Famine and dearth

And her Eadward Eadgares sunu feng to rice. and þa sona on þam ilcan geare on herfeste æteowde cometa se steorra. and com þa on þam eaftran geare swiðe mycel hungor. and swyðe mænig fealde styrunga geond Angel cyn. [...]

And in this year Edward, Edgar’s son, came to the throne. Soon after, in the same year, at harvest time, the star called a comet appeared. And in the next year came a very great famine, and a great many troubles across England.

Her on þyssum geare wæs se mycla hungor geond Angel cynn swilce nan man ǽr ne ge munde swa grimne. and se flota þæs geares ge wende of þissum earde to Dænemearcon. and litelne fyrst let þet he eft ne com.

In this year there was the great famine across England, so grim that no one remembered one like it. And that year the [Danish] fleet went home from this country to Denmark, but it was not long before it came back.

[...] And on þisum wæs swyðe mycel hungor ofer Engla land. and corn swa dyre swa nan mann ær ne gemunde. swa ꝥ se sester hwætes eode to lx penega. and eac furðor. [...]

And in this year there was a very great famine all over England. Grain was dearer than anyone could remember: a sester of wheat went up to sixty pence, and even more.

[...] On ðes ilces geares wearð swa micel flod on sc̃e Laurent' messe dæig ꝥ feola tunes and men weorðon adrencte. and brigges to brokene. and corn and mædwe spilt mid ealle. and hunger and cwealm on men and on erue. and on ealle westme swa micel untime wearð swa hit ne wæs feola gear ær. [...]

This same year there was such a great flood on St. Lawrence’s Day that many villages and people were drowned and bridges were broken. Grain and meadows were completely ruined. There was hunger and sickness among people and cattle, and every crop failed worse than it had for many years.

Come si stimò dovizia, e seguì carestia. Stimossi per il mancamento della gente dovere essere dovizia di tutte le cose che la terra produce, e in contradio per l’ingratitudine degli uomini ogni cosa venne in disusata carestia, e continovò lungo tempo: ma in certi paesi, come narreremo, furono gravi e disusate fami. E ancora si pensò essere dovizia e abbondanza di vestimenti, e di tutte l’altre cose che al corpo umano sono di bisogno oltre alla vita, e il contrario apparve in fatto lungamente; che due cotanti o più valsono la maggior parte delle cose che valere non soleano innanzi alla detta mortalità. E il lavorio, e le manifatture d’ogni arte e mestiero montò oltre al doppio consueto disordinatamente. Piati, quistioni, contraversie e riotte sursono da ogni parte tra’ cittadini di catuna terra, per cagione dell’eredità e successioni. E la nostra città di Firenze lungamente ne riempiè le sue corti con grandi spendii e disusate gravezze. Guerre, e diversi scandali si mossone per tutto l’universo, contro alle opinioni degli uomini.

People thought that, with so many gone, there would be plenty of everything the earth produces. Instead, because of human ingratitude, everything became unusually scarce, and stayed so for a long time. In certain countries, as we will tell, there were severe and unusual famines. People also thought there would be plenty of clothing and of everything else the body needs besides food. In fact the opposite was true for a long time: most things cost twice as much as they had before the mortality, or more. Wages, and the price of goods made in every craft and trade, rose wildly to more than double. Lawsuits, disputes, and quarrels sprang up on every side among the citizens of every town over inheritances. For a long time our city of Florence filled its courts with them, at great cost and unusual burden. Wars and all kinds of trouble broke out everywhere, against everyone’s expectations.

Anno Domini mcccxlviii percussa est gens Franciae et quasi totius mundi, et hoc alio modo quam per bellum. Nam sicut fames, ut dictum est in principio, et bella, ut dictum est in processu hujus narrationis, affuerant, ita pestilentiae et tribulationes in diversis mundi partibus iterum acciderunt.

In the year of our Lord 1348 the people of France, and of almost the whole world, were struck down, and not by war. Famine had come, as I said at the beginning, and wars, as I told as this account went on. Now pestilences and troubles came again in many parts of the world.

الفصل الخمسون في وفور العمران اخر الدولة وما يقع فيها من كثرة الموتان والمجاعات

Section 50: On the large population at the end of a dynasty, and the many deaths and famines that come with it

وأما كثرة الموتان فلها أسباب من كثرة المجاعات كما ذكرناه أو كثرة الفتن لاختلال الدولة فيكثر الهرج والقتل أو وقوع الوباء وسببه في الغالب فساد الهواء بكثرة العمران لكثرة ما يخالطه من العفن والرطوبات الفاسدة وإذا فسد الهواء وهو غذاء الروح الحيواني وملابسه دائما فيسري الفساد إلى مزاجه فإن كان الفساد قويا وقع المرض في الرئة وهذه هي الطواعين وأمراضها مخصوصة بالرئة وإن كان الفساد دون القوي والكثير فيكثر العفن ويتضاعف فتكثر الحميات في الأمزجة وتمرض الأبدان وتهلك

Deaths become many for several reasons. One is frequent famine, as I have said. Another is frequent unrest as the dynasty falls into disorder, so that riots and killing increase. Another is pestilence. Its cause is mostly the corruption of the air when the population is large, because so much rot and foul moisture mixes with the air. The air feeds the animal spirit and is always in contact with it. So when the air is corrupted, the corruption passes into the spirit’s temperament. If the corruption is strong, the sickness strikes the lungs. These are the plagues, and their diseases belong to the lungs. If the corruption is less strong and widespread, rot builds up and multiplies. Then fevers spread through the temperaments, and bodies sicken and die.

