One of the most severe crises to strike medieval Europe was the Great Famine. Beginning in the year 1315, much of northern Europe would face years of bad weather, crop failures and widespread deaths from disease and starvation. The sources on the Great Famine of the early fourteenth century are extensive and varied. The basic narrative line is drawn from a very large number of chronicles. While there can be little doubt that the floods of 1314-6 were the primary harbingers of the crisis, it is, perhaps, worth asking to what extent they were the only factors behind the hardship experienced between 1315 and 1317. The first aspect to be examined is the extent of harvest failures within different crop sectors. The second issue is to what degree was the Great Famine of 1314-22 a subsistence crisisMy project is based on over 3. 000 manorial and monastic accounts compiled between c.1310 and 1350.