. In The Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle 1, 45–52. Leiden, Boston: Brill. Fraser, Evan D.G. 2006. Food system vulnerability: Using past famines to help understand how food systems may adapt to climate change. Ecological Complexity 3 (4): 328–335. Giersch, Volker. 2008. Ein nur noch seltenes Paar: Öffentlich-rechtlicher Rundfunk und Jugend— Strategien gegen den Generationenabriss. ARD Jahrbuch: 23–29. Groh, Dieter, Kempe, Michael, and Mauelshagen, Franz. 2003. Einleitung: Naturkatastrophen— wahrgenommen, gedeutet, dargestellt. In Naturkatastrophen: Beiträge zu ihrer Wahrnehmung, Deutung und Darstellung in Text und Bild von der Antike bis ins 20. Jahrhundert, eds. Dieter Groh, Michael Kempe, and Franz Mauelshagen, 11–36. Tübingen: Narr.

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McKitterick, Rosamond. 2006. Perceptions of the past in the Early Middle Ages. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press. Montanari, Massimo. 1993. Der Hunger und der Überfluß: Kulturgeschichte der Ernährung in Europa. Trans. M. Rawert. München: Beck. Mordek, Hubert. 1991. “Kapitularien”. In Lexikon des Mittelalters 5: 943–946. Mordek, Hubert. 2005. Karls des Großen zweites Kapitular von Herstal und die Hungersnot der Jahre 778/779. Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters 61: 1–52. Newfield, Timothy P. 2010. The contours of disease and hunger in Carolingian and early Ottonian Europe (c.750–c.950 CE). Montreal: McGill University. Newfield, Timothy P. 2012. A Great Carolingian Panzootic: The probable extent, diagnosis and impact of an early ninth century cattle pestilence. Argos. Bulletin van het Veterinair Historisch Genootschap 46: 200–210. Newfield, Timothy P. 2013. Early Medieval Epizootics and Landscapes of Disease: The Origins and Triggers of European Livestock Pestilences, 400 – 1000 CE. In Landscapes and societies in medieval Europe East of the Elbe, ed. Sunhild Kleingärtner et al., 73–113. Toronto: Pontifical Inst. of Mediaeval Studies. Nitschke, August. 2001. Karolinger und Ottonen: Von der “karolingischen Staatlichkeit” zur “Königsherrschaft ohne Staat”? Historische Zeitschrift 273: 1–29. Oliver-Smith, Anthony. 1999. “What is a disaster?”: Anthropological perspectives on a persistent question. In The angry earth: Disaster in anthropological perspective, eds. Anthony Oliver-Smith and Susanna Hoffmann, 18–34. New York: Routledge. Oliver-Smith, Anthony et al., eds. 2012. Adressing loss and damage in the context of social vulnerability and resilience. Bonn: United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security. Pearson, Kathy Lynne Roper. 1997. Nutrition and early-medieval diet. Speculum 72: 1–32. Pfister, Christian. 2009. Learning from nature-induced disasters: Theoretical considerations and case studies from Western Europe. In Natural disasters, cultural responses: Case studies toward a global environmental history, eds. Christof Mauch and Christian Pfister, 17–40. Lanham: Lexington Books. Rohr, Christian. 2003. Signa apparuerunt, quae aut regis obitum adnunciare solent aut regiones excidium: Naturerscheinungen und ihre » Funktion « in der Historia Francorum Gregors von Tours. In Naturkatastrophen: Beiträge zu ihrer Wahrnehmung, Deutung und Darstellung in Text und Bild von der Antike bis ins 20. Jahrhundert, ed. Dieter Groh, 65–78. Tübingen: Narr. Schenk, Gerrit Jasper. 2015. Städte zwischen Vulnerabilität und Resilienz. GAIA Beihefte 3: 12–13. Schmitz, Gerhard. 2014. Hunger und Wucher: Zur konziliaren Wahrnehmung gesellschaftlicher Wirklichkeit im 9. Jahrhundert. Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters 70: 121–142. Schieffer, Rudolf. 2006. Die Karolinger. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer. Schubert, Ernst. 2012. Alltag im Mittelalter: Natürliches Lebensumfeld und menschliches Miteinander, Darmstadt: Primus Verlag. Schuh, Maximilian. 2016. Umweltbeobachtungen oder Ausreden? Das Wetter und seine Auswirkungen in den grundherrlichen Rechnungen des Bischofs von Winchester im 14. Jahrhundert. Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung 43: 445–471. Sen, Amartya. 1981. Poverty and famines: An essay on entitlement and deprivation. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Sieferle, Rolf Peter. 2002. Unsicherheit, Risiko und Ruinvermeidung. In Historische Humanökologie: Interdisziplinäre Zugänge zu Menschen und ihrer Umwelt, eds. Verena Winiwarter and Harald Wilfing, 151–196. Wien: Facultas. Spittler, Gerd. 1989. Handeln in einer Hungerkrise: Tuaregnomaden und die grosse Dürre von 1984. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag. Spittler, Gerd. 2012. Handeln in einer Hungerkrise—das Beispiel der Kel Ewey Tuareg. In Handeln in Hungerkrisen: Neue Perspektiven auf soziale und klimatische Vulnerabilität, eds.

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Chapter 12

Staging the Return to Normality. Socio-cultural Coping Strategies with the Crisis of 1816/1817 Maren Schulz

Abstract After the subsistence crisis of 1816/1817 in Central Europe a new festival was invented and celebrated all over southern Germany: The parade of the first harvest carriage. This paper analyses the parade in Stuttgart, using articles published in the newspapers and contemporary prints. The parades and their illustrations represent interlocking media that offered symbolic socio-cultural coping mechanisms. In order to trace their effects, theories of intermediality (Rajewsky) and cultural memory (Assmann) are applied. These festivities enabled media consumers to process the closure of the crisis. Keywords Famine


Ritual
Intermediality
Cultural memory
Harvest carriage

In the summer of 1817 newspapers reported that “in the whole of Germany, as well as […] in every part of the Bavarian kingdom”, “all over Württemberg” and “everywhere, [in] Switzerland, Nuernberg, Fuerth, Mannheim […] harvest carriages were welcomed […] in towns and villages”.1 After the “year without a summer” (1816) that had caused dearth, starvation and all-out famine in parts of central Europe, North Africa, and North America (Post 1977, XII), people across Southern Germany celebrated the “new festival[s]” of the parades of the first harvest carriage (Der Einzug des ersten Erntewagens) to mark this transition (Behringer 2015, 199).2 The radius of their prevalence, their cross-regional occurrence and the amount of written and visual sources suggest that they carried a great meaning for

“In ganz Deutschland, eben so […] auch in allen Gegenden des bairischen Königreiches” (Augsburger Ordinari Postzeitung 22.08.1817), auch aus “allen Gegenden Wuerttembergs” (Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 529) und “[v]on allen Seiten her, aus der Schweiz, von Nuernberg, Fuerth, Mannheim etc. liest man, daß […] ErndteWagen […] in Staedten und Doerfern eingefuehrt worden sind” (Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 1107). 2 “neue[s] Fest” (Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 521). 1

M. Schulz (&) Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany e-mail: [email protected] © Springer International Publishing AG 2018 D. Collet and M. Schuh (eds.), Famines During the ‘Little Ice Age’ (1300–1800), DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54337-6_12

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many contemporaries.3 The parades offered a performative and pictorial way of coping with the crisis and finding a way back to normality. These bottom-up as well as top-down socio-cultural coping strategies aimed to rationalise the deprivations and the end of the disaster, plus to restore social order on an individual and collective level, different from politico-economic strategies deployed to improve material well-being. Disastrous events like a famine have been mediatised throughout the ages and demand a medial approach (Juneja and Schenk 2014, 9–15). The famine in Southern Germany in 1816/1817 was recorded and communicated in various written, material, and visual media (Bayer 1966; Brönnimann and Krämer 2016, 38), which is why we have to consider the parades in forms of festivities and pictures as media in a communication process. Both media transmit meaning and information, thereby reflecting coping strategies, yet their different formats influence content and hence reception (Behringer et al. 2013, 11–18; Juneja and Schenk 2014, 8–18; Würgler 2013, 68–69, 86). Whereas the performative medium delivers messages through acts, and evokes actions itself, the visual medium carries and stores them in pictures (Behringer et al. 2013, 18–16; Brademann 2009, 285; Juneja and Schenk 2014, 15; Würgler 2013, 2, 68–69, 86). Since the parades appear in these different and separate forms of media that individually impact their audience, it is necessary to study them as intermedial phenomena (Boyce 2012, 424–427; Rajewsky 2014, 197–206).4 Such an intermedial approach augments historical research that aims to understand culturally constructed meaning. Their methods enable us to analyse intermedial constructs considering their constitution, functions, practices, and potential impacts (Emich 2008, 37–51; Rajewsky 2014, 200; Stollberg-Rilinger 2013, 37). Studying intermedial phenomena like a parade is limited by two aspects. The first applies to the performative medium as it is no longer accessible in its original form. Research largely depends on written sources, meaning that the original content has been filtered and structured anew (Stollberg-Rilinger 2013, 177). The documentary records consist of speeches and sermons (Bayer 1966, 118–120; Behringer 2015, 358–359), lyrics, for instance hymns and poems (Bayer 1966, 106–108; Behringer 2015, 358–359), parish registers (Abel 1974, 417–418), administrative records (Reuss 1819) and even a diary (Bayer 1966, 94–96). The focus of this study will be on newspaper articles from the Schwäbische Merkur published in Stuttgart. Between July and August 1817 the newspaper ran eleven reports on parades that took place in 32 different regions and towns. The second

3

21 different images of the parades from Southern Germany were traced for this paper. Both written sources and pictures reporting the parades exist for only eight towns: Frankfurt, Heilbronn, Fürth, Stuttgart, Ehingen, Hall, Gmünd, and Ulm. 4 Intermedial phenomena are complex and debatable. Ritual events, for example, are multimedial as well as intermedial (Stollberg-Rilinger and Weissbrich 2010, 20–21) and do not necessarily present one specific type of medium (Rajewsky 2014, 198–199). Defining the parades as performative and visual media draws on intermedial categories useful for the analysis the intricacy of intermedial phenomena.

