Famine and food supply in the Parisian region between the 7th and 11th centuries

• Grant number: 18/10459-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: December 01, 2018
• End date: November 30, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - Ancient and Medieval History
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo Cândido da Silva
• Grantee: Gabriel Rodrigues Sanches Cordeiro
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Historians of the first half of the twentieth century, such as Georges Duby and Guy Bois, used to classify the Early Middle Ages as a period of crisis. The weakening of Roman authority, the arrival of the barbarians, climate change and a strong economic regression would have, according to them, marked the first centuries of the Middle Ages. Food crises are a recurrent phenomenon throughout the period, according to several contemporary sources, for example, the Annals of Fulda and the Moselle Annals. However, these accounts do not specify the nature of these crises. There are hypotheses about poor food distribution, crop damage caused by weather or pests, or the precariousness of agricultural techniques. Whether caused by climatic factors or by human actions, these crises can be better understood through the analysis of rural habitats. Not only because the countryside is the epicenter of food production, but also because it is where the overwhelming majority of the population lived during the Middle Ages. The objective of this research is to analyses the food supply in the surroundings of Paris between the 7th and 11th centuries. To reach this objective, three archaeological sites shall be studied: "La Confiserie", "La Chapelle/La Croix Verte" and "Les Ruelles". All of them are located in the current administrative region of Île-de-France.