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Project

Seas of Risk and Resilience: peasant fishing on the late medieval English coasts as a coping strategy for climate-induced hazards

All across the globe, coastal communities are facing increased risks because of climate and environmental change. A similar dynamic existed in the later middle ages, when periods of increased climatic instability marked the onset of the Little Ice Age. Both historical and environmental studies have considered the sea merely as a danger, due to storm floods causing destruction along the coastline. The sea could however also provide opportunities, as access to fishing could provide income and sustenance in times of increased uncertainty because of storminess and harvest failures. This project challenges the dominant image of peasants as exceptionally vulnerable by exploring peasant fishing activities as a coping strategy, an aspect that has been overlooked as fishing history focused on the rise of specialisation and scale enlargement. The aim is to analyse if, where and when coastal peasants could combine their farming activities with fishing, and whether this reduced the risk of living on the English coast in times of climate change between the mid-thirteenth and mid-fifteenth century. Through the quantitative as well as qualitative use of the unique manorial source situation in late medieval England, this project can include the previously overlooked fishing practices that could potentially facilitate a resilient society.

Date:1 Nov 2020 →  Today
Keywords:Vulnerability and Resilience, Peasant Fisheries, Climate History
Disciplines:Medieval history, Socio-economic history, Landscape and ecological history
Project type:PhD project