Archive

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

Ashmarov, Igor Anatolevich

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.

Keywords: Middle Ages, agriculture in the Middle Ages, medieval (historical) demography, European population, history of epidemics, epidemics.

Full text PDF

  1. Ashmarov I.A. Bezopasnost kak universalnyj koncept sovremennyh socialnyh i gumanitarnyh nauk // Pozharnaya bezopasnost: problemy i perspektivy. 2016. T. 2. Vol. 1 (7). S. 73-74.
  2. Ashmarov I.A. Obshchestvo i gosudarstvo v novgorodskih zemlyah // Istoricheskij byulleten. 2018. T. 1. Vol. 4. S. 15-23.
  3. Ashmarov I.A. Otrazhenie temy Rossii i russkogo hozyajstva v tvorchestve I.S. Turgeneva v nachale 1840-h godov // Kultura, literatura i gumanitarnye nauki narodov Evrazii: proshloe, nastoyashchee, budushchee. Sbornik materialov Mezhdunarodnoj nauchno-prakticheskoj konferencii (k 90-letiyu akademika AN RB G.B. Husainova i 80-letiyu chl.-korr. AN RB R.T. Bikbaeva). Otvetstvennyj redaktor G.S. Kunafin. Ufa: Izdatelstvo: Bashkirskij gosudarstvennyj universitet, 2018. S. 23-28.
  4. Bahtin V.V. Vsemirnaya istoriya: ucheb. posobie. Voronezh: Izdatelstvo: Voronezhskij gosudarstvennyj tekhnicheskij universitet, 2010. 273 s.
  5. Bodrov A. Istoriya epidemij. Ot chyornoj chumy do COVID19. M.: Izdatelstvo Centrpoligraf, 2020. 320 s.
  6. Valeeva A.R., Perova A.I., Ershov B.A. Rol Cerkvi v zhizni dvoryan v XIX veke. Sovremennye problemy gumanitarnyh i obshchestvennyh nauk. 2016. 4 (12). S. 3-6.
  7. Vernadskij V. I. Nauchnaya mysl kak planetnoe yavlenie. M.: Nauka, 1991. 271 s.
  8. Vernadskij V. I. O korennom materialno-energeticheskom otlichii zhivyh i kosnyh estestvennyh tel biosfery // Problemy biogeohimii. M.-L.: Izd-vo AN SSSR, 1939. Vol. 2. C. 2.
  9. Viner D. R. Kult Vernadskogo i noosfera / Viner Duglas R. // V. I. Vernadskij: pro et contra. SPb., 2000. S. 645-646
  10. Gorskaya, N. Istoricheskaya demografiya Rossii epohi feodalizma: itogi i problemy izucheniya. M.: Nauka, 1994. S. 48-49.
  11. Grachev V.A. Uchenie V.I. Vernadskogo o noosfere kak osnova ustojchivogo razvitiya. // YUg Rossii: Ershov B.A. Rol Cerkvi v zhizni dvoryan i krestyan v guberniyah Centralnogo CHernozemya v XIX veke. // Vestnik Pomorskogo universiteta. Seriya: Gumanitarnye i socialnye nauki. 2010. Vol. 11. S. 5-10.
  12. Ershov B.A., Onishchenko L.S. Nacionalnyj vopros v stranah Zapadnoj Evropy // Problemy socialnyh i gumanitarnyh nauk. 2018. Vol. 2 (15). S. 30-38.
  13. Mihel D. Vazhnejshie epidemii v istorii chelovechestva // Kommersant". 07.04.2020. Rezhim dostupa: https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4316514 (data obrashcheniya: 05.11.2021)
  14. Pandemii v istorii chelovechestva // Rezhim dostupa: https://fas.gov.ru/ckeditor_assets/attachments/1121/pandemiya_history_pdf.pdf (data obrashcheniya: 05.11.2021)
  15. Popov V.P., Ershov B.A. Zemelnaya sobstvennost cerkvej i monastyrej v XIX veke // Vestnik Voronezhskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya: Istoriya. Politologiya. Sociologiya. 2007. Vol. 2. S. 108-111.
  16. Rospotrebnadzor prodlil sanitarnye trebovaniya v shkolah do 2022 goda // Rezhim dostupa: https://rg.ru/2020/12/07/rospotrebnadzor-prodlil-mery-iz-za-covid-v-shkolah-do-2022-goda.html (data obrashcheniya: 05.11.2021)
  17. Rospotrebnadzor prodlil vvedennye iz-za koronavirusa pravila dlya shkol do 2022 goda // Rezhim dostupa: https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4604017 (data obrashcheniya: 05.11.2021)
  18. Redzhepov M.B., Ashmarov I.A., Borovikov V.I. Osnovy mirovoj ekonomiki i VED. Voronezh: Izdatelstvo: Voronezhskij ekonomiko-pravovoj institut, 2011. 304 s.
  19. Urlanis B.C. Rost naseleniya v Evrope: opyt ischisleniya. Moskva: OGIZ-Gospolitizdat, 1941.
  20. Urlanis B.C. Vojny i narodonaselenie Evropy. M., 1960.
  21. Uchenye ozhidayut skorogo vymiraniya zhivyh sushchestv na Zemle // Rezhim dostupa: https://hi-tech.mail.ru/news/56024-uchenye-ozhidayut-skoroe-vymiranie-zhivyh-suschestv-na-zemle (data obrashcheniya: 05.11.2021)
  22. SHkarubo S.N. Istoricheskie i kulturnye tradicii dvoryanskogo sosloviya v Rossii v XVIII veke // Bulletin Social-Economic and Humanitarian Research. 2021. Tom 10, Nomer 12. S. 127 - 134. doi: 10.52270/26585561_2021_10_12_127
  23. Yanshina F. T. O poyavlenii i pervonachalnom tolkovanii termina noosfera // Vestnik RAN. 1994. Vol. 11. S. 1016-1022.
  24. YAnshina F. T. Noosfera: utopiya ili realnaya perspektiva // Obshchestvennye nauki i sovremennost. 1993. Vol. 1. S. 163-173.
  25. Bartlett, Robert. The Making of Europe: Conquest, Colonization, and Cultural Change, 9501350. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994.
  26. Berglund, B. E. Human impact and climate changes synchronous events and a causal link? // Quaternary International. 2003. 105: 712, doi: 10.1016/S1040-6182(02)00144-1.
  27. Hollingsworth, Thomas. Historical Demography. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1969.
  28. Perevozchikova L.S., Ershov B.A., Ashmarov I.A., Volkova E.A. Role of Russian orthodox church in life of peasants in russia in XIX - the beginning of the XX-th centuries. // Bylye gody. Rossijskij istoricheskij zhurnal. 2017. Vol. 43 (1). S. 121-128.
  29. Richards, John F. Early Modern India and World History. // Journal of World History. 1997. Vol. 8 (2): 197209. doi:10.1353/jwh.2005.0071
  30. Russell, J.C. Late Ancient and Medieval Population. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. 1958. Vol. 48 (3): 1152. doi: 10.2307/1005708
  31. Shkarubo S.N. Land Use System in Russia: History and Contemporary // Journal Agrarian History. 2020. Vol. 1. S. 14-20.

Citation

Ashmarov, Igor Anatolevich "Epidemics and Climate Change as the Main Causes of Agricultural Decline in the Middle Ages" Agrarian History, Number 8, 2021 P. 45 - 56. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.5651030