It all began with the cold and rainy summer of AD 1315, which ruined crops in the fields all the way across Europe. The two following years were no different. People prayed and prayed, but the Lord did not see it fit to answer their prayers.
Soon, a great famine ravaged Christendom, and many took it for the beginning of the Apocalypse. People had to eat grass and animal carcasses. There were even rumours of men eating one another. Parents were forced to kill babies they couldn't feed. Sons abandoned their ill mothers and fathers.
Many died, others never fully recovered. Those who found the strength started rebelling against their lieges, and even against the church.
Then the famine ended as suddenly as it had started, and people sighed with relief. They couldn't have known that this was just the beginning, and many more misfortunes awaited them.