In Northern Europe, the 14th Century was a time of very short life expectancy. France really had the worst of it, since their king from 1285 to 1314 was Philip IV “the Fair,” one of the worst kings in history. His literal devaluing of gold coins (mixing in copper) and overtaxing the County of Champagne crashed the French economy, taking away any flexibility the people had for surviving the climate.
The century would see slow cooling, just as our century has been seeing slow warming, but from about 1305 to 1325, some other regional weather patterns made it even worse. France had local famines at least once per decade through the 1300s, and during the early years, some French regions starved in 1304, 1305, and 1310, in addition to what the rest of Europe was about to experience.
Between the years 1315 and 1318, it rained far more than Europe’s climate and geography could sustain. During the summers, it was a cold rain, and the ground never really dried out. Crops got fungal diseases in the field and stored grain—and stored anything—grew mold. During the first overly rainy year, the peasants had to dip into their seed grain for the next year, but during the second rainy year, 1316, they also ate up wild food supplies and many of their animals. During the third overly rainy year, 1317, the tree bark was stripped off so that some trees died. This was the peak of the famine.
Winters were even worse because they couldn’t cure fish or pork in salt, since salt came from evaporation and it kept raining. In the Netherlands, there were major floods that wiped out large communities. Many children didn’t survive. I suspect that the fable of Hansel and Gretel, left in the forest to starve, has roots in these famines. There are sensational reports of worse happening, including various forms of human cannibalism.
The weather was a bit more normal in 1318, but of course there was hardly any seed grain or baby farm animals, so starvation continued. It took several years to build back a normal food supply; it’s estimated that the famine continued until 1325. The children born during this less severe period survived better, but their health was impaired. Additionally, as these kids grew up, England and France began their Hundred Years’ War to settle the problem of English-ruled lands in France. It was a very rough century in Northern Europe.