Food security and insecurity in medieval Irish towns

ABSTRACT The degree to which the townspeople of medieval Ireland enjoyed food security or experienced food insecurity forms the subject of this paper. Having outlined the context within which Irish medieval towns started to experience food insecurity, the paper then proceeds to examine responses to this situation. These include protection of the urban area, strategies for improved storage and transport of foodstuffs, the production of food within and immediately adjacent to urban space, the regulation of the food trades, the operation of food markets, inter-regional and international trade, and the engagement with sometimes hostile rural hinterlands.