(1)the pattern of life for most europeans between 1600 and 1800 centered on the struggle to stay alive. (2)at least once a decade, climatic conditions—usually a long period of summer rainfall—would produce a devastatingly bad harvest, which in turn would result in widespread malnutrition, often leading to serious illness and death. (3)a family might survive for a time by eating less, but eventually, with its meager stocks exhausted and the cost of grain high, the human costs would mount. (4)the substitution of grass, nuts, and tree bark for grain on which the peasants depended almost entirely for nourishment was inadequate to sustain healthy life.