The famine into which England was plunged over the course of several years from 1315 was part of a larger phenomenon that stretched across Europe, from the Pyrenees across to Russia, and from Scotland in the north to Italy in the south. Unexpectedly heavy rain in the spring of 1315 led to crop failure that summer, and even hay and fodder for livestock could not be harvested effectively. At its height, the shortage was so bad that food could not be found even for King Edward II. The desperate conditions reputedly led to increased crime levels, infanticide and even cannibalism. It also had far-reaching cultural impacts, for example contributing to the rise of Christian heterodoxies in the fourteenth century, since faith in the Church was s…
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Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Famine in England". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 31 July 2012 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1979, accessed 23 November 2024.]