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limitation pertains to the fact that some semiotic codes of visual media are no longer transparent to modern readers (Stollberg-Rilinger 2013, 179–181; Würgler 2013, 113). Nowadays there are common repertoires of hunger motifs that circulate worldwide and blatantly display other peoples’ suffering (Krauss 2001, 20–24; Sontag 2003, 25–28, 49–54, 113–123). Pictures of the famine in 1816/17 do not depict the cruel reality of hunger, for example haggard bodies. Instead, we find images relating to other aspects of famines such as begging, feeding the poor or climate anomalies associated with the dearth (Krauss 2001, 20–24). Most pictures of the parades belong to the art category veduta that intends to topographically illustrate panoramic landscapes or towns and represents a typical art genre from the Biedermeier era (Schefold 1956, 128). The vedutas exist in gouaches, pen drawings painted in watercolours, coloured copper engravings, reverse paintings on glasses and lithographs.5 Drawing on these written and pictorial sources, the paper will investigate the celebrations of the first harvest carriage and its visual representations as socio-cultural coping mechanisms, with Stuttgart, the capital of Württemberg, as a case study. So far there are only two major works on the parades: While philologist and folklorist Adolf Spamer (1883–1953) focuses on Bavaria (1916, 145–266), Dorothee Bayer concentrates on Württemberg (1966, 8–9). Württemberg was in a desolate situation in the beginning of the nineteenth century. The Coalition Wars (1792–1815) dramatically affected the territory, weakening the economy, destroying large areas while at the same time geographically and demographically doubling Württemberg’s size, and thereby enormously stressing the population (Bayer 1966, 14; Behringer 2015, 17; Bittel and von Stieglitz 2006, 56–58). Württemberg was also plagued by inner conflicts, most notably after the king’s death in 1816 (Sauer 1995, 79). By the time Wilhelm I took control of the country, famine was fast approaching. The dearth was triggered by natural causes, specifically by the eruption of the Indonesian volcano Tambora in 1815 that exacerbated the already unfavourable climatic conditions of the Little Ice Age (Brönnimann and Krämer 2016, 19; Gestrich 2003, 276). The eruption catapulted large quantities of particles and sulphur into the atmosphere that interfered with solar radiation in the northern hemisphere (Abel 1974, 317; Behringer 2015, 9–13; Krämer 2015, 13–19, 40; Post 1977, XII, 174). In 1816 the weather became exceptionally cold and wet (Briffa and Jones 1992, 372; Brönnimann and Krämer 2016, 19–21), leading to a delayed and poor harvest, as well as reducing the quality of some fruit crops or even causing other types to fail entirely (Abel 1974, 314– 341). In combination with social factors, such as social hierarchies, structural problems, for instance agricultural practices or taxation, and post-war effects, this initiated a severe subsistence crisis (Behringer 2015, 10; Brönnimann and Krämer 2016, 31; Murton 2000, 1411–1427).

5

The collection of graphics is defined on the basis of Spamer (1916, 145–206), Bayer (1966, 94– 129), internet sources as well as the extensive collection of the Museum of Bread Culture in Ulm.

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1816 and 1817 were characterised by a massive fertility rate decline (Krämer 2015, 47) and rocketing food prices. They placed an extra burden on the average household that spent 40–50% of its income on bread (Zimmermann 1995, 21), and caused wide spread poverty leading many into begging and emigration, as well as new charity organisations being founded (Abel 1974, 321–331; Behringer 2015, 182; Krämer 2015, 47). The crisis also reinvigorated religious activities. For example, the number of Catholics requesting to go on pilgrimages climbed so dramatically that state and church authorities had to reinstate this previously abolished practice (Gestrich 2003, 282–292; Jehle 2007, 1284). When the new king came to power he immediately attempted “to calm down our [=his] subjects and to secure their needs”.6 His efforts to reform agriculture—in connection with Queen Katharina’s dedication towards social matters—endeared the royal couple to the public. The years of famine were a universal and dramatic experience that affected every Württemberger’s life, with many suffering severe hunger. The court’s relief provisions highlighted the need for urgent political measures which the former sovereign had failed to carry out.

The Parade of the First Harvest Carriage in Stuttgart The Performative Medium In the light of Württemberg’s subsistence crisis, the popular parades acquired notable significance. On 30 July 1817 the Schwäbische Merkur released an article on the parade in Stuttgart: Stuttgart, 29 July 1817. Yesterday, the first carriage of new rye was brought in. 1800 pupils met it at the gate and escorted the carriage, festively garlanded with flowers, through the main streets of the city. Accompanied with music and hymns of praise, with all bells ringing, the carriage the square between the Collegial Church and the Old Palace. Here, all the clerics, the magistrate, and a deputation from the charitable society welcomed it while the children sang “Nun danket alle Gott” [Now thank we all our God]. Festive services in all the main churches completed the act, during which a generous amount of donations were collected for the poor. This event was a new festival for the residents of our city, and evoked strong emotions. Everyone was filled with heartfelt gratefulness towards God who had ended this dearth, which had abutted on a famine after long years of war and with the strong hope that we will never have to live through such years again.

“[Z]ur Beruhigung Unserer Untertanen und zur Sicherstellung ihrer Bedürfnisse” [Royal decree from 08.11.1816, in Bayer (1966, 60)]. See Zimmermann for further details on political measures that followed earlier politics of the famine of 1770–72 (1995, 398).

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The crops from the carriage belonged to the manor of the master baker senior Weis, located in the Feuerbacher heathland, and was donated to the municipal charity for the poor.7

The report summarises the event by splitting it into four consecutive parts. The first phase of the festival was the carriage’s reception by pupils at one of the city gates, where most likely a ritual welcome took place. Since the eighteenth century it was quite common to include the pupils from Stuttgarter schools in important municipal festivities (Sauer 1995, 300). We can assume that—similar to parades in other towns—, pupils from “all local public and private schools”8 participated in the ceremony, especially as Queen Katharina had founded additional schools for the poor (Sauer 1995, 266). After the reception at the town gate, children accompanied the carriage on its way to the city centre. At this point, the parade recalls a religious procession, defined by a “well-ordered, festive, collective cavalcade […] of people and ritual objects from one location to another”.9 In our case, the carriage loaded with grain in the centre of the procession became the ritual object, distinguished by elaborate decoration. The article also mentions music, which probably referred to the “the military and its music”,10 implying that the secular authorities had instructed the musicians. Missing in the report is the order of people following the carriage.11 The second phase, the procession through the city, culminated in the third sequence of the parade: the welcome ceremony in front of the Collegiate Church and the Old Palace. Apart from the children’s hymn “Nun danket alle Gott” it

“Stuttgart, den 29, Julius 1817. Gestern wurde hier der erste Wagen neuer Roggen eingebracht. 1800 Schulkinder waren ihm ans Thor entgegen gegangen, und geleiteten den festlich mit Blumen bekraenzten Wagen durch die Haupt Straßen der Stadt mit Musik und Lobgesaengen und unter dem Gelaeute aller Glocken bis auf den Platz zwischen der Stiftskirche und dem alten Schloß. Hier nahm die gesammte Geistlichkeit, der Stadtmagistrat und eine Deputation des Wohlthaetigkeits Verein den Wagen in Empfang, waehrend von den Kindern das “Nun danket alle Gott” gesungen wurde. Feierlicher GottesDienst in allen HauptKirchen beschloß diese Handlung, wobei reichliche Opfer fuer die Armen fielen. Große Ruehrung brachte dieses, fuer die Bewohner unserer Stadt, neue Fest hervor. Inniger Dank gegen Gott, der nach langen KriegsJahren nun auch diesen an HungerNoth graenzenden Mangel vorueberfuehrt, und der heisse Wunsch, daß wir solche Jahre nie wieder erleben moegen, erfuellten jede Brust. Die Frucht dieses Wagens kam von dem Gute des Baecker Meister Weis des aelteren auf der Feuerbacher Heide, und wurde von dem Gutseigenthuemer dem ArmenVerein der Stadt geschenkt” (Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 521). 8 Schüler “aller hiesigen oeffentlichen u. PrivatUnterrichtsAnstalten” (Heilbronn: Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 492). 9 “[Prozessionen sind] geordnete, feierliche, kollektive Züge von Menschen und rituellen Objekten von einem Ort zu einem anderen” (Stollberg-Rilinger 2013, 120). 10 “Militaer und dessen Musik” (Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 563–564). 11 Leonhard noted that the succession of the participants was arranged according to the local social hierarchy: “Vor dem Wagen die Musik, die Herren Schullehrer, die […] Jugend, und hinter dem Wagen: der Herr Oberamtmann, […] Herr Kameral Verwalter, […sämtliche] Oberamtliche Personen, und Honorationen, der löbliche Magistrat, die Herrn Deputierte, […] die Buerger von dem Wohlthätigkeitsverein. [Alles] mit einer Menge Volk von vorne bis ans Ende umgeben” (Bayer 1966, 94, 96). 7

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remains unclear which actions were performed at this part of the ceremony. The main players, however, are identified as the clerics, the magistrate, and members of the city’s charitable society (the town’s charity). As the clerics are mentioned first, they might have taken the lead in the ceremony. Both the magistrate and the charitable society were connected to the court, as the magistrate had to be approved by the king (Sauer 1995, 160), and the charity was founded by Queen Katharina as part of her countrywide poverty relief effort, combining government and civil forces. It is probable that the deputation was made up of the charity’s state-appointed superintendence based in Stuttgart (Sauer 1995, 266–267). The fourth and final phase of the parade consisted of celebratory services conducted by the three Lutheran parish churches and probably also by the Catholic church of St. Eberhard (Sauer 1995, 270–292), a circumstance that shows the interdenominational dimension of the occasion.12 The services were most likely some sort of thanksgiving services as “in some places a sheaf of crops was placed on the altar or the font”,13 a practice familiar from thanksgiving celebrations. The collection of donations during the services suggests that anyone who was registered for the distribution of alms (Sauer 1995, 259–265) would have received the offerings. Yet, a few days later, an announcement from Queen Katharina’s charitable society publicly thanked master baker Weis for donating his crops to the “newly founded employment institution for children”14 (a school-cum-work establishment). The notice also thanked the municipal authority who had assigned the donations collected at the parade to the institution (Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 534). As a result, the beneficiaries were limited to those supported by the court, sponsored by the master baker, and privileged by the municipal authority. According to the newspaper article, the inhabitants of Stuttgart were included in all four parts of the festivity, but it neither specifies the number of the participants, nor their social affiliation. It is safe to assume, that “people from every rank”15 came together, as one news article stated, although “princely noblemen” might not have attended the festivity, as this would have surely been reported.16 The readers of the Schwäbische Merkur were most likely among the participants, as they were interested in information about the parades. They were educated citizens with an understanding of local, national and international topics of politics, culture and

12

In the town of Hall, the parade was not only inter-denominationally but also inter-religiously celebrated, including representatives from the Jewish congregation (Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 547–548). 13 “An manchen Orten war eine KornGarbe, waehrend des GottesDienstes, auf dem Altar oder dem TaufStein aufgestellt” (Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 529). 14 “neue KinderBeschaeftigungsAnstalt” (Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 534). 15 “Leute von jedem Stande” (Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 563, 564). 16 “Fuerstliche Herrschaften” (Kirchberg: Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 547, 548). Since the Schwäbische Merkur frequently published state notes and royal decrees, we can assume that the presence of nobility would have been mentioned. But this was only the case in Kirchberg.

