Page - 260 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

260 RainerSchreg Tab. 1:Consequencesof urbanisation in the LateHighandLateMiddleAges related tohydrology. Economic andsocial consequences Ecological consequences local local – more intensifiedandmorediverseuseof – changinghydrology (raisingor sinkingground watersheds water levels) – increasingwatermanagement – effects onbiodiversity – Water construction regional ° millingand industrial channels – intensifiedagriculture ° floodprotection ° removal of fieldwalls andhedges ° fortification (moats) ° open fields ° freshwater channels ° fewer long-term fallowperiods ° waterwaysandharbours – changingmicroclimate (heathemission/Albedo ° … effect) – conflicts of interest related to – increasedwater run-off ° drinkingwater vs. industrialwater – soil erosion ° river transportation vs. land transportation – reducedbiodiversity (bridges) – declining yields ° river transportation vs. fishing changedmetabolic cycles ° millingandwater distribution – problems inmanuring theagrarian fields (only regional solvedby the introductionof dungmanuring in – increasingdemand for products of rural land- the14th c.) scapes supra-regional – village formation – changinghydrology – intensifiedagriculture ° landscape changes, e.g. in valleys increasingneedof energy – new risks – increasing constructionofwatermills ° floods supra-regional ° epidemics – market economy – specialisedproduction – growthof forest-basedeconomy (e.g. glass production, charcoal burningetc.) boundaries, and 4) on the hydrology and soil erosion.We need a precise chronology of these assumedchanges,as this isaprecondition foranycorrelationwithurbanisation, forexample.40 Catastrophic floodevents– long-termconsequences of urbanwater? An important part of the latemedieval crisismainly in the 14th centurywas climate change.At that time, the beginnings of the Little Ice Age caused falling temperatures connectedwith ex- tremeweather events. There is some chance that anthropogenic factors were involved also at that time,but at theglobal level this climate changewas triggeredbynatural factors. The risks forhuman life, however,weredependent on cultural factors, suchas landmanagement strate- gies and settlementpatterns. In July 1342, at the time around St Mary Magdalene’s day there was one of the heaviest rains causing floodsandsoil erosion, labelledbymodern researchasamillenniumevent.41We have written evidence, for example, fromMainz, Frankfurt, Würzburg, Bamberg and Regens- 40 Schreg 2013a. 41 Bork et al. 2011; Bauch 2014;Herget –Zbinden 2017.