The Great Famine of 1315–1317 (occasionally dated 1315–1322) is the first of a series of large-scale crises that strikesE urope early in the fourteenth century.

Most of continental Europe (extending east to Russia and south to Italy) and Great Britain are affected.

The famine causes millions of deaths over an extended number of years and marks a clear end to the period of growth and prosperity from the eleventh to thirteenth centuries.The Great Famine starts with bad weather in spring 1315.

Universal crop failures last through 1316 until the summer harvest in 1317, and Europe will not fully recover until 1322.

The period is marked by extreme levels of crime, disease, mass death, and even cannibalism and infanticide.

The crisis has consequences for the Church, state, European society, and for future calamities to follow in the fourteenth century.