Production of and Trade in Food Between the Kingdom of Hungary and Europe in the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Era (Thirteenth to Sixteenth Centuries): The Roles of Markets in Crises and Famines

Between late Middle Ages and early Modern Period, Western Europe was stricken by cyclical crises of subsistence or famines, both in short-term (at least once a year, in the weeks preceding the harvest, essentially in relation to an expected increase in the price of wheat so to have more and more profits), and in long-term (approximately every 7–10 years, in relationship with several economic and social factors, such as the trend of the production and the increasing price of wheat, the inadequate functioning of the market, the inappropriate intervention policies at a time of particular difficulty, and so on). Of course, in the Kingdom of Hungary crises and famines were caused by same forces. But, surprisingly, cyclical large crises of subsistence and vast course famines had been nearly unknown in the Kingdom between thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. In this context, the models of Ernest Labrousse and Amartya Sen can explain the emergence and the development of the crisis and famine not only and simply by the occurrence of exogenous forces such as fall in crops, environmental shocks, war events and so on, but also and above all through a deeper analysis of the market, its functioning and its degree of integration with other markets more or less distant. It is highlighted the particular Hungarian alimentary regime, characterised by a not contradiction, rather the thorough-penetration, between the agricultural and sylvan-pastoral activities. This not-contradiction was reflected in a nutritional general quality, defining an alimentary equilibrium that characterized the Kingdom. In comparison with other parts of Europe, in Hungary alimentary alternatives such as grain, meat and fish remained accessible to most of the population, so the inhabitants’ normal diet remained diversified and not entirely established on cereals. The specific productive and exchange structures of the Kingdom permitted the maintenance of this alimentary equilibrium that, founded on a diversified nourishing basis (and on meat in particular), prevented the rise of vast alimentary crises, unless a shock such as war, climatic difficulties and so on occurred. The absence of vast course famines is further proved by the Kingdom’s exchange structure with Europe. Keeping in mind the general gap in available documentation, there are few traces of a request to import alimentary goods (while their export is possible), and few indications of an intervention or regulation on prices and markets of alimentary commodities by the Crown or by another secular or ecclesiastical authority of the Kingdom. Undoubtedly, the wars – first of all against the Ottoman Empire – caused great damages and problems in food supplying; but more often the warfare allowed profitable bargains. And exactly the complex economic interaction among crisis, famine and war characterized the Hungary between late Middle Ages and early Modern Period as a market of increasing and notable maturation in the European context.