Demographic Crises

Conclusion

woodcut
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Albrecht Dürer

The Black Death hangs like a pall over our course, but it's worth reminding the reader that "demographic crises" is plural and that the population of Europe was under stress even before 1347. The extent of the impact of climate change is still being debated, but there's no doubt this played some role and that the change began some time around 1300. From the beginning to the end of our course, famine and disease were never far from center stage. To these must be added the effects of war, which affected the general population not so much in direct casualties as in the destruction of crops and disruption of trade. It's little wonder that the image and metaphor of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse was widely invoked.