Abstract
This article examines the evolution of interpretative attitudes and practices shared by political elites from the Carolingian era to the rise of urban communities (12th century) in responding to hunger and famine, with a particular focus on the Southern Low Countries. It begins by analyzing the political actions of the Carolingians, which affected the economic, spiritual and religious realms. Their presence in the capitularies was not the result of the addition of two disjointed logics, one driven by religious elites, the other by pragmatic lay players: these two levers were mobilised simultaneously by the same individuals. This juxtaposition is particularly evident among peasants. The article then discusses the shift towards new actors, as the territorial princes took on a greater role in managing hunger crises in the post-Carolingian and Ottonian periods (10th-11th centuries). With the help of a chronicle from the early 12th century, the article then analyzes how urban communities began to assert their own hunger management practices, often by freeing themselves from moral or religious logics of action. However, certain episodes of acute crisis (plagues and epidemics, large-scale famines) triggered a reverse movement, marked by a resurgence of attitudes grounded in economic, religious, and moral principles. The article concludes by suggesting avenues for future research into how institutions preserved the memory of ideal attitudes and effective solutions amidst crises, through literary topoi and the use of institutional archives.
Keywords:
Hunger in the Middle Ages; political action; rationality