Late August and early September are traditionally viewed as times of plenty, and of bountiful harvests. In this issue, we take an in-depth look at what happened when this didn’t come to pass and crops failed and famine occurred. We visit late medieval London to see the differences between two terrible famines in 1258 and 1314–1317. We learn how archaeology and bioarchaeology provide a wealth of information on victims, by shedding light on who was most at risk during these periods of extreme scarcity. Then we head north, and delve into the supernatural strategies – saints and seers – used by both Christians and Pagans in medieval Scandinavia to combat famine. Lastly, we move south to fourteenth century Italy and explore the correlation between famine and plague. We finish off the issue with two articles on food, one about a feast that went horribly wrong, and the other, about the tantalizing world of medieval Egyptian cuisine!