Epidemics and Climate Change as the Main Causes of Agricultural Decline in the Middle Ages

Abstract

This article examines the historical, economic and demographic processes that characterize the features of the development of agriculture in the Middle Ages. In the authors opinion, three main events prepared the ground and influenced the development of agriculture during the Middle Ages in Europe. The first was a political event the fall of the Western Roman Empire, which began to lose its territorial hegemony due to barbaric seizures, starting in 400. The second event was the era of global cooling, which began in 536 and ended around 660. The third event was the plague of Justinian, which began in 541, spread throughout Europe and was repeated periodically until 750. The plague killed up to 25% of the population of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire and a similar percentage in western and northern Europe. As a result, the author comes to the conclusion that at the same time the impact of climatic cooling and epidemics on the population led to a drop in agricultural production and a decrease in grain yields, hunger of the common population, especially in cities. The consequence of the combination of these factors was that the population of Europe in 600 was significantly less than in 500. The population of the Apennine Peninsula decreased from 11 million people in 500 to 8 million people in 600, and remained at this level for almost 300 years. The population decline in other parts of Europe was of a similar scale.