How a medieval city comes back from a famine
The Great Famine of 1316: the dead gathered in the streets at the town's expense were at least 10% of the people of Ypres and 5.5% of those of Bruges (Van Werveke, 1959). Only the poor were counted: these are minimums.
| Town | Dead | Fields left idle | Newcomers a year, before | Newcomers a year to be back in 25 years | Newcomers a year to be back in 50 years | Newcomers a year to be back in 100 years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3,000 | 300 | 68 km² | 15 | 26 | 20 | 17 |
| 10,000 | 1,000 | 230 km² | 100 | 130 | 110 | 100 |
| 40,000 | 4,000 | 900 km² | 400 | 520 | 440 | 400 |
| 150,000 | 15,000 | 3,400 km² | 1,500 | 2,000 | 1,700 | 1,500 |
A town lives on newcomers: more of its people die than are born. Towns kept no rule for how fast they came back; these are the arrivals a year that would bring one back in that time.
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