Effects of Little Ice Age on European Society

1. Growing season shortened by 15-20% which may have led to famines in areas.

2. Rising costs of agricultural products

3. Grain, if stored in cool, damp conditions, may develop a fungus known as ergot blight and also may ferment just enough to produce a drug similar to LSD.

4. The Black Death (Bubonic Plague) was hastened by malnutrition all over Europe.

5. In England, the effect of starvation and the poor condition of the country encouraged men to enlist during the War of the Roses (1455-1485.) As tillable land was converted to other uses such as sheep rearing, the landlords who organized the conversions became the focus of many hostilities.

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