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economy.17 The author of the article used the editorial “we”, therefore he might have attended the parade himself and emphasised his and his readers’ shared roles as participants. Since his report was printed in the section “non-officially received news” from Württemberg (auf nicht offizielle Weise eingegangene Nachrichten), he most likely did not belong to the newspaper’s editorial staff or to an institution, but rather to the audience of the paper. Reports about parades in other places were similarly sent to the newspaper, where the staff sorted and summarised them.18 In his study of Swabian newspapers, Borst highlights the Schwäbische Merkur’s role in creating a sense of unity amongst the Württembergers (1983, 115–117). Sent from the old as well as the new parts of the recently formed kingdom, these articles reminded the audience of the fact that they all shared the experience of overcoming the famine and of coping with its end by organising the new festivals. They may therefore have inspired readers with a new sense of belonging and a feeling of togetherness as “Württembergers”. The newspaper describes the parade as a “simple festivity”19 with elements and sequences that were well-known from similar rituals, for instance adventus rituals of sovereigns,20 processions, and other harvest customs (Behringer 2015, 199; Blessing 1984, 355–357; Jarosch 1939, 18–19; Müller 1998, 134; Stollberg-Rilinger 2013, 106–112). Although no initiators are named,21 it is quite likely that members of the educated upper class connected to the state authority introduced the parade. They might have been civil servants, officers, or well-off citizens with a growing national awareness who used to command new developments in various towns that highly resembled each other (Blessing 1984, 262; Hartinger 1998, 232). However, the sources do not clearly attribute the establishment of the parades to specific institutions or social groups (Behringer 2015, 202; Müller 1998, 135): In Aalen “the following preparations to welcome and escort the harvest carriage [were] instructed”22 by an unnamed group or individual, in Gschwend the parade was celebrated “according to the example from many other regions and after a prior decision made by the church convention”23 and in general, the Schwäbische Merkur reports that 17

The Schwäbische Merkur reported on European armies, the Federal Convention, literature and drama etc. (1817, 563–566, 1271–1277). The cost of a subscription was quite substantial at 4 Fl. (Elben 1885, 45). 18 “Aus allen Gegenden […] kommen Berichte von gefeierten ErndteFesten ein. Sie alle in diß Blatt einzuruecken, erlaubt der Raum nicht. In der HauptSache kommen sie alle mit einander ueberein” (Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 529). 19 “einfache Feierlichkeit” (Heilbronn: Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 492; Frankfurt: Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 1019). 20 The Schwäbische Merkur reports on the adventus ritual in the city of Rottenburg being conducted in a similar manner like the parades (Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 600, 601). 21 Only the report on Frankfurt mentioned economists and citizens as initiators (Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 1019). 22 “die folgenden Vorkehrungen zum Empfang und Begleitung dieser Fruchtwägen angeordnet” (Bayer 1966, 94–96). 23 “nach dem Beyspiel an vielen andern Orten, u. nach vorgängigem, kirchenkonventlichen Beschluß” (Pfarrbericht 1818, 16).

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“everybody helped out, either designated by their rank or by their devotion to the idea”.24 The parade as a performative medium evoked specific emotions, of which the most important were reflected in the article. Emotions of suffering caused by wars and dearth were now replaced with feelings of thankfulness to the “almighty for the rescue”25 This gratitude was not only an expression of relief and joy, but was also a virtue and an obligation.26 In addition, people hoped to “never have to experience such years again”.27 Some elements of the parade like “solemn silence” and “heartfelt music” specifically aimed at provoking these “strong emotions” leading to “tears everywhere”.28 Hence, the festivity publicly transformed personal emotions of misery into feelings of thankfulness, relief and hope. The pertinent characteristic of this narrative used by the Schwäbische Merkur suggests that it was part of a collective “social obligation of emotions”, produced through “politics of emotions” by various groups of interests.29 Using well-known elements and following normative emotional patterns, the parade reinforced a tradition of emotions that were considered to be appropriate and were expected at this kind of occasion. Some coping strategies were generated and used by authorities and others by participants in order to stage a return to normality. Authorities could utilise the parade to symbolically re-establish the social order that got disturbed during the crisis (Freitag and Minner 2004, 8). The inhabitants participated “in best order” since they physically arranged themselves according to their social ranks,30 reaffirming and reproducing the traditional social hierarchy (Stollberg-Rilinger 2013, 10–13, 121–122; Brademann 2009, 286; Krull 2013, 12). This restoration, staged in the event, had a social integrative function as it formed the collective identity of the municipal community (Freitag and Minner 2004, 7; Stollberg-Rilinger 2013, 115). Even beyond local effects on order and identity, a Württembergian sense of belonging was created by celebrating parades in newly incorporated territories as well as in older parts.31 They might have belonged to series of political festivities held in the beginning of the nineteenth century that aimed at integrating inhabitants of new territories into states (Blessing 1984, 262). In Württemberg it was necessary

“alle, die durch ihren Beruf oder aus Liebe zur Sache dabei Einfluß hatten, dazu bei[trugen]” (Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 563–564). 25 “Allmaechtigen fuer die Rettung” (Ehingen: Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 547–548). 26 “Dieses Fest einfach und prunklos, soll das Heiligste im Menschen: Dankgefuehl: ansprechen” (Frankfurt: Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 1019). 27 “wir solche Jahre nie wieder erleben moegen” (Heilbronn: Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 492). 28 “feierliche Stille”, “herzerschütternde Musik”, “überall Thränen” [Wangen: N.N. 1817 in Bayer (1966, 118–120); see also Schwäbischer Merkur (1817), 492, 527–548, 563–564]. 29 “gesellschaftliche Emotionsvorgaben”, “Gefühlspolitik” (Collet and 2010, 57–58); Brademann calls this socialisation of feelings (2009, 298). 30 “[i]n bester Ordnung” (Ellwangen: Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 527). 31 Maybe even a German identification took place because the song “Nun danket alle Gott” was a patriotic hymn, not only sang at many parades (Häcker 1817, 7–8), but also after victories of armies consisting of soldiers from all German territories (Fischer 2007). 24

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to generate loyalty to the state because not only had new territories been included, but the monarch had also changed. The parades created an opportunity for the new royal couple to portray themselves as caring parents of the state and its inhabitants (Krämer 2015, 55). In Aalen, for example, a triumphal arch was erected with inscriptions on both sides, one praising God and the other one paying tribute to the king [Leonhard’s diary, in Bayer (1966, 96)]. This way, the royal house and God appeared to have co-equal credit for ending the famine. For the monarchy, the parade served as a coping strategy during a national crisis, because it helped to secure their power and restore social order by evoking feelings of unity and identity on a local and regional scale, while reaffirming established social fragmentations (Freitag and Minner 2004, 7). The parade was also available as a coping strategy to the participants. First, the harvest carriage and the precious crops announced the crisis’s closure by symbolically concluding the time of hunger.32 The carriage was the material manifestation of this transition, whereby joyfully ringing bells proclaimed its arrival, music and songs of praise escorted its way (Stuttgart: Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 521; Böblingen: Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 563–564), and celebratory gunshots respectfully pronounced its reception (Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 563–564). It visualised the end of the crisis, and the inflation, malnutrition, unemployment, and hopelessness that it had brought about. Simultaneously, the carriage heralded a time of blessings through the new crops. This coping strategy offered a normative transformation of negative emotions evoked by the crisis into a positive, hopeful outlook. Second, the parade was a “splendid religious festivity”33 representing a spiritual way of coping that met the people’s increasing requests for religious rituals. As such, the festivity was a procession in honour of God who showed his gracious favour in the new harvest. While he was praised in inscriptions, speeches and songs, the first crops were exalted and transformed into relics that symbolised the coming rich harvest (Jarosch 1939, 19).34 Hence, the carriage emanated godly, salutary power, which Müller refers to as “God himself”. He interprets the parade as Epiphany, the arrival of God in the municipal community (Müller 1998, 137). This religious connotation shows that the parade was understood as a reconciliation ritual with God, whose mercy and forgiveness granted a new harvest (Müller 1998, 137).35

32 Rituals and festivities divide time into before and after (Freitag and Minner 2004, 8; Stollberg-Rilinger 2013, 12). 33 “herrliche religioese Feier” (Ellwangen: Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 527). 34 In Ulm, the crops were carried from the carriages into the church and after the service “everyone rushed to the altar to receive some ears and to keep them as holy relics.” (eilte “[a]lles […] nun zum Altar, um einige Aehren zu erhalten und sie als eine heilige Reliquie” aufzubewahren, Ibid., 563–564). 35 “And the one who has mercy upon us like a father upon his children, the mighty and loving Lord of all nature, has helped.” (“Und der, der sich ueber uns erbarmet, wie ein Vater ueber seine Kinder, der maechtige und liebevolle Herr der ganzen Natur hat geholfen” Häcker 1817, 4).

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The Visual Medium There are three different effigies showing the parade: F. Müller’s lithograph, A.L. D’Argent’s aquatint (Fig. 12.1) and the print “Parade of the first harvest carriage in Stuttgart 28 July in the year of 1817”. Müller’s lithography illustrates the parade in a transition moment, when the procession turns into the welcome ceremony: The carriage is driven along the Old Palace square between the round tower of the Old Palace, portrayed to the left in the image, and the Collegiate Church, shown on the right. These elements map Stuttgart’s landmarks and locate the carriage in space and time. The carriage is positioned at the junction of two lanes, highlighting it as the festivity’s main player. It is heavily loaded with golden crops and decorated with a biblical inscription that reads “Every good gift is from above” (after James 1, 17).36 As in all three pictures, the carriage is at the centre of the image, but not the exclusive focus of the spectators’ attention. The visual medium is restricted in narrating the temporal course of actions of the parade. But it can depict movements and conveys a sense of before and after (Bilstein 2004, 326–328). By linking the three illustrations, a sequence of events can be traced, starting with the procession through the city (Fig. 12.4), the arrival at the Old Palace square (Fig. 12.1), and the reception in front of the Collegiate Church (Fig. 12.3). The lithograph displays two heterogeneous groups representing the spectators. They are placed at both sides of the picture’s forefront with individuals clearly identifiable. These groups comprise women, men and children, whose milieu affiliation is revealed by their clothes. Surprisingly, no one is portrayed looking destitute as one would expect in the aftermath of a famine, but seem to be doing rather well. The spectators are gathered to welcome the harvest carriage. Their friendly reception is visible in their waving, pointing at the carriage, taking off their hats, and clapping gestures. However, some are distracted, chatting, or preparing floral wreaths. A similar, but more anonymous group is displayed behind the moving carriage in the middle of the picture. The artist placed participants playing special roles during the parade in the background. Five groups can be identified. One group, consisting of women and men, follows the carriage and thus belongs to the procession. They seem to hold books in their hands and are most likely singing from their hymnbooks while escorting the carriage. In front of the church there is a group of 70–80 women dressed in gowns in the Empire style; some of them hold floral wreaths and signs (Fig. 12.2). They represent virgins’ choirs and appear to be waiting for their performance (Schefold 1957, 600). A group of men stands next to them at the right side of the picture. All of them wear the same type of dark clothes and white neckties, and represent the clergy. In between these two groups, there is a group of

“Alle guten Gaben kommen von oben”.

