The Contours, Frequency and Causation of Subsistence Crises in Carolingian Europe (750-950 CE)

Citation

Newfield T (2013) The Contours, Frequency and Causation of Subsistence Crises in Carolingian Europe (750-950 CE). In: Benito iMP (ed.) Crisis alimentarias en la Edad Media: Modelos, Explicaciones y Representaciones. Lleida: Editorial Milenio, pp. 117-172.

Abstract
This paper undertakes a wide survey of written evidence for food shortages in Carolingian Europe, 750-950. It sets definitions for two general categories of subsistence crises, famine and lesser shortage, establishes a method for diagnosing a shortage as either a famine or lesser shortage, maps the temporal and spatial contours of individual Carolingian shortages, considers the frequency with which shortages occurred, compares the rate of shortage occurrence in the Carolingian period to other periods, and examines the causes of Carolingian shortages. 22 shortages not related to conflict have been identified, 10 famines and 12 lesser shortages, and 11 conflicted-oriented shortages, four of which may be regarded as conflict-oriented famines. It is suggested that Carolingian Europe may have been less exceptional than many other pre-modern periods for minor crises but more exceptional than most for major crises. It is argued that the majority of Carolingian shortages were initially the result of natural world anomalies, climatic and environmental shocks to agrarian production, and not Malthusian pressure on resources or Food Entitlement Decline, though regions densely populated may have suffered more and reduced entitlement to food would have exacerbated and perpetuated shortage conditions. An effort is made to integrate data from the palaeoclimatic sciences into the discussion of individual shortages.

Keywords
Famine; Food Shortage; Carolingian; Early Medieval; Europe.