In the seventeenth century a period of colder and wetter climate throughout Europe, dubbed the “little ice age” by historians, meant a shorter farming season with lower yields. A bad harvest created food shortages; a series of bad harvests could lead to famine. Recurrent famines significantly reduced the population of early modern Europe through reduced fertility, susceptibility to disease, and outright starvation.

Industry also suffered. The output of woolen textiles declined sharply in the first half of the seventeenth century. Food prices were high, wages stagnated, and unemployment soared. This economic crisis was not universal: it struck various regions at different times and to different degrees. In the middle decades of the century, for example, Spain, France, Germany, and England all experienced great economic difficulties, but these years were the golden age of the Netherlands (see “The Dutch Trading Empire”).

The urban poor and peasants were the hardest hit. When the price of bread rose beyond their capacity to pay, they frequently expressed their anger by rioting. Women often led these actions, since their role as mothers gave them some impunity in authorities’ eyes. Historians have used the term moral economy for this vision of a world in which community needs predominate over competition and profit.