36

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Fig. 12.1 Müller, 1817. This print from the Museum of Bread Culture was attributed to the author with the help of the municipal archive of Stuttgart. However, we do not know its date of origin

Fig. 12.2 Detail of Müller’s lithograph

noble men or officers, to which possibly also the horsemen riding ahead of the carriage belong, recognisable from their light tails and top hats. Their role in the welcome ceremony remains uncertain. The last group is the pupils, represented by three boys in simple clothing, walking ahead of the carriage and carrying floral wreaths on sticks. Looking at the two other pictures, the children assume a special

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Fig. 12.3 Adam Ludwig D’Argent (n.d.)

role, too. In D’Argent’s aquatint, the pupils stand the closest to the carriage, surrounding it (Fig. 12.3). Even from the monochromatic image it is obvious that all the girls are wearing white, which is also seen in the “Parade of the first harvest carriage in Stuttgart 28 July in the year of 1817” (Fig. 12.4). They walk ahead of the carriage, hold books in their hands and could be interpreted as singing as a choral group. Like in the performative medium, the parade in its visual medium also generates emotions in its beholders. In general, Müller’s lithograph aims to evoke feelings of peace, security and reverence through its warm colours and the light blue sky. The steadfast houses, vast spaces and solid walls of the palace and the church likewise emanate tranquility. A similar atmosphere dominates the “Parade of the first harvest carriage in Stuttgart 28 July in the year of 1817” (Fig. 12.4): A white fence separates quiet houses, over which the Collegiate Church watches, from the procession that passes expressionless spectators. Feelings of joy are evident through the spectators’ gestures and postures. They seem expectant and appear uninvolved at the same time.37 The Old Palace, the Collegiate Church and the biblical inscriptions on the carriage remind the beholders of the care they received from the state and the church as well as of God’s grace, prompting them to feel gratitude. However, any 37

The spectators’ reservation is even more striking when compared to the cheering crowds pictured at the Schiller festival in Stuttgart 1839 (Elias n.d.).

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Fig. 12.4 Parade of the first harvest carriage in Stuttgart 28 July in the year of 1817 (“Einzug des Ersten Fruchtwagens in Stuttgart den 28. Juli im Jahr 1817”). According to Bayer, the print is preserved in the municipal archive of Stuttgart, but the archive has no records of the image

signs of the participants’ enthusiasm about the new harvest, which could have been visualised in joyous and tearful faces, are missing in all three artworks. As a consequence, the prints remain oddly expressionless from nowadays perspective. Other Vedutas from the Biedermeier era display a similar lack of facial expressions. They mostly aim to depict idyllic scenes of everyday life. The purpose of their pictorial codes is to precisely and yet aesthetically map locations as well as to picture contented people in their daily lives (Schefold 1956, 7, 67–75, 94–95, 128; Encyclopaedia of art www.beyars.com). The staging of a quiet, satisfied normality leaves no room for great sentimentality. The participants in all three effigies appear well-nourished and clothed; no one seems to represent the urban poor. Also, they are subdivided and arranged according to the social order. The aquatint (Fig. 12.3) distinctly demonstrates this hierarchical stratification beginning with the harvest carriage right at the centre. At the periphery spectators from different milieus are placed, some lining the square or looking out of the windows of the Prince’s Palace, with some manner of guards standing to the left. Just behind the carriage there is a group of men who look exactly like the clerics in the Müller’s lithograph. In between the spectators and

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pupils are musicians and men who might be the children’s teachers. Near the horses, a group of individuals is shown who might represent the most important people—the deputation the Schwäbische Merkur wrote about. Considering that all three artists displayed the inhabitants of Stuttgart at the forefronts of their pictures, it is safe to assume that these figures represented the potential buyers of their artwork. The purchasers of the pictures had most likely participated in the parade; they had identified themselves with the event, the city, the spectators and players, and were interested in the festivity’s visualisation at an affordable price. Since at least three different pictures of the parade exist,38 quite a few citizens must have wanted and also could have afforded these prints. In Stuttgart, C. Eicheles music store sold monochromatic prints for 24 kr., and coloured ones for 1 fl. (Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 565).39 This suggests a variety of artistic qualities as well as the customers’ demands for them (Müller 1998, 214). Further details about the purchasers and spectators are unknown as well as information on the lithograph’s production and sale.40 Nevertheless, it is unlikely that many of the buyers would have belonged to those who had to spend their income mostly on food,41 and for whom the end of the famine was a matter of continued existence. Such people were neither depicted nor had any chance to look at the prints, except for maybe when they were showcased in printing shops (Burke 2003, 164) or at public buildings; however, this remains speculative. As a result, the parade in its visual medium presented coping strategies that were limited to people, whose survival had not been threatened existentially by the famine.42 The visual medium presents itself as a documentary snapshot, while indeed condensing the event, structuring the protagonists according to their roles and intentionally omitting strong emotions as well as lower class people. The visual representation of the parade staged the return to normality by offering coping strategies useful for contemporary beholders of the pictures, while memory of the crisis was still fresh (Burke 2003, 18). As a medium filled with meaning, independent of language and intuitively perceived, it opened up possibilities of

There is an advertisement by C. Eicheles music store, promoting a “view of the festive parade of the first harvest carriage celebrated in Stuttgart on 28 July this year.” This might refer to another unknown motif (“Ansicht des in Stuttgart den 28 Julius d. J. statt gehabten feierlichen Einzug des ersten FruchtWagens”, Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 565). 39 In Nürnberg, prices varied even more: An etching from the artist Fues cost 1 fl., 45 kr./2 fl., 15 kr., while the J.U. Endterischen book store sold etchings for 3 kr. and illuminated etchings for 6 kr. (Spamer 1916, 202–204). 40 F. Müller might have been Friedrich Müller, an employee at the Ebnerschen lithographical institution in Stuttgart (Schefold 1956, 103). Behringer hypothesises that illustrated prints were state-directed for they only originate from towns with Oberämter and Ämter that were consolidated to Bavaria, Baden or Württemberg in the beginning of the nineteenth century. He wrongly claims that there aren’t any pictures from Stuttgart (2015, 201). 41 For example, master craftsmen of masons, engravers and carpenters earned 48 kr. daily in 1818. They probably could not afford to buy any pictures because they spend about 18 kr. a day on bread during the dearth (depending on weight of the bread and the region) (Sauer 1995, 17, 212–213). 42 The amount of people who depended on soup kitchens could give us an idea of how many inhabitants were severely affected by the famine. 38

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coming to terms with the experience of the crisis (Assmann 2010, 20, 227; Roeck 2004, 288). First, the pictures provided a coping strategy through retaining a positive memory of the parade. Memory in itself has a therapeutic effect because it helps to organise the experience of a crisis (Juneja and Schenk 2014, 8). The graphics “rightfully stand for a solemn memorial of the pleasant day to every human who feels thankful”.43 This effect was achieved by remembering the governmental and divine provision represented in the pictures with gratitude. This is a typical characteristic of votive pictures depicting thankfulness of having survived a catastrophe (Juneja and Schenk 2014, 38). The recipients are reminded of the joy and relief that the festivity provided by announcing the closure of the famine. As such the memory of positive emotions served to suppress negative emotions about the crisis itself.44 Second, the illustrations facilitated a coping mechanism due to their documentary quality that allowed contemporaries to revise, relativise and rectify truth (Weigel 2010, 269). They counted as valid documentation about God’s grace, manifested in the harvest of the first crops: “Now this blessing from above promised to soon end all hardship and every anxious sorrow.”45 The prints showed and interpreted the relationship between men and God (Juneja and Schenk 2014, 21) by providing a material record of the hope which was announced in the performative medium. The assurance of a positive ending matched the civil desire to re-establish a good living after the turbulent years of the crisis. The vedutas perfectly demonstrate this attitude as they depict a “fresh and healthy description of a pleasant, conservative life”.46 As a coping strategy these pictures represented contractual proof of God’s blessing and expressed longing for a return to life of peace and a secure existence. Third, the visual representations of the festivity offered a way of coping with the crisis by providing a basis for their beholders to identify with the event and the participants. The visual medium organised the parade by representing and positively displaying staged municipal structures (Bilstein 2004, 332–334). Therefore beholders must assume a strong urban social cohesion, which was also shown in the collective overcoming of the hunger crisis and hence its celebration. Accordingly, the municipal community is idealised.47 As such the picture tried to evoke a geo-social identity, tied to the specific spatial setting of Stuttgart. Characteristically, vedutas aim to enable their beholders to recognise and identify with their homeland (Schefold 1956, 67–69). “gewaehrt mit Recht fuer jeden dankbarfuehlenden Menschen ein feierlich bleibendes Denkmal des erfreuten Tages” (Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 565). 44 Juneja and Schenk point at cultural patterns of narratives in pictures, which can suppress or highlight misery, responsibilities, and guilty parties (Juneja and Schenk 2014, 13, 19). 45 “[…] des Segens von oben, der nun bald jede Noth und jede bange Sorge zu endigen verhieß” (Heilbronn: Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 492). 46 “frische gesunde Schilderung[en] eines biederen behaglichen Lebens” (Schefold 1956, 67). 47 Images idealise and create stereotypes (Burke 2003, 131–155). They also re-enact rituals (Weigel 2010, 269). 43

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Moreover, the visual medium provided a practical element of coping because “one part of the price [was] meant for a beneficial purpose”,48 whereby purchasers materially helped to end the dearth. The act of buying became an act of serving the community’s welfare, of giving an offering to the poor, and of actively fighting the famine. There are quite a few advertisements in the Schwäbische Merkur, which included selling printed songs of praise and sermons from the parade as manner of donation (Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 565; Spamer 1916, 204; Müller 1998, 216).

