Note: Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- List of figures and plates -- Contributors -- Preface -- Chapter 1 Researching natural disasters in the later Middle Ages -- Background -- Medieval disasters and archaeology -- Disasters in the middle ages -- Conclusions -- References -- Part I Tectonic hazards -- Chapter 2 Rituals of resilience: The interpretative archaeology of post-seismic recovery in medieval Europe -- Adaptation and resilience to medieval seismic disasters -- The archaeological evidence for human victims -- The holy host, the corpus christi and the symbology of the survivors -- Wells in the seismic aftermath -- Wall-ties and lilies: integrating technological and divine protection -- Conclusions -- Acknowledgements -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 3 Medieval earthquakes in Italy: Perceptions and reactions -- Contemporary reactions to earthquakes in medieval Italy -- The impact of seismic events -- Conclusions -- Appendix -- Notes -- Abbreviations -- References -- Chapter 4 Seismic adaptation in the Latin churches of Cyprus -- Background -- The survival of churches -- Scholars in the past -- The shaking earth -- Structural responses -- Accretion of structure -- Centralized plan: Alignment of the centres of mass and rigidity -- Supported flanks -- Side chapels -- Flying buttresses -- Support of superstructure -- Two-storey elevations -- Openings for doors and windows -- Conclusion -- Acknowledgements -- References -- Chapter 5 Architectural heritage and ancient earthquakes in Italy: The constraints and potential of archaeoseismological research applied to medieval buildings -- The church of santi vittore e corona -- The architectural evolution of the complex -- Validating the seismic origin of a damage pattern -- Dating seismic events and comparisons with seismic catalogues. , Archaeoseismological research in the Mugello district, florence -- The research -- Archaeoseismological results from the Mugello case studies -- A chrono-typological atlas of seismic protection systems in the Mugello district -- Traces of an unknown earthquake of the mid-13th century -- Archaeoseismological research in architectural contexts -- Conclusion -- Acknowledgements -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 6 Medieval tsunamis in the Mediterranean and Atlantic: Towards an archaeological perspective -- What is a tsunami? -- European tsunamis in brief -- Archaeological and geological signatures -- The 'draw down' -- The 'swash' and sediment sheets -- 'Trimlines' and the 'backwash' -- Megaclasts -- Discussion -- Conclusion -- Acknowledgements -- References -- Chapter 7 Volcanic eruptions and historical landscape on Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain -- Background -- History of study -- Historical archaeology and volcanoes -- Sources and methods of investigation on lanzarote -- Archaeological prospection -- Reconstructing the pre-18th century landscape -- Settlements -- Landscapes -- Conclusions -- Abbreviations -- References -- Chapter 8 'The harvest of despair': Catastrophic fear and the understanding of risk in the shadow of Mount Etna, Italy -- The philosophy of emotion -- The philosophy of fear -- The philosophy of risk -- In the shadow of disaster: the interaction of fear and risk -- Notes -- References -- Part II Severe storms and hydrological hazards -- Chapter 9 Mitigating riverine flood risk in medieval England -- Communicating flood risk -- Benign and malignant rivers -- Place-names of significant settlements in the floodplain -- Wet field-names and minor landscape names -- Managing flood -- Conclusion -- Acknowledgements -- Notes -- Manuscript sources -- References. , Chapter 10 Tide and trauma: Tangible and intangible impacts of the storms of 1287 and 1288 -- The storms of 1287 and 1288 -- The aftermath -- Intangible impacts -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 11 Disaster or everyday risk?: Perceiving, managing and commemorating floods in medieval central Europe -- General considerations -- The 'millennium flood' of 1501 -- Floods on the traun river (Upper Austria), 14th to 16th centuries -- The ice flood of 1573 in krems (Lower Austria) -- Socio-economic and cultural responses to historic floods -- References -- Chapter 12 Recovering from catastrophe: How medieval society in England coped with disasters -- Desertion of villages -- The aftermath of the great famine in worcestershire -- The severn estuary flood of 1483 -- The 'great fire' of shipston of 1478 -- Responses to disaster in general -- Changes in the long term -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 13 Fear, matter and miracles: Personal protection and coping with disasters through material culture c1200-1600 -- Fear and disasters -- Invocation of saints -- Cultic coins and concealed deposits -- Social control and the body of christ -- Conclusions -- Notes -- References -- Part III Biophysical hazards -- Chapter 14 Digging up the victims of the Black Death: A bioarchaeological perspective on the second plague pandemic -- Identifying plague victims in the archaeological record -- Insights from the anthropological study of skeletal remains of plague victims -- Demographic composition of plague cemeteries -- Plague mortality with respect to pre-existing health -- Burial treatment of plague victims -- Future directions in the bioarchaeology of plague -- Acknowledgements -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 15 Preserving the ordinary: Social resistance during the second pandemic plagues in the Low Countries. , Plague and resistance in the late medieval and early-modern low countries -- Conclusion -- Acknowledgements -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 16 Reconstructing the impact of 14th-century demographic disasters on late medieval rural communities in England -- The impact of 14th-century demographic turbulence on medieval society -- Evidence from deserted and shrunken medieval settlements in england -- Identifying change in non-deserted rural settlements -- New evidence from currently occupied rural settlements in eastern england -- Desertion -- Severe contraction -- Expansion -- Stasis -- Patterns of change within settlements -- Withdrawal from settlement margins -- Abandonment of dispersed 'greens' and 'ends' -- Atomisation -- Withdrawal from recently inhabited zones -- Church-ward gravitation -- Discussion -- Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 17 Recognising catastrophic cattle-mortality events in England and their repercussions -- Animal burials -- The shapwick burial pit -- The 14th-century panzootic -- Podimore: from two-field to three-field system -- Re-stocking options after cattle mortality -- Archaeological evidence for cattle-mortality events -- Flixborough, lincolnshire: possible evidence for the great carolingian panzootic -- Conclusions -- References -- Chapter 18 Medieval archaeology and natural disasters: Looking towards the future -- Framing medieval reactions to natural disasters through the adaptive cycle -- Dimensions to medieval natural disasters -- Past and future: medieval archaeology and disaster studies -- Notes -- References -- Part IV Catalogue -- Chapter 19 Catalogue of medieval disasters -- The volcanic eruptions of AD 536 and 540 -- The 1117 earthquake in northern Italy -- The 1222 Cyprus earthquake -- The 1248 Mont Granier landslide -- The 1257 Samalas eruption -- The 1315-1322 agrarian crisis. , The 1342 'millennium' flood -- The 1345 Gauldalen slide and flood event -- The 1348 Carinthia and Friuli earthquake -- 'Savage attack': Reactions to the Black Death in Winchester in 1348-49 and after -- The 1356 Basel earthquake -- The 1362 'great drowning of men' (grote mandränke) -- The 1382 Straits of Dover earthquake -- The 1421 St Elizabeth's Day flood -- Arson at Sherborne Abbey, Dorset, in 1437 -- The sweating sickness in late 15th-century and 16th-century England -- Excavating the 1522 earthquake and landslide on the island of São Miguel, Azores -- The 1531 Lisbon earthquake and tsunami -- The 1540 pan-European mega-drought -- The rain in Spain: Early 16th-century drought and reactions -- References -- Index.