ABSTRACT
The impact of both subsistence- and epidemic-induced crises was apparent to survivors in a number of ways. This chapter aims to examine if and how severe subsistence and epidemic crises made an impact on the afflicted communities. The sources at disposal only rarely venture beyond the immediate causes of the calamities in question. It will suffice to follow their example for the scope of the typological analysis. The immediate results of crises in the pre-modern world are difficult to quantify beyond their effect on demography and even then only in the form of general trends, since recorded figures are rare and as a rule not overly reliable. Most instances of mortality connected to famine, however, involve the presence of epidemic diseases as well. A small number of harrowing descriptions of populations suffering from famine-induced mortality has survived.