The Medial Transposition of the Parade Applying the intermedial category of medial transposition (Medienwechsel) allows us to examine the transfer of the parade from the performative into the visual medium (Rajewksy 2002, 15). In both media the arrival of the harvest carriage takes a central role, yet its transmission is distinctly different. The developments inherent in any medial transposition involve new limitations and possibilities. Elements, players and coping strategies are adopted, remodeled, included, or excluded (Rajewksy 2002, 23). A medial transposition occurred when the parades in their original form as performative media were transformed into its written evidence. The descriptive articles re-organised the parade’s course of action, the players and their intentions as well as interactions. Since we cannot attend the original parade, we can only study it through an additional set of filters. The medial transposition of the parade in Stuttgart conveyed the central characteristics of the parade and means of coping with hunger. This is clearly seen in the carriage’s reception at the Old Palace Square in Stuttgart: The decorated harvest carriage constitutes the focus of both the performative and the visual media. All participants cluster around it at the square, where the ritual actions were to be smoothly performed. Both media generated the same narrative of emotions: gratitude towards God and the authorities, joy and relief, as well as a festive atmosphere. The participants were expected to solely express these positive feelings during the parade, and the pictures intended to evoke only these emotions in their beholders. Both media share three socio-cultural coping mechanisms, meaning the medial transposition transmitted these three means of coping. First, the media aimed to form the municipal community’s identity through the people’s participation as well as through the beholders’ memory. Similarly, Stuttgart’s inhabitants are identified with the hierarchically structured spectators. All participants confirm these social structures via their physical presence, and all buyers do the same by purchasing the graphics. Second, both media offer temporal coping, as the crops symbolise the long expected end of the crisis. The eyewitnesses experienced this transition, while the contemporary beholders remembered it. Third, the religious sphere is visually

“Ein Theil des Geldes ist zu einem wohlthaetigen Zweck bestimmt” (Schwäbischer Merkur 1817, 565).

48

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represented, for instance through the bible verse, and performed by means of songs of praises and so on. The main message is that God’s grace has heralded the end of the famine, and has again turned towards the community. The medial transposition also brings limitations. The greatest restriction lies within the pictures’ two-dimensional and static nature, which reduces the physical and sensual experience to visual perception. Correspondingly, coping strategies depending on such an experience and on the collective attendance cannot be transmitted into the new media. The visual narrative only reflects a snapshot of the parade’s spatial sequences. The beholders have to perceive the visualised scenery, its location, point in time, participants, music etc. The greater the temporal and cultural distance between the picture’s date of origin and its viewers, the more difficult it will be to understand the pictorial codes (Burke 2003, 161–163). The visual medium limits the recalling of the events since the artists filtered and distinguished the performed elements according to their moral merit (Bilstein 2004, 336). For example, the lower classes or the sound of bells are not visually represented. At the same time, the transfer into the visual medium introduces new prospects. The alteration of the parades’ temporal and spatial exclusiveness gives way to the visual sources’ lasting accessibility to a wide audience. Graphics can potentially exist in perpetuity and can be taken anywhere. They are independent of place and time, whereas the festivities depend on peoples’ participation. Therefore the pictures provide storage for the collective, cross-generational memory of the municipal community (Assmann 2010, 20). This type of remembrance across eras is framed as cultural memory (kulturelles Gedächtnis) (Assmann 2010, 13). Aleida Assmann defines this as a long-term memory tied to systems of symbols, and thus existing beyond contemporary history (Assmann 2010, 13; Stollberg-Rilinger 2013, 78). This memory is organised through “external storage media and cultural practices”.49 Such media originate from a desire to write history (Nora 1998, 21). Indeed, the graphics narrate the story of the performative medium in their own way.50 They produce and structure knowledge about the parades by preserving the most central narrative elements and coping strategies in the cultural memory (Assmann 2010, 18; Bilstein 2004, 332). This can be an explanation for idealised vedutas, which show parades in unspecified landscapes (Fig. 12.5).51 They illustrate the parade’s second sequence, the procession, and use well known attributes of praise (Bayer 1966, 94). Here, the symbol is detached from the event: The carriage turns into a lieu de mémoire (Nora 1998, 7). This type of

“externe Speichermedien und kulturelle Praktiken” (Assmann 2010, 19). Pictures are players in communication processes because they do not only represent messages, but also impact the way their beholders understand this information (Stollberg-Rilinger and Weissbrich 2010, 12). As such “pictures act themselves” (“Bilder handeln selbst”, Emich 2008, 48). 51 Spamer believed that these graphics were more common than location-bound pictures (Spamer 1916, 204). The pool of sources identified in this work does not support his assumptions. 49 50

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Fig. 12.5 Eisen (n.d.)

picture served a “vigorous market of memory” on an interregional level (Spamer 1916, 204).52 Roeck suggests that these leitmotifs emerged wherever later generations ascribed historical relevance to a pictured course of action (2004, 289). Dominant ways of looking and depicting visual regimes—(Sichtbarkeitsregime) —are developed within these located and non-locatable graphics (Hempel et al. 2011, 7–24; see also Juneja and Schenk 2014, 13–18). The visual medium represents a specific narrative from the performative medium: Misery, hunger, disease, poverty, and death as well as negative or conflict-laden interactions, such as assignments of guilt are not visualised.53 Moreover, this narrative demonstrates the authorities’ care in supporting and perhaps even initiating the parades (Weigel 2010, 296). This visual regime assigns a universal character to the parades, encapsulated in the cultural memory. For subsequent generations of inhabitants it is easier to locate geographically specific pictures and empathise with them. Detailed urban and rural landmarks as well as titles and additional explanations enable beholders to identify the visualised parades. Furthermore, such illustrations legitimise and transmit the festivity to

“Massenmarkt der Erinnerung” (Müller 1998, 216). There are exceptions, see the beggar to the left side of Fig. 12.5.

52 53

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future generations. They are required for developing the parade from a one-time event into a harvest custom archived in the cultural memory.54 The cultural memory uses the locatability to promote cohesion and identity to their specific regions amongst later generations (Nora 1998, 14; Stollberg-Rilinger 2013, 78).55 The medial transposition transforms the individual-collective experience, bound in place and time, from the performative medium into an individual-collective, long-term, and universal memory in the visual storage medium.

Communicating Closure The analysis of the parade in Stuttgart demonstrates that the physical event and its pictorial visualisations offered socio-cultural coping strategies aimed at facilitating a return to normality after the crisis. Their central message was the closure of the famine, symbolised by the harvest carriage. The communicative strategies were connected to this transition and provided performed and visually documented rehabilitations: a restored relationship between the sovereign and his subjects, a re-establishment of pre-famine order and a reconciliation of the society with God. The authors and print designers omitted any signs of negative emotions and of substantial changes in the social setup. The medial transposition facilitated the event’s long-term preservation, passing on their particular take on the events for the cultural memory of future generations. These symbolic strategies were linked to physical, socio-economic policies, intending to secure food, because both represented means to find a way back to social stability (Collet 2013, 373–379). While physical strategies present political measures being applied to the collective as they were employed by authorities and expected by the population, symbolic strategies appear as proposals for individuals to cope with the crisis. Questions remain as to the precise identities of the addressees, the proponents, and the initiators. Although the coping strategies addressed all inhabitants, not everyone attended the parade and got a chance to purchase or view a print. The social stratification of the participants and the beholders is not traceable because the medial transposition from the event to the written and visual media veiled the original performative aspects. Certainly the parades’ proponents were people related to the court who took active parts in the parade. These protagonists, regardless of whether they were part of the citizenship, the nobility, the church, or 54

The prints turn into storage media. According to Roeck art serves as a place of remembrance that shapes tradition and legitimation (2004, 287). Even in 1817, some people suggested that “also in better times, this festivity should be annually celebrated with a joyful heart” (“auch in bessern Zeiten mit frohen Herzen jährlich begangen werden sollt”, Augsburger Ordinari Postzeitung 1817). 55 However, cultural memory remains dynamic, because the prints challenge every generation to adopt their own cultural memory (Assmann 2010, 19).

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the municipal authority, influenced the way the parades were celebrated, and were interested in the articles published in the Schwäbische Merkur as well as in buying the prints. However, the newspapers were careful, to present the festivities as bottom-up established events. Did the citizens take lead in organising such a new festivity all over southern Germany, signaling their dawning emancipation from ancient powers? Did the church aim to demonstrate and strengthen its position as life-giving representative of God? Or did the monarchy, hardly named by the Schwäbische Merkur, facilitate the festivities as part of their strategy to end hunger and to generate loyalty? Interpreting this silence is challenging and requires further research. Pictures and articles cannot answer questions on the parades’ origin, nor on the reciprocity between citizenship, monarchy, and church. Administrative records from the monarchy, the municipal authority, and the church are necessary to reveal their roles in the parades, their socio-cultural ways of coping, as well as their own interpretation of the famine. The material presented here suggest that the parades might well have started as a collective project, equally supported by all important players of the society as well as ordinary people. These interactions illustrate reciprocal patterns of dealing with disaster. When studying an intermedial phenomenon like the parades, critical examination is essential to understand the media’s different lenses and silent gaps (Juneja and Schenk 2014, 16–18). Communicative practices, such as the parades of the first harvest carriage in 1817 need to play a significant role in analysing socio-natural causes of and human responses to disasters. They constitute an alternative, mediatised, yet no less powerful way of coping with crises, drawing on the people’s need for closure and their desire to return to normality.

