As the Protestant Reformation started in the 1500s, prior to that event there were three major catastrophes:
<u>1315-1317 --- The Great Famine</u>: It is the historiographical designation of a generalized famine in Northern Europe. It was due to the loss of crops due to the bad weather that began in the spring of 1315, was critical in the winter 1315-1316 and lasted until the summer of 1317, although the situation was bad since 1314 and the restoration of a relative agricultural normality did not arrive until 1320 or 1322 in England.The winter 1317-1318 was devastating for the flocks, costing numerous heads of cattle, bursting in 1318 a rinderpest that did not stop until 1320. In 1319 there was a good harvest, but during 1320-1322 climatic conditions were again adverse, however, the 1320s were even better than the previous decade.The small localized famines were frequent in the Middle Ages but this exceeded all others in extension, duration and mortality. The scarcity led to the high cost and, in addition to demographic consequences (morbidity and catastrophic mortality - millions of deaths), triggered all kinds of social conflicts and increased crime. There were outbreaks of cannibalism and infanticide. The consequences in mentalities and political and religious institutions, in the longer term, were mixed with those of the plague of 1348.
<u>1337-1453 --- The Hundred Years' War</u>: The Hundred Years War was an armed conflict between the kingdoms of France and England, which lasted almost 117 years (January 1, 1337-17 October 1453), of feudal origin, since its purpose was to resolve who would control the enormous possessions accumulated by English monarchs since 1154 in French territories, due to the accession to the English throne of Henry II Plantagenet, Count of Anjou. It ended with the English withdrawal of French lands.
<u>1346-1361 --- The Black Plague</u>: The Black Plague was a pandemic that ravaged Europe during the fourteenth century and was transmitted by a flea transported by rats. It is believed that the epidemic emerged in Central Asia, from where it passed to Italian cities such as Genoa, with great maritime activity, and from there to all of Europe. The Black Death ended up with almost half of the European population and with some 100 million people around the world.
It reached its peak between 1346 and 1361. Diane Zahler estimates that mortality exceeded half, perhaps 60% of Europeans, or what is the same, 50 of the 80 million European inhabitants would have died. It was the cause of death of approximately 50 to 75 million people between the first cases in Mongolia (1328) and the last cases in European Russia (1353), which devastatingly affected Europe, China, India, the Middle East and the North. of Africa, it did not affect sub-Saharan Africa or the American continent.