Esta pestilencia mató gentes sin número, muchas murieron de hambre porque no habia quien pudiese hacer comida: los que escaparon de esta pestilencia quedaron con las caras ahoyadas, y algunos los ojos quebrados; duró la fuerza de esta pestilencia sesenta dias, y después que fue aflojando en México, fue hacia Chalco.

This pestilence killed countless people. Many died of hunger, because no one was left who could make food. Those who escaped it were left with pitted faces, and some with broken eyes. The pestilence raged for sixty days. After it began to ease in Mexico, it moved on toward Chalco.

Toutesfois s'ils sont à part, & où leurs fẽmes puissent estre creuës (car les femmes sont par tout plus mesnageres) ils feront aucunesfois des magasins pour l'Hyuer, où ils se reserueront quelques chairs boucanées: quelques racines, du gland espeluché en noyaux, quelques pois, ou febues, ou pruneaux de la trocque, &c. La façon de ces magasins est telle. Ils mettent ces prouisions dans des sacs qu'ils enueloppent dans des grandes & amples escorces; lesquelles ils suspendent en l'air aux branches de deux ou trois arbres, liées par ensemble, à ce que les rats ny les autres bestes, ny l'humidité de la terre, ne les endommage. Voila leurs magasins. Qui les gardera? eux s'en allants: car s'ils demeuroyent, leurs magasins iroyent bien tost par terre; ils s'en vont doncques autre part iusques au temps de famine: Telles sont les gardes, qu'ils y mettent. Aussi de vray ceste nation n'est point larronnesse.

But when they are on their own, where their wives can be listened to (for women are thriftier everywhere), they will sometimes make stores for the winter. In them they put away some smoked meat, some roots, shelled acorns, and some peas, beans, or prunes from trading. This is how they make these stores. They put the food in bags and wrap the bags in large, wide sheets of bark. They hang these up in the air from the branches of two or three trees tied together, so that neither rats nor other animals nor the damp of the ground can spoil them. Those are their storehouses. Who will guard them while they are away? For if they stayed, they would soon eat their stores down to nothing. So they go off somewhere else until the time of hunger. That is the only guard they set over them. And in truth, this nation does not steal.

By the noyse we made, the Beasts heard us a great way off; so the famine was among great many that had not provided before hand, and live upon what they gett that day, never thinking for the next. It grows wors and wors dayly.

By the noise we made, the beasts heard us a great way off. So famine came among the many who had not provided beforehand and lived on what they got that day, never thinking of the next. It grew worse and worse every day.

To augment our misery we receive news of the Octanaks, who weare about a hundred and fifty, with their families. They had a quarell with the hurrons in the Ile where we had come from some years before in the lake of the staring hairs, and came purposely to make warres against them the next summer. But lett us see if they brought us anything to subsist withall. But are worst provided then we; having no huntsmen, they are reduced to famine.

To add to our misery, we received news of the Octanaks, who were about a hundred and fifty, with their families. They had quarreled with the Hurons on the island we had come from some years before, in the lake of the staring hairs, and had come on purpose to make war against them the next summer. But let us see if they brought us anything to live on. No: they were worse provided than we were. Having no hunters, they were reduced to famine.

These were the first night’s messages. I had scarcely covered the eye-glasses, and adjusted the equatorial for the day, when the bell announced the carriage in which Polly and the children came from the station to relieve me in my solitary service as janitor. I had the joy of showing her the good news. This night’s work seemed to fill our cup. For all the day before, when I was awake, I had been haunted by the fear of famine for them. True, I knew that they had stored away in chambers H, I, and J the pork and flour which we had sent up for the workmen through the summer, and the corn and oats for the horses. But this could not last forever.

These were the first night’s messages. I had scarcely covered the eye-glasses, and adjusted the equatorial for the day, when the bell announced the carriage in which Polly and the children came from the station to relieve me in my solitary service as janitor. I had the joy of showing her the good news. This night’s work seemed to fill our cup. For all the day before, when I was awake, I had been haunted by the fear of famine for them. True, I knew that they had stored away in chambers H, I, and J the pork and flour which we had sent up for the workmen through the summer, and the corn and oats for the horses. But this could not last forever.

Now, however, that it proved that in a tropical climate they were forming their own soil, developing their own palms, and eventually even their bread-fruit and bananas, planting their own oats and maize, and developing rice, wheat, and all other cereals, harvesting these six, eight, or ten times — for aught I could see — in one of our years, — why then, there was no danger of famine for them. If, as I thought, they carried up with them heavy drifts of ice and snow in the two chambers which were not covered in when they started, why, they had waters in their firmament quite sufficient for all purposes of thirst and of ablution. And what I had seen of their exercise showed that they were in strength sufficient for the proper development of their little world.

Now, however, that it proved that in a tropical climate they were forming their own soil, developing their own palms, and eventually even their breadfruit and bananas, planting their own oats and maize, and developing rice, wheat, and all other cereals, harvesting these six, eight, or ten times — for aught I could see — in one of our years, why then, there was no danger of famine for them. If, as I thought, they carried up with them heavy drifts of ice and snow in the two chambers which were not covered in when they started, why, they had waters in their firmament quite sufficient for all purposes of thirst and of ablution. And what I had seen of their exercise showed that they were in strength sufficient for the proper development of their little world.