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Krämer, Daniel. 2015. „Menschen grasten nun mit dem Vieh“ Die letzte grosse Hungerkrise der Schweiz 1816/17. Mit einer theoretischen und methodischen Einführung in die Hungerforschung (Wirtschafts-, Sozial- und Umweltgeschichte 4). Basel: Schwabe. Krauss, Irene. 2001. Die im Dunkeln sieht man nicht. Die Darstellung des Hungers in der bildenden Kunst von 1900 bis 1950. Begleitbuch zur gleichnamigen Ausstellung des Deutschen Brotmuseums. Ulm: Deutsches Brotmuseum Ulm. Krull, Lena. 2013. Prozessionen in Preußen. Katholisches Leben in Berlin, Breslau, Essen und Münster im 19. Jahrhundert (Religion und Politik 5). Würburg: Ergon. Müller, Gerald. 1998. Hunger in Bayern 1816–1818. Politik und Gesellschaft in einer Staatskrise des frühen 19. Jahrhunderts (Europäische Hochschulschriften 3, Geschichte und ihre Hilfswissenschaften 812). Frankfurt a.M.: Lang. Murton, Brian. 2000. Famine. In The Cambridge World History of Food, ed. Kenneth F. Kiple, Kriemhild Coneè Ornales, 1411–1427. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. Nora, Pierre. 1998. Zwischen Geschichte und Gedächtnis (Fischer-Taschenbücher 12295). Frankfurt a.M.: Fischer. Post, John D. 1977. The Last Great Subsistence Crisis in the Western World. Baltimore London: Johns Hopkins UP. Rajewsky, Irina O. 2002. Intermedialität (UTB 2261). Tübingen, Basel: Francke. Rajewsky, Irina O. 2014. Intermedialität, Remediation, Multimedia. In Handbuch Medienwissenschaft, ed. Jens Schröter, 197–206. Stuttgart: Metzler. Roeck, Bernd. 2004. Das historische Auge. Kunstwerke als Zeugen ihrer Zeit. Von der Renaissance zur Revolution. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. Sauer, Paul. 1995. Geschichte der Stadt Stuttgart 3. Vom Beginn des 18. Jahrhunderts bis zum Abschluß des Verfassungsvertrags für das Königreich Württemberg 1819. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer. Sontag, Susan. 2003. Das Leiden der anderen betrachten. München, Wien: Carl Hanser. Schefold, Max. 1956. Alte Ansichten aus Württemberg 1. Abbildungsband. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer. Schefold, Max. 1957. Alte Ansichten aus Württemberg 2. Katalogteil. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer. Spamer, Adolf. 1916. Bairische Denkmale aus der „theueren Zeit“ vor 100 Jahren. Bayerische Hefte für Volkskunde 1/2: 145–266. Stollberg-Rilinger, Barbara. 2013. Rituale (Historische Einführungen 16). Frankfurt a.M.: Campus. Stollberg-Rilinger, Barabara, and Thomas Weissbrich. 2010. Die Bildlichkeit symbolischer Akte (Symbolische Kommunikation und gesellschaftliche Wertesysteme 28). Münster: Rhema. Weigel, Thomas. 2010. Der Venedig-Besuch des polnisch-französischen Königs Heinrich IV./III. In Die Bildlichkeit symbolischer Akte (Schriftenreihe des Sonderforschungsbereichs 496, 28), ed. Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger, and Thomas Weissbrich, 267–312. Münster: Rhema. Würgler, Andreas. 2013. Medien in der Frühen Neuzeit (Enzyklopädie Deutscher Geschichte 85). München: Oldenburg. Zimmermann, Clemens. 1995. Hunger als administrative Herausforderung. Das Beispiel Württemberg, 1770–1847. In Öffentliche Verwaltung und Wirtschaftskrise. Administration publique et crise économique (Jahrbuch für Europäische Verwaltungsgeschichte 7), ed. Erk Volkmar Heyen, 19–42. Baden-Baden: Nomos.

Manuscripts Ausschuß der OrtsLeitung des WohlthaetigkeitsVereins. Stuttgart. Schwäbischer Merkur 2. Abtheilung Württemberg 06.08.1817: 534. Heidelberg University Library. C. Eicheles Musikhandlung. Kunstanzeige. Schwäbischer Merkur 2. Abtheilung Württemberg 22.08.1817: 565. Heidelberg University Library.

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Häcker, Johann. 1817. Rede bey der feyerlichen Einführung des ersten Erndtewagens zu Wöhrd den 25. Juli 1817. Bayrische Staatsbibliothek digital. http://reader.digitale-sammlungen.de/ resolve/display/bsb10459535.html. Accessed 01 November 2015. Leonhard, Johann. n.d. Diary. Stored in the city archive of Aalen. In Dorothee Bayer. 1966. O gib mir Brot. Die Hungerjahre 1816 und 1817 in Württemberg und Baden (Schriftenreihe des Deutschen Brotmuseum 5), 94, 96. Ulm: Deutsches Brotmuseum. Koenigl. gemeinschafltiches OberAmt. Nachrichten von der Erndte. Schwäbischer Merkur 2. Abtheilung Württemberg 03.08.1817: 527. Heidelberg University Library. Koenigl. Oberamt. Rottenburg. Reise des Koenigs und der Koenigin. Schwäbischer Merkur 2. Abtheilung Württemberg 10.09.1817: 600, 601. Heidelberg University Library. N.N. Augsburg, den 21. Aug. Augsburger Ordinari Postzeitung 22.08.1817. Universitätsbibliothek Augsburg. http://digital.bib-bvb.de/view/bvbmets/viewer.0.5.jsp? folder_id=0&dvs=1449937745496*919&pid=3854176&locale=de&usePid1=true&usePid2= true. Accessed 11 November 2015. N.N. Auszug aus Berichten von ErndteFesten. Schwäbischer Merkur 2. Abtheilung Württemberg 14.08.1817: 547–548. Heidelberg University Library. N.N. Auszuege aus Nachrichten von Erndtefesten. Schwäbischer Merkur 2. Abtheilung Württemberg 22.08.1817: 563–564. Heidelberg University Library. N.N. n.d. Beschreibung des ErnteFestes bey der Einfuhr des ersten Fruchtwagens zu Wangen, gehalten den 6. August 1817, Nachmittags halb 3 Uhr—zum ewigen Andenken den Bürgern und Landleuten des Königl. Oberamts gewidmet. In Dorothee Bayer. 1966. O gib mir Brot. Die Hungerjahre 1816 und 1817 in Württemberg und Baden (Schriftenreihe des Deutschen Brotmuseum 5), 118–120. Ulm: Deutsches Brotmuseum. N.N. Donnerstag, den 24 Julius 1817. Schwäbischer Merkur 1. Abtheilung 24.07.1817: 1107. Heidelberg University Library. N.N. ErndteFeste. Schwäbischer Merkur 2. Abtheilung Württemberg 04.08.1817: 529. Heidelberg University Library. N.N. Feierlicher Empfang des ersten in die Stadt einfahrenden GetreideWagens. Schwäbischer Merkur 2. Abtheilung Württemberg 11.07.1817: 492. Heidelberg University Library. N.N. Feierlicher Empfang des ersten Wagens dißjaehrigen Getreides. Schwäbischer Merkur 1. Abtheilung 10.07.1817: 1019. Heidelberg University Library. N.N. Stuttgart, den 29. Julius 1817. Schwäbischer Merkur 2. Abtheilung Württemberg 30.07.1817: 521. Heidelberg University Library. N.N. 1818. Pfarrbericht, III. Abschnitt 16. Gschwend. Archived in the Parish Office of the Protestant Church in Gschwend: Inventarnummer 67, Pfarrberichte 1807–1903. Reuss, Johann Christoph. 1819. Das Theuerungs- und Nothiahr von der Ernte 1816 bis zur Ernte 1817. Besonders fuer die Landgerichts-Bezirke Wunsiedel, Selb und Kirchenlamiz, oder die sogenannten 6 Aemter. Bayrische Staatsbibliothek Bavarica. http://bavarica.digitalesammlungen.de/resolve/display/bsb11085003.html. Accessed 01 November 2015. Royal decree from 08.11.1816. In Dorothee Bayer. 1966. O gib mir Brot. Die Hungerjahre 1816 und 1817 in Württemberg und Baden (Schriftenreihe des Deutschen Brotmuseum 5), 60. Ulm: Deutsches Brotmuseum.

Pictures Figure 1: F. Müller. n.d. Ansicht der Einfahrt des ersten Getreide Wagens zu Stuttgart im Jahr 1817 den 28. Julius. Lithography. Archived in the Museum of Bread Culture in Ulm: Gr– 3.977. Listed in Max Schefold. 1957. Alte Ansichten aus Württemberg 2. Katalogteil, 600, 8230. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer. Figure 3: Adam Ludwig D’Argent. n.d. Feyerlicher Empfang des ersten Fruchtwagens in Stuttgart den 28. Juli 1817. Aquatint. Archived in the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. Listed in Max Schefold. 1957. Alte Ansichten aus Württemberg 2. Katalogteil, 600, 8231. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.

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Figure 4: N.N. n.d. Einzug des ersten Erntewagens in Stuttgart, den 28. Juli im Jahr 1817. Unknown print. In Dorothee Bayer. 1966. O gib mir Brot. Die Hungerjahre 1816 und 1817 in Württemberg und Baden (Schriftenreihe des Deutschen Brotmuseum 5), 105. Ulm: Deutsches Brotmuseum. Figure 5: Anton Paul Eisen. n.d. Zur Erinnerung an die Tage allgemeiner Freude über den reichen Ernde-Segen im Jahr 1817. Etching. Archived in the Museum of Bread Culture in Ulm: Gr-4.602. Listed in Adolf Spamer. 1916. Bairische Denkmale aus der „theueren Zeit“ vor 100 Jahren. Bayerische Hefte für Volkskunde 1/2: 145, 190, 191, 201. F. Elias. n.d. Der achte Mai 1839 in Stuttgart. Lithography. Unknown archive. In Max Schefold. 1957. Alte Ansichten aus Württemberg 2. Katalogteil, 600, 8237. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer. N.N. 1818. Table made of bread showing increasing food prizes and the carriage. Ellwangen. In Momente. Beiträge zur Landeskunde von Baden-Württemberg 2 2016.

Chapter 13

Remembering Hunger. Museums and the Material Culture of Famine Andrea Fadani

Abstract Famine has been the constant companion of human civilization. Its physical and emotional force resulted in a broad material record that offers a largely untapped archive for famine research. The paper traces the material culture of famine from Ancient Egypt to the modern age. It presents the wide range of objects—from the Osiris sarcophagus, to early modern medals and modern caricature—and debates how they embody the changing modes of perceiving, commemorating and dealing with famine. As it follows the changing emphasis on climate, religion and politics apparent in these objects, it argues for the inclusion of these tangible remains of famine into both museological and scientific practice.










Keywords Hunger Museum Ancient Egypt French revolution Year without summer Irish Famine Sahel Artifacts











Tambora


Hunger and the accompanying misery have plagued civilization throughout history. Mankind’s biggest scourge is chronic malnutrition and acute hunger. They are woven into the fabric of history. How do these events feature in cultural memory? Have societies learned to engage with their histories of hunger? Did they choose to forget? In 1970 agricultural scientist and plant breeder Norman Borlaug received the Nobel peace prize and stated in his laureate speech his pessimistic view about humankind’s inability to learn from history (Borlaug 1972): Civilization as it is known today could not have evolved, nor can it survive, without an adequate food supply. Yet food is something that is taken for granted by most world leaders despite the fact that more than half of the population of the world is hungry. Man seems to insist on ignoring the lessons available from history.

