Is it true that people resorted to cannibalism during the Great Famine (1315-1317)?
War had wiped out grain stores, and drought affected harvests. Struggling peasants and prisoners alike fell victim to starvation. Hungry individuals ate what they could find – the last of their livestock, cats and dogs, and then finally, fellow human beings. Cannibalism in Soviet Russia and elsewhere in the world manifested itself in prisons camps, in urban settings, and in the countryside. The practice of cannibalism was seen as a survival measure rather than a true crime by those who had nothing else to eat. When food supply was low, meat pies might be filled with the innards of the dead. While sales were stopped if officials caught wind of such actions, undoubtedly many hungry individuals became cannibals unawares. Cemeteries had to be guarded against cannibals during this period in history – hungry peasants would steal bodies for food. Guards at prisons would feed live prisoners with the bodies of those who had died. Students would sell corpses to the hungry to raise funds. Livers,
