Crisis of the Middle Ages

The fundamental causes of the crisis of the fourteenth century were: The economic imbalances that affected all sectors (changes in land use -balance between agriculture and livestock-, alteration of the rudimentary traditional structures of trade and credit, etc.) The terrible demographic crisis linked to the black plague or bubonic plague of 1348 and the epidemics that occurred cyclically during the following decades, which reduced the population of Europe by no less than a third. A possible origin in a climatic crisis (there is talk of a decrease in temperatures after the so-called medieval optimum that allowed vines in England) or an environmental crisis, both linked to natural cycles or the latter to the decreasing yields of agricultural and livestock activities that had reached a "technological ceiling" simultaneously with the pressure of slow population growth, but maintained since at least the year 1000. The Great Famine of 1315-1317 marked the beginning of the century. The possibility of finding similar climatic and environmental circumstances at the same time but in other geographical contexts (which would make the crisis of the 14th century a true general crisis at a global level) has been the subject of research: specifically the Khmer civilization of Angkor (Cambodia ) had a boom and bust compatible with a similar model, which has been attributed to variations of El Niño and its own overexploitation of the environment.1 This information was written and researched in Europe on April 6, 2022