Climate-driven changes in Mediterranean grain trade mitigated famine but introduced the Black Death to medieval Europe
Journal: Communications Earth & Environment
Year: 2025

The first wave of the second plague pandemic, the Black Death, claimed much of Europe’s human population in just a few years after 1347 CE. While it is accepted that the causative bacterium Yersinia pestis originated from wildlife rodent populations in central Asia and reached Europe via the Black Sea region, reasons for the timing, spread and virulence of the onset of the Black Death are still debated. Here, we argue that a post-volcanic climate downturn and trans-Mediterranean famine from 1345