The Saint Marcellus' Flood on This Day in History

 

A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara W. Tuchman

This Day in History: The Saint Marcellus' flood killed at least 25,000 people on the shores of the North Sea on this day in 1362. The 1300's was perhaps the worst century in human history. The Great Famine of 1315-1317 killed millions of people in Europe. The Hundred Years' War began in 1337. The 1347–1351 Black Death killed around a third of the population of Europe. The 6.9-magnitude 1348 Friuli earthquake centered in Northern Italy was felt across Europe. The Chinese Battle of Lake Poyang resulted in one of the largest naval battles in history. 1381 saw the Peasants' Revolt in England. Anti-Jewish pogroms spread throughout Spain and Portugal in 1391, and thousands of Jews are massacred.

The 14th century also saw the transition from the Medieval Warm Period to the Little Ice Age, which led to many crop failures.