The Chinese got off the dime faster ~ only took them 300 years to do a fundamental economic recovery.
Boys at Mecca were virtually untouched by the whole thing, but Byzantium seems to have had one serious economic catastrophe for about 80 years.
Yup, most of Europe was pretty much like Africa circa 1300 ~ but even worse ~ the only folks left were those who lived on or very near the ocean; e.g. the Friesians, the Irish, the coastal Britons, the Sa'ami, the Romans, etc.
It took quite a while to repopulate the Continent and retrieve civilization from the ruins.
Yes, I do. Are you sure you do? Methinks you place too much credibility in the latest pop history theory of climatological determinism. Just as the Marxists wanted to attribute everything to economic class struggles, the current Ecofanatic greenie movement wants to attribute everything to climate, usually on very scant evidence.
BTW, about that "spur" part you put in there ~ let's add = "half a millenium later".
Hardly. The population crash from the plague if the 1300's led almost immediately to the rapid decline of feudalism, the rise of trade guilds, thence to the beginnings of large mercantile powers that spurred the Renaissance.
Feudalism itself was a social response to the retreat of Imperial Roman power and widespread trade. It consolidated local power hierarchies and allowed large territorial organization, quite in contrast to your idea of roving bands of Frankish "bandits".
Boys at Mecca were virtually untouched by the whole thing, but Byzantium seems to have had one serious economic catastrophe for about 80 years.
The city of Constantinople suffered a series of plague outbreaks from 540-600 AD, which more than accounts for any economic downturns in Byzantium.
Yup, most of Europe was pretty much like Africa circa 1300 ~ but even worse ~ the only folks left were those who lived on or very near the ocean; e.g. the Friesians, the Irish, the coastal Britons, the Sa'ami, the Romans, etc.
Evidence? How about the fact that there are numerous inland European cities and towns that have had continuous populations from Rome to present?