HIST-338 Lecture 37: cities during famine and plague
24 Nov 2020
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Cities suffered just as greatly as rural areas during food shortages, Forced by circumstance to rely on grain imports, cities experiencing interrupted food supplies became concentrated areas of discontent. Mainz, marseilles, milan, naples, palermo, paris, and vienna. One clear symptom of this factional violence was the growing effort to segregate and dispel foreigners, the london record also reflects. Increasing suspicion and harassment of foreigners led many trading companies to sever ties with former markets, as economic troubles grew so did the likelihood of war. Even more than the periodic outbursts of crime and riot that they caused, urban crowding and poor access to fresh water and proper sewage posed serious dangers to public health. Masses of human waste poured into the streets or along the banks of rivers were a clear invitation to disease, especially dysentery and cholera. Mediterranean europe became ever more severe as they advanced northward.
