One Bad Harvest Away

Peasant families lived on the edge of starvation, and a single failed harvest could doom an entire village. The Great Famine of 1315-1317 struck after years of cold, rain-soaked summers rotted crops in the fields and drowned the harvest. It killed an estimated 10-25% of the population in the regions it hit, before the Black Death even arrived. Parents abandoned children they could not feed.

Homes were one-room hovels shared with livestock for warmth. Floors were packed dirt covered in straw. The whole family slept on mats crawling with fleas. Meat was a rare luxury — most meals were pottage, a grey vegetable stew eaten daily.