The article evaluates recent scholarship on famines in Europe during the medieval and early modern periods (c. 700–1800), synthesizing the state-of-the-art knowledge and identifying both research gaps and interdisciplinary potentials. Particular focus is placed on how, and to what extent, climatic change and variability is given explanatory power in famine causation. Current research, supported by recent advances in palaeoclimatology, reveals that anomalous cold conditions constituted the main environmental backdrop for severe food production crises that could result in famines in pre-industrial Europe. Such food crises occurred most frequently between c. 1550 and 1710, during the climax of the Little Ice Age cooling, and can be connected to the strong dependency on grain in Europe during this period. The available body of scholarship demonstrates that famines in medieval and early modern Europe best can be understood as the result of the interactions of climatic and societal stressors responding to pre-existing vulnerabilities. Recent research has shown that societal responses to these famines, and the appropriation of their consequences, have been much more comprehensive, dynamic, and substantial than previously assumed. The article concludes by providing recommendations for future studies on historical famines.

中文翻译：

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中世纪和近代早期欧洲的饥荒——气候与社会的联系

本文评估了中世纪和近代早期（约700-1800 年）欧洲饥荒的最新学术成果，综合了最先进的知识，并确定了研究差距和跨学科潜力。特别关注气候变化和变率如何以及在多大程度上对饥荒起因具有解释力。目前的研究在古气候学最新进展的支持下表明，异常寒冷条件是严重粮食生产危机的主要环境背景，可能导致前工业化欧洲的饥荒。这种粮食危机最常发生在c至 10 年间。1550年和1710年，正值小冰河时期降温的顶峰，这与这一时期欧洲对粮食的强烈依赖有关。现有的学术成果表明，中世纪和近代早期欧洲的饥荒最好被理解为气候和社会压力因素与先前存在的脆弱性相互作用的结果。最近的研究表明，社会对这些饥荒的反应以及对其后果的承担，比以前的假设更加全面、动态和实质性。文章最后为历史饥荒的未来研究提供了建议。