Mortality Crisis between the Plagues, c.800-c.1300 CE - workshop announcement

An interdisciplinary and international workshop supported by the University of Stirling and the Economic History Society, "Mortality Crises between the Plagues: Epidemics, Epizootics and Food Shortages,

c.800-c.1300 CE" will take place at the University of Stirling, Scotland,

12-13 November 2013. Participating scholars will address European mortality crises between the last outbreak of the Justinianic Plague in

750 (or 767) and the irruption of the Black Death in 1346. The Justinianic Plague and Black Death have absorbed the industry of historians of medieval disease, economy and medicine sensitive to mortality crises for more than five decades. Though interest in these pandemics has only grown in recent years with the explosion of aDNA studies of Yersinia pestis, the bacterium most consider to have caused them, the Justinianic Plague and Black Death did not occur in a 'crisis vacuum.' New research has illuminated several important inter-plague crises in human and livestock populations and has re-emphasised the severity of the best-known inter-plague crisis, the Great European Famine of 1314-1322. The workshop aims to identify inter-plague epidemics, epizootics and subsistence crises in time and space, to gauge the demographic and economic fallout of these events, and to examine possible synergy between disease, hunger and climate in the inter-plague period. In addressing these issues, the meeting intends to improve our understanding of European demography and population health between the Justinianic Plague and the Black Death, and to provide a crisis context in which the Justinianic Plague and Black Death may be better understood.

Session 1: Mortality Crises in the Early Middle Ages

Paper I Climatic Contributions to Subsistence Crises, Mass Mortalities and Epidemic Disease in Early Medieval Europe, 750-1000 Dr. Francis Ludlow, Yale University / Rachel Carson Center & Dr. Conor Kostick, University of Nottingham Paper II Fluctus Sanguinis and Ignis Sacer: Mortality Crises in Westphalia and the Area of the Lower Rhine before the Black Death Prof.

Justinian's: Febris Italica in Germany (877, 889) and the Scitta in the British Isles (986-987) Dr. Tim P. Newfield, University of Stirling

Session 2: Mortality Crises in High Medieval England and Scotland

Paper IV 'Away was sons of al and brede': the Decline of the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Myth of the Alexandrian Golden Age in Scotland Prof. Richard Oram, University of Stirling Paper V Matthew Paris and the

Volcano: The English 'Famine' of 1258 Revisited Prof. Bruce M.S. Campbell, Queen's University Belfast Paper VI Verus Valor: A Mid-14th Century Scottish Reaction to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?

Prof. Alasdair Ross, University of Stirling Paper VII The Beginning of the

End: Sheep Epizootics and Fortunes of Wool Industry in England, 1250-1330 Prof. Philip Slavin, University of Kent

Session 3: Mortality Crises in High Medieval Southern Europe

Paper VIII Is Mortality Measurable before 1250? Mortality Crises, Plagues and Famines in Catalonia, 1070-1230: The Testamentary Evidence Prof. Pere

Shortages in the Crown of Aragon, 1200-1260 Prof. Antoni Riera Melis, Universitat de Barcelona Paper X Mortality Crises in Catalonia between

1285 and 1350: Famines, Shortages, Disease and Pestilence Joan Montoro Maltas, Doctoral Candidate, Universitat de Lleida Paper XI Italian Famines and Mortality Crises before the 14th Century: Historical Sources and their

Session 4: Mortality Crises in High Medieval Northern Europe

Paper XII Climate, Hunger and Population in Northern Europe, 1000-1300

Disasters and Food Crises in Northeastern Europe before 1300 Heli

Paper XIV Framing the Crisis: Subsistence Issues in the North Atlantic before 1350 Dr. Stuart Morrison, University of Stirling

Organised by Dr. Tim Newfield, Centre for Environmental History and Policy, University of Stirling For futher information t.p.newfield@stir.ac.uk