As the “Father of the Green Revolution,” credited with saving over a billion people from starvation, Borlaug was involved in the development of high-yielding varieties

A. Fadani (&) Museum of Bread Culture, Ulm, Germany e-mail: [email protected] © Springer International Publishing AG 2018 D. Collet and M. Schuh (eds.), Famines During the ‘Little Ice Age’ (1300–1800), DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54337-6_13

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of cereal grains, expansion of irrigation infrastructure, modernization of management techniques, distribution of hybridized seeds, synthetic fertilizers, and pesticides to farmers (Pinstrup-Andersen and Hazell 1985; Hazell 2009). The development of modern agriculture reduced the risk of starvation on our planet dramatically but ultimately could not stop the hunger. Today, 12.9% of the world population, about 795 million people, still suffer from malnutrition and starvation (FAO et al. 2015). Museums exhibit the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity. However, their selection of material culture hardly engages with artifacts that relate to hunger, malnutrition or undernourishment and its impact on the development of civilization. They often remain silent on the fact that an insufficient amount of food was a constant threat to the people. They neglect the socio-natural causes and the vicious circle of crop failures, price peaks, hunger, poverty, diseases and death.

Hunger in Ancient Egypt Cereals, bread and food in general, have shaped people’s lives. They underpin their work, their wellbeing but also their suffering. In agricultural societies food is sacred (Jacob 1944). Gods related to food and fertility from ancient Egypt or pre-Columbian Latin America illustrates the spiritual dimension of sustenance. In the rites of religions, in customs and legends, food plays an important role. Pharaonic Egypt experienced recurrent food shortages and long-term starvation as described in the biblical story of Joseph. The amount of the annual Nile flood defined the amount of useful fertile soil and determined good or bad harvest, fat or lean years. To protect themselves against famine, Egyptians worshiped Isis, the earth goddess, and Osiris, the God of the sun and the Nile, who was a symbol of rebirth and fertility. It was in the power of Osiris to make the Nile flood its banks and to let the seeds grow in the fields. Isis, the nature and the world goddess, was worshiped as the giver and preserver of life. The symbolic and highly magical meaning of the so-called “Osiris-Sokar-sarcophagus” (see Fig. 13.1) from the Ptolemaic period presents a 40 cm long wooden coffin in the form of the falcon-headed Sokar, a very old death deity. A wax mask of his face covers the mummy that consists of a mixture of barley grains and Nile mud. In analogy to the death of Osiris these grave goods tell the story of life: The seeds are interred at sowing and perish, only to rise again and bear fruit. The shape of the grain mummy filled with life-bearing seeds identifies the life-giving force of the grain with Osiris, symbolizing life in death. In antiquity, Egypt was renowned for its agricultural success, so much so, that in later periods the country was targeted by the Romans as a provider of grain. Agricultural productivity was linked to an effective inundation of the river Nile. Every year, the combined forces of the Blue Nile, originating in East Africa, and the White Nile, flowing north from central Africa, flooded the river banks of Egypt depositing rich, black mud on the land; farmers encouraged further spread of the waters by digging irrigation channels, a practice that continues today. Seeds were planted once the water receded and the ensuing crops were eagerly awaited. However, on the occasions when the Nile flooded either too much or inadequately, crop failure would occur, often resulting in periods of famine.

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Fig. 13.1 Osiris-Sokar-sarcophagus with grain mummy. Egypt. 600 BC. Collection Museum of Bread Culture, Ulm

Granaries constituted a crucial safety mechanism against recurrent food shortages. Surpluses of food from the “fat years” could be kept for months and years, until they were needed in case of a crop failure during the “lean years”. Again, grave goods in the tombs in ancient Egypt demonstrate practical techniques like the grinding of cereals or bakeries in miniature style to safeguard the supply of foodstuffs in the afterlife. One of the oldest artefacts is a text carved on a granite boulder on Sehel Island near the first cataract of the Nile. It has been termed “The Famine Stele” because it includes references to food shortages. The text is probably a decree from the Third Dynasty king Djoser III. (2720–2700 BCE). It records the king’s concern about the Nile’s poor performance for seven years that had caused widespread food shortages (Lichtheim 1980): I was in mourning on my throne, those of the palace were in grief, my heart was in great affliction, because Hapi [god of the annual flooding of the Nile] had failed to come in time, in a period of seven years. Grain was scant, kernels were dried up, scarce was every kind of food. Every man robbed his twin, those who entered did not go. Children cried, youngsters

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fell, the hearts of the old were grieving; Legs drawn up, they hugged the ground, their arms clasped about them. Courtiers were needy, temples were shut, shrines covered with dust, everyone was in distress.

Similar socio-natural practices can be observed in Greek and Roman societies and even throughout the Middle Ages. The main repertoire for the civilizations was to store grain in times of abundance, regulate the trade with food and to disregard those parts of the society, that were hungry—mainly the poor people. There was limited development of agricultural practice to increase food production. The dominant technique aimed to increase arable land.

Hunger During the Little Ice Age Europe remained a continent of hunger. Historical records from the late Middle Ages until 1850 document that virtually every generation experienced a period of severe dearth in their life time. The German speaking territories had a rich cultural tradition regarding hunger. A wealth of proverbs reflect on the fundamental impact of hunger. The German proverb “No bread is too hard, but no bread is hard” reveals the long-lasting relation of every generation regarding to the omnipresent risk of hunger. The high appreciation of bread is manifested most clearly when it is missing. Bread shortage was used synonymously for hunger. Hunger was also conceptualized as one of the horsemen of the apocalypse, which according to the Book of Revelation heralded the end of the world. Hunger and malnutrition has been a constant companion of these societies but have largely eluded an adequate artistic representation. Emaciated bodies and hollow-cheeked faces of the hungry and starving only became part of the larger pictorial record during the economic and political crisis in the 1920s. Nevertheless, the issue of hunger was occasionally articulated indirectly, as an invitation to charitable works or in a biblical framing, but always in a moralizing intention. A very direct and very rare representation is presented in a painting by an unknown Flemish master from 1600 (Fig. 13.2). To the left is a juror with red stole and pileus, a special piece of headgear. As an aldermen in the southern Netherlands he examines the size, quality and prices of bread based on baked samples. Various white breads, biscuits and pies are displayed on the table. On the right, a screaming soldier brands his sword. The financially independent and morally upright juror is presenting the richness of the bread, while the poor soldier, with his sword at his side, stands for paucity. Perhaps displayed in a public building like a town hall or a charitable organization, the striking juxtaposition and the theatrical gesture with which the characters appeal to the viewer already indicates the intention of the image. A contemporary proverb, documented in Gruterus’s “Proverbia Belgica” of 1611, demonstrates the associations the image was meant to suggest: “If the mayor sells grain and the aldermen bakes bread, the community is in great distress.” In the Old Testament, hunger is often framed as a divine punishment. In Ezekiel 14:21 God himself announces that he will send four sore judgments over the

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Fig. 13.2 Anonymous Flemish Painter. Poor and rich or war and peace. Oil on wood. ca. 1600. Collection Museum of Bread Culture, Ulm

people, of which hunger is the second. Hunger is then articulated in form of bad harvests, economic collapse but also in terms of war and the associated continuous destruction of fields. Social causes of famine remain largely neglected. The church took a prominent position alongside secular authorities in regulating measures against hunger to be implemented by the people. During the great European famine of 1770–1772 the material record illustrates the reaction of the authorities. The duke of Wuerttemberg, for example, demanded by law (Fig. 13.3) that due to the famine, the public must engage in prayers of repentance to redeem the sins and to appease God. Only then the punishment of famine would be lifted from the country (Württemberg 1771).

Turning Point—French Revolution The first uprising in the northern, eastern, and western parts of the Kingdom of France due to shortages of cereals erupted in April and May of 1775 due to heavily increased flour and bread prices—the so called “guerre des farines” (war of flour). The main reason for these shortages had been the liberalization of grain markets in

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Fig. 13.3 Herzog Carl von Württemberg. Declaration of additional prayers in the Duchy of Wuerttemberg in times of famine. 18.4.1771. Collection Museum of Bread Culture, Ulm

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1774 (Anne and Baron 1774; Bouton 1993), which initiated enormous market speculations with grains. As a result of bad weather conditions in the years from 1770 to 1780 surpluses in France where very low, so that basic staple crops for domestic food consumption were sold overseas, mainly to the newly established United States of America in order to generate state revenues. The unrest in France led to the reintroduction of the former regulatory system for the grain market (Kaplan 1986). The conflict resulted in the rapid loss of confidence of the French people in the work of the government. Additionally, the enormous population increase in France from 18 million people in 1715 to 28 million people in 1785 had made France more vulnerable to harvest failure due to bad weather conditions. Before the liberalization of the grain market in France disputes raged between the physiocrats and various other schools of economy. One of the opponents of grain market liberalization was Italian economist Ferdinando Galiani, a leading Italian figure of the enlightenment. His economic reputation was brought about by a book written in French and published 1769 in Paris, with the title “Dialogues sur le commerce des blés”. This work delighted Voltaire, who described it as a crossbreed between Plato and Molière. The text discussed how the trade with staple food cereals should be organized. Galiani was not against free trade but he realized that food trade was delicate. He stated: “Bread is a basic need of the people. This general, constant and urgent need is the main reason why grain is an inappropriate object of commerce” (Galiani 1770, 296). The French revolution in 1789 was fueled by these debates on food shortages. Even before the revolution the people believed that the king and the political decision makers used hunger and starvation as a political instrument. The famous queen of France, Marie-Antoinette (1755–1793), is often quoted saying: “If the people have no bread, let them eat cake“. But the origin of this quotation is by Jean-Jacques Rousseau from his novel “Les Confessions” (Rosseau 1782, Chap. 6), showcasing the disregard of high representatives towards their own people. No evidence exists to link Marie-Antoinette to this phrase; her unpopularity in the years before the revolution, however, facilitated this attribution. The bad weather conditions throughout 1788 and 1789 with low precipitation and higher temperatures caused a drought, and additional hailstorms resulted in widespread destruction of crops. Nine days after the storming of the Bastille on 14 July, the widely detested former secretary of finance, Joseph-François Foullon (1715–1789), who famously said “If those rascals have no bread, let them eat hay”, was captured and killed by the people. After he was hung, the crowd decided to behead him and paraded his head on a pike with his mouth stuffed with hay. His son-in-law was killed on the same day. Both were accused of massive trades in grain and selling it abroad for profit. The notorious episode later featured prominently in Charles Dickens’ Novel “A Tale of Two Cities” (Dickens 1859, Chap. 30) On the morning of October 5, 1789, the market women of “Les Halles” were rioting over the high price and scarcity of bread in Paris and decided to March to the King’s place in Versailles. The demonstration quickly became intertwined with the activities of revolutionaries, who were seeking liberal political reforms and a constitutional monarchy for France. The market women and their various allies

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Fig. 13.4 Alexandre Debelle. “Du pain! (Bread!)”. Lithograph approximately 1840. Collection Museum of Bread Culture, Ulm

grew into a mob of thousands and marched on Versailles—a distance of 30 km. The crowd besieged the palace, and in a dramatic and violent confrontation they successfully pressed their demands upon King Louis XVI and the parliament (Fig. 13.4). Their first demand was: “du pain [bread]”. The next day, the crowd compelled the king, his family, and most of the French assembly to return with them to Paris. These events effectively ended the independent authority of the king. The march symbolized a new balance of power that displaced the ancient privileged orders of the French nobility and favored the nation’s common people—a momentous redrawing of power that was fueled by the shortage of bread in Paris.

