Figure 4

Original manuscript of the Annals of Saint Evroult, Normandy, France (source: Annales Uticenses. Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, Ms Latin 10062, f154r). The manuscript displays a paschal table, also known as an Easter table, used to determine for successive years the changing dates on which Easter fell, one of the most important days in the liturgical calendar. On the margins of the Easter table, several brief historical notes were added, providing information mostly about king’s reigns, as well as the succession of abbots, bishops and Popes. The entry for the year 1109 CE, however, records a major famine in France lasting three years. This note was written at the abbey of Saint Evroult by a contemporary witness, the monk Orderic Vitalis (1075–1141/1143 CE). Orderic Vitalis is one of the most famous scribes of the 12^th century. He is predominantly known as the author of the Historia Ecclesiastica, in which he provides a more detailed and lengthy account of the famine of 1109–1111 CE (Table S2).