Tambora and the “Year Without Summer” The eruption of the Volcano Tambora on Sumbawa, Indonesia in April 1815 was the largest observed eruption in recorded history. This eruption released sulphur, ashes, and other aerosols into the stratosphere, initiating a global climate anomaly (Behringer 2016). The climatic deterioration disrupted Indian monsoons causing three consecutive failed harvests. Much livestock died in New England during the winter of 1816–1817. Cool temperatures and heavy rains resulted in failed harvests in the United Kingdom. Families in Wales travelled long distances as refugees, begging for food. Famine was prevalent in north and southwest Ireland, following

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Fig. 13.5 Johann Thomas Stettner. Commemorative medal. 1817. Collection Museum of Bread Culture, Ulm

the failure of wheat, oat and potato harvests. The crisis was severe in Germany and Switzerland, where food prices rose sharply. Demonstrations in front of grain markets and bakeries, followed by riots and looting, took place in many European cities. It was the worst famine of the 19th century. The year 1816 became known as the “year without summer”. The climate anomaly hit a society already under stress after a series of poor harvests since 1811 and the economic consequences of the Napoleonic Wars. In southern Germany and also in Switzerland the escalating cereal prices motivated the issue of commemorative medals. The “Schraubtaler” by Stettner (Fig. 13.5) illustrates this form of remembering famine. The medal recorded the peak food prices, putting them firmly at the core of the disaster. Weather conditions were portrayed as

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the initial catalyst that resulted in the destruction of the harvest, inspiring massive riots in front of a bakery. However, the real cause is identified as God punishing people for their sins. He is also responsible for returning good harvests in 1817 and bringing food back to the people. Similar documents, paintings and prints describe fully loaded harvest wagons entering the cities as the result of God blessing the land and allowing people to live (see Schulz in this volume). The framing of the “year without summer” through material culture remained present over a hundred years in churches and public buildings. It marks a concerted effort to bury secular models of explanation that circled around the unequal distribution of wealth. The climatic effect came into focus much later. In 1920 William Jackson Humphreys (1862–1949), an American physicist and atmospheric researcher, described the environmental causes for the “year without summer” in his work “Physics of the Air”. This connection only reached a larger public in 1983, when Henry and Elizabeth Stommel published their book “Volcano weather—the story of the year without summer 1816.” The presence of alternative traditions of remembering hunger can be seen in pictures like the one focusing on the profiteer speculating with grains (Fig. 13.6). Telling a moralizing story, he portrayed as profiting from high food prices initially, but committing suicide when God brings back good harvests, destroying his racket. The sign proclaims “Praise the lord with proud gifts he supplies to the entire country”. The message is obvious: speculation is a sin that ends in death. Effective changes occurred in a different, more secular field. The introduction of potatoes to Europe and the establishment of a strong transportation system in the nineteenth century reduced vulnerability to climate impacts and famine. Additionally, the 1816 events initiated reforms in agriculture and a scientific approach to agricultural development. The first director of the renowned Wuerttemberg state school for agriculture at Stuttgart-Hohenheim, founded in response to the famine, favored a different form of “material culture” to combat famine (Schwerz 1821): The major pillar of every state is without any doubt based on agriculture or the alimentation of the people, so that the task of the institution of Hohenheim is clearly, through right instruction and suitable examples, to serve the improvement of the agriculture in the state of Wuerttemberg.

Irish Famine Custom House Quay in the Dublin Docklands hosts one of the very rare monuments to a hunger event. The “famine statues” designed and crafted by Dublin sculptor Rowan Gillespie commemorate the Great Famine (an Gorta Mór) of the mid-nineteenth century. It killed approximately one million people, while one to two millions emigrated from Ireland, causing the island’s population to fall by 20–25%. The Great Irish Famine (1845–1849) had a profound effect on Ireland and the worldwide Irish Community. The famine was initiated by a potato disease commonly known as potato

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Fig. 13.6 Anonymous. The Rogues [Profiteer] in Grain. August 1817. Colored etching. Collection Museum of Bread Culture, Ulm

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blight (Phytophthora infestans). Cold and humid weather favor infestation with the disease. Although blight ravaged potato crops throughout Europe during the 1840s, in Ireland, where one quarter of the population was entirely dependent on potato for food, the impact and human cost was exacerbated by a host of political, social and economic factors which remain the subject of vigorous historical debate. The potato was introduced to Ireland as a garden crop of the gentry. By the late seventeenth century, it had become widespread as a supplementary rather than a principal food because the main diet still revolved around butter, milk, and grain products. In the first two decades of the eighteenth century, however, it became a main food of the poor, especially during the winter. Furthermore, a large share of the potatoes grown in Ireland was of a single variety, the Irish Lumper (Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 2008, 45–46). Crop loss in 1845 has been estimated from one third to half of the normal cultivated potato production. In 1846, three quarters of the harvest was lost to the blight. Seed potatoes were scarce in 1847, so, despite average yields, hunger continued. In 1848 yields would be only two-thirds of normal (Ó Gráda 2006). Critics maintained that, even after the government recognized the scope of the crisis, it failed to take sufficient steps to address it. John Mitchel, one of the leaders of the Young Ireland Movement, wrote in 1860 (Gallagher 1987): I have called it an artificial famine: that is to say, it was a famine which desolated a rich and fertile island that produced every year abundance and superabundance to sustain all her people and many more. The English, indeed, call the famine a ‘dispensation of providence’ and ascribe it entirely to the blight on potatoes. But potatoes failed in like manner all over Europe; yet there was no famine except in Ireland. The British account of the matter, then, is first, a fraud; second, a blasphemy. The Almighty, indeed, sent the potato blight, but the English created the famine.

The famine statues embody this new understanding of famine as a primarily man-made phenomenon.

Sahel—A Man-Made Hunger Catastrophe? Many scientists believe that drought has always been present in the Sahel (Somerville 1986; Sasson 1990). According to the American National Research Council, there were 12 to 15-year droughts in the 1680s, the 1750s, the 1820s and the 1830s (BOSTID 1984). In this century the Sahel has been plagued by extended droughts in 1910–1914, around 1930, and in 1940–1944, 1968–1973, 1980–1984, 2010 and 2012. While there are indications that earlier droughts were confined to relatively small areas, there has been a continual increase in the duration and the extent of drought over the last hundred years and consequently in the destruction caused by it. The exceptional drought of 1968–1973 affected no less than 16 countries (the Cape Verde Islands, Senegal, the Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Benin, Nigeria, the Central African Republic, Libya, the Sudan, Somalia,

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Djibouti, and Ethiopia). Another 14 nations in central and southern Africa were exposed to the 1980–1982 droughts. These droughts caused untold human suffering, weakened the ecological equilibrium, and had a disastrous effect on agriculture and livestock production, with consequences that are apparent even today. In each case the economic damage was immense and resulted in widespread impoverishment. For example, the exceptional 1968–1973 drought, with rainfall deficits of 15–40%, caused grain harvests to fall by 600,000 tons, a 15% loss of the average annual yield. Agriculture and livestock production collapsed. Nomadic herders were no longer able to migrate to the Sudanese zone because it was already too densely settled. They were forced to exchange their last animals for millet or for the right to use a well. Hundreds of thousands of people died of starvation. 200,000 in Ethiopia alone and more than 80% of the livestock in the Sahel perished (Leisinger and Schmitt 1995). There are many reasons for the dramatic increase in drought-related problems. Due to declining export earnings and the rising cost of imports, the Sahelian countries are in a difficult economic situation with less financial resources available to tackle their problems. Human factors that have played a role in worsening the problems, are high population growth rates, inadequate use of scarce soil and water resources, and inappropriate political priorities, including the inability of governments in most Sahelian countries to take timely and appropriate precautionary measures to prepare for the possible recurrence of drought. New research suggests that changes in worldwide sea surface temperatures have played a key role in the Sahel drought. Natural vegetation processes and shifts in land use were probably reinforced by the oceanic changes in producing the unusual drought. The relative magnitudes of natural and anthropogenic influences on the climate in the Sahel remain to be quantified. If the trend in global sea surface temperature is related to anthropogenic global warming, the Sahel may be a harbinger of global changes (Zeng 2003; Lu and Delworth 2005). According to a recent study, the shift of rainfall patterns that facilitated the drought in the Sahel were likely the result of increased percentages of aerosols in the northern hemisphere. The widespread emission of aerosols led to a slight cooling of the northern hemisphere, which caused the tropical rainfall band (known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone) to shift slightly southward. This shift led to a drying out of Central Africa and parts of South America and South Asia (Hwang, Frierson and Kang 2013). Historically it has been argued that the drought which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people was caused by humans over-using natural resources in the region through overgrazing, deforestation and poor land management. New climate model studies suggest that large scale climate changes were also responsible for at least an aggravating of the droughts.

The Material Culture of Hunger Hunger is as old as history itself, and has long appeared to be timeless and inescapable. Today, hunger is regarded as a global social problem requiring policy intervention in the form of welfare to aid the hungry, or of development assistance

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aimed at creating enough food and employment. The Millennium Development and the Sustainable Development Goals have attempted to integrate the objective of eradication of hunger. In history, long periods of starvation were observed but some of their causes have not been interpreted correctly. Many linkages between hunger periods and environmental changes are well known today, but the historical process for adaption during these hard times was very slow and mostly very cruel for the people involved. Hunger affected so many people over time, but the manifold practices of remembering hunger remain largely unexplored. Famine survivors focused on the future rather than the horrible past, and our archives, museums and cultural preferences have followed suit. However, the available record demonstrates the momentous changes in the material culture of famine. It tracks the competition and co-existence of religious and secular, moral and economic, social and natural explanations. Tapping into this rich material record of dealing with famine could help to put the current challenges of climate change into perspective. Following a suggestion by Mohammad Yunus, winner of the Nobel peace prize in 2006, such an approach might help to put famine in the museum—for good (Yunus 2006): I firmly believe that we can create a poverty-free world if we collectively believe in it. In a poverty-free world, the only place you would be able to see poverty is in the poverty museums. When school children take a tour of the poverty museums, they would be horrified to see the misery and indignity that some human beings had to go through. They would blame their forefathers for tolerating this inhuman condition, which existed for so long, for so